The Digestive System: The Importance Of The Digestive System

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The digestive system is important for breaking down food and turning it into nutrients. The body uses the nutrients for energy, growth, and cell repair. The food and drinks that a person must be changed into smaller molecules of nutrients before the blood absorbs them and carries them to cells throughout the body. The body breaks down nutrients from food and drink into carbohydrates, protein, fats, and vitamins. Compared to the other systems in the body, the digestive system is one of the most diverse and important. According to Robert Sullivan the digestive system is a set group of organs whose function is based on the process of turning food, absorbing nutrients for energy and getting rid of the bodies waste (Sullivan, 2008, p.33). The organs …show more content…

Have you ever wondered where your food has gone once you consume it? Through your digestive system where the mass of food undergoes a process called digestion. Digestion is the chemical and physical breakdown of food into forms such as energy or nutrients that can be used by the body’s cells (McKenzie, 2010). The whole process starts in the mouth. The mouth contains a watery substance called saliva. Saliva is important to the whole process of food digestion, because not only does it help with sensing taste, but it is also made up of enzymes that break down the fats and starches in food at a molecular level. The esophagus is a tube where swallowed food travels down to the stomach. The stomach is a muscular sac that acts as a blender and mixes food with acid, hydrochloric acid, which breaks down the swallowed chum and flushes the nutrients into the small intestine (Columbia University, 2010). The hydrochloric acid in the stomach is so powerful it can eat through a leather shoe. However, the stomach contains other chemicals, such as gastric acid, mucus and enzymes that also soften food (Sullivan, 2008). The result thus far in the process of digestion in the stomach is now called chime (Sullivan, …show more content…

It can be turned into energy through each person’s unique metabolism. The main reaction that takes place in the digestive system is called Metabolism. Metabolism takes place everywhere, but mainly in the stomach where is breaks down substances into smaller molecular forms, which gives the body energy (Encyclopedia Britannica Online School Edition, 2011). Our metabolisms are chemical reactions that are carried out through a microcellular catalyst called an enzyme. Enzymes help chemically break down large nutrients, proteins, fats and carbohydrates into smaller forms of amino acids, fatty acids and simple sugars (Encyclopedia Britannica Online School Edition, 2011). Amino acids and fatty acids are mainly where we get our energy from. The whole process starts when we eat and our metabolism breaks down the food. The amino acids and fatty acids are absorbed into the blood where once they attach to a cell, they are then able to speed up the chemical reactions taking place while the amino and fatty acids are monitoring the reactions in the cell some energy is released. This energy can be stored in the body until it is needed (Encyclopedia Britannica Online School Edition, 2011). There are two forms of metabolism called anabolism and catabolism. Anabolism is storing energy and maintaining cells while catabolism is all about making energy so that each cell has a specific amount to

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