DIGESTIVE SYSTEM

1. Mouth Digestive starts in the mouth. Food is broken down into small pieces by the teeth. The tongue is a muscular organ. It helps in chewing & churning the food. If pushes food to the back of the mouth when you swallow. It tells us the taste of food.

. !sophagus "hen we swallow the food# it passes the pharyn$ & then to the esophagus. The esophagus carries the food from the mouth to the stomach. There are layers that contain many mucus secreting cells w%c make it easy for the food to pass through. &eneath the mucusa are layers of muscle that relay &

contract. This movement is called peristalsis.

'. (tomach The stomach is a large pear)shaped organ at the end of the esophagus# more or less on the left side of the body. It can store ' to * pints of food for about * hours. There are ' kinds of cells in the stomach. +ne kind of cell secretes mucus. The second kind secretes en,ymes & the third secretes hydrochloric acid & water. "hen en,ymes# mucus# water & hydrochloric acids combine# they produce gastric -uice.
1 2

*. (mall & .arge Intestines From the stomach# the food goes through the long tube called the small intestine. It is about / meters long. Tiny hairlike pro-ections are lines along the walls of the small intestine are called villi. The villi absorb the digested food & conduct these into the bloodstream. The blood then carries the food to the different parts of the body. The undigested food is pushed down into the large intestine. This is the final stage in digestion. "ater is absorbed here. The undigested food passes out of the body through the anus.

The human body is like a machine. It needs fuel to be able to perform its activities. Food is needed by our body to keep it growing & moving. The food that we eat comes from living organism# plants & animals. They are mi$ture of proteins# carbohydrates# lipids & other substances. Food should be broken down into small pieces & undergo chemical changes to be absorbed & used by the body. Digestion is the process of changing food into pieces that can be absorbed & used by the body. During digestion# the food passes through a long tube)like canal called alimentary canal. Digestion starts at the mouth & ends at the anus. Different parts of the alimentary canal perform their specific functions.

There are mechanical%physical.

processes involved in digestion0 1hemical &

&y mechanical process# large chunks of food are formed into small pieces through chewing & churning. "hile in chemical digestion# food is chemically broken down into still small molecules by combining with water. This process is called hydrolysis. 2roteins in food are broken down into amino acids. 2olysaccharides break down to form simple sugar or glucose. Triglycerides are hydroly,ed into fatty acids & glycerol.