The Digestive Process

                                                   The 5 Main Parts of the Digestive System

Oesophagus

Oesophagus (food pipe or gullet) is one of the main parts of the digestive system. It is one of the upper parts of the digestive system. Oesophagus is connected to the mouth to your stomach. When you ate something, the food goes through your food pipe to stomach. Adults food pipe are about 25 centimetres long or 9 - 10 inches.

Stomach

The oesophagus leads to the stomach. The stomach is an elastic bag which can hold up to 2 - 4 litres. When carbohydrates are at the stomach, they're starting to turn into simple sugars by the enzyme amylase. Other nutrients remain undigested. The benefits of having a stomach that it's able to expand because a large amount of food is able to be consumed before competitors arrive. Protein turns into amino acids as the breakdown o0of nutrients happens in the stomach. Contractions of the muscles in the wall of stomach aid is being digested by assisting with mechanical digestion by mixing the food with gastric juices thereby by speeding up digestion.

Small Intestine

The small intestine lies between the stomach and the large intestine. It is the small intestine where absorption of nutrients takes place. The small intestine has three distinct regions – the duodenum, jejunum, and ileum. The duodenum, the shortest, is where preparation for absorption through small finger-like protrusions called villi begins.The jejunum is specialised for the absorption through its lining by enterocytes. Small nutrient particles which have been previously digested by enzymes in the duodenum. The main function of the ileum is to absorb vitamin, bile salts, and whatever products of digestion were not absorbed by the jejunum.

Large Intestine

The large intestine, also known as the large bowel, is the last part of the gastrointestinal tract and of the digestive system in vertebrates. Water is absorbed here and the remaining waste material is stored as feces before being removed by defecation. In humans, the large intestine begins in the right iliac region of the pelvis, just at or below the waist, where it is joined to the end of the small intestine at the cecum, via the ileocecal valve. It then continues as the colon ascending the abdomen, across the width of the abdominal cavity as the transverse colon, and then descending to the rectum and its endpoint at the anal canal.^[8] Overall, in humans, the large intestine is about 1.5 metres (5 ft) long, which is about one-fifth of the whole length of the gastrointestinal tract.



Liver

The liver is an organ only found in vertebrates which remove toxic various metabolites, synthesizes proteins and produces biochemicals necessary for digestion. In humans, it is located in the right upper quadrant of the abdomen, below the diaphragm. Its other roles in metabolism include the regulation of glycogen storage, decomposition of red blood cells and the production of hormones. The liver is an accessory digestive organ that produces bile, an alkaline compound which helps the breakdown of fat. Bile aids in digestion via the emulsification of lipids.

Human Body - Digestive Process