Digestive System

All living things eat food for energy. Food we eat is broken into small pieces
for the body to absorb. The nutrients from food are absorbed in the body
and used for energy. Our body uses this energy for work, play and growth.
The process of braking down of food into smaller particles that can be
absorbed by our bodies is called digestion.
The organs involved in the process of digestion are mouth, food pipe
(esophagus), stomach, small intestine, liver, pancreas, large intestine and
anus.

Mouth – Digestion starts with mouth. Teeth help to chew and grind
the food into simpler particles. Salivary gland secretes saliva that
helps to soften the food and helps in further breaking down of food.

Tongue – Tongue is a muscular organ that helps in mixing of saliva

with food which makes swallowing of food easy. Tongue contains
taste buds such as sweet, sour, salty and bitter.
Esophagus - Esophagus is a muscular tube from the mouth to the
stomach. When we swallow, food goes down the esophagus and
reaches our stomach.
Stomach – The stomach is a sac-like organ with strong muscular
walls.It can store food for several hours. In the stomach gastric
juices secereted by stomach breakdown the food further into paste.
From stomach food moves to small intestine.

Small intestine – The small intestine is a tube that is about 18 feet

long. In the small intestine, food mixes with juice secreted by
pancreas (helps in digestion of carbohydrates) and liver (bile juice
secreted by liver is stored in gall bladder).Here food is changed into
fine particles which can easily absorbed through the walls of small
intestine and finally into the blood. Most of the nutrients from the
food are absorbed in the small intestine.

Large intestine – From small intestine undigested food passes to

large intestine. It is 5 – 7 feet long. Water is absorbed here. The
undigested food passes through the large intestine and sent out
from anus.

Healthy eating habits

 Wash your hand before eating.

 Eat lots of fruits and vegetables.

 Avoid eating oily and junk food.

 Chew slowly for easy digestion.

 Drink 6 – 8 glasses of water.