The Digestive Process Of Nutrition And The Digestive System

What happens to food once it is ingested? Where does it go? How is it broken down into smaller pieces? The digestive process is very complex, but simple to understand. It involves several steps that include from being chewed inside the mouth, to landing in the stomach for more breakdown, traveling through the intestines, and finally exiting the body.

It starts with a process called mechanical digestion. It is when food is chewed in the mouth and turned into small pieces, then is swallowed. The tongue is a muscle that helps push back food toward the back of the throat. Salvia aids with the smooth ride the food takes going down to the esophagus, which is like a long tube going down the body, and lands in the stomach. This is when chemical digestion begins.

Food needs to be broken down further for the body to use the nutrients food carries. The stomach secretes pepsin and hydrochloric acid that help kill pathogens found within ingested food. Food will stay in the stomach for a few hours before it moves into the small intestine.

Enzymes are proteins that help speed up chemical reactions. Some enzymes associated with carbohydrate breakdown are sucrose, lactose, maltase, and amylase. They aid in turning carbohydrate into glucose. The body uses glucose for energy, especially within the cells. Lipids or fats must be emulsified by bile found in the liver, and will be broken down into fatty acids and glycerol, and the body is able to absorb them. The enzyme associated with lipid breakdown is lipase. Protein that is ingested use the enzymes proteases and peptidases to help break up the protein and make amino acids in the