Digestion Essay

1582 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Processes involving digestion

The Detail Digestion Process & Body Absorbs of Nutrients
Digestion is the chemical breakdown of complex biological molecules into their component parts, i.e. lipids into fatty acids, proteins to individual amino acids, and carbohydrates into simple sugars. The functional objective is to produce various chemicals to break down the food, filter out harmful substances when possible, and get rid of solid wastes. The mechanical way the digestion works in order to change the physical form of the food is to chew, tear, grind, mash and mix. The chemical changes produced by digestion are supported by the aid of digestive enzymes and it modifies the composition of the food. The digestive enzymes are special proteins that help break up large molecules of food into very tiny molecules that can be absorbed and used by the cells in the form of nutrition. The phases of digestion are: ingestion, movement throughout the digestive tract, and final absorption. The digestive tract consists in long muscular tube with many sections …show more content…

It opens into the esophagus and it extents down to the stomach. It is the mechanism of swallowing which is a coordinated activity of the tongue, soft palate, pharynx and esophagus. It works in phases: (1) food is pushed into the pharynx by the tongue (almost as a voluntary process), then (2) the tongue blocks the mouth, (3) the soft palate closes off the nose, (4) the larynx (Adam’s Apple) rises so the Epiglottis (a flap of tissue) can close the opening trachea.
• Esophagus
A straight muscular tube that is about 10 inches (or 25cm) long and connects the mouth with the stomach. The food takes about 4 to 8 seconds as it passes through to the stomach. Its walls contain smooth muscles that contracts in wavy motion (in the so called Peristalsis). The Peristalsis propels food and liquid slowly down the esophagus into the stomach. Cardiac Sphincter (a ring-like valve) relaxes to allow food into the stomach.
•

Show More
Related

  • Essay On The Digestive System

    824 Words  | 2 Pages

    The digestive system, in organisms like the mink and human, is supposed to break down the food being eaten to transfer into energy. This energy helps other functions of the body that would in turn keep it alive. The digestive system includes organs such as the stomach, intestines, liver, etc. Digestion starts at the mouth, though.

    Read More

  • Essay On The Digestive System

    1284 Words  | 3 Pages

    Esophagus: Esophagus is a long straight tube which connects the pharynx to the stomach. Once the food has been reduced to a soft mush, the tongue pushes it to the throat which leads to a long straight tube called esophagus. The esophagus squeezes the mass of food with rhythmic muscle contraction called peristalsis which then forces the food to the stomach.

    Read More

  • Chicken Sandwich Essay

    1482 Words  | 3 Pages

    The digestive system otherwise known as the gastrointestinal tract (GI tract) is a long tube which runs from the mouth to the anus. It operates to break down the food we eat from large macromolecules such as starch, proteins and fats, which can’t be easily absorbed, into readily absorbable molecules such as glucose, fatty acids and amino acids. Once broken down, these molecules can cross the cells lining the small intestine, enter into the circulatory system and be transported around the body finally being used for energy, growth and repair.

    Read More

  • The Digestive System: The Digestive System

    1206 Words  | 3 Pages

    Digestion is defined as the process of transforming foods into unites for absorption. The Digestive System is a complex network of organisms that have six major processes: The digestion of food, the secretion of fluids and digestive enzymes, the mixing and movement of food and waste throughout the body, the digestion of food into smaller pieces, the absorption of nutrients, and the excretion of wastes (Inner Body (1).)

    Read More

  • The Digestive System And The Digestive System

    782 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...ve eaten, to break down the food into a liquid mixture and to slowly empty that liquid mixture into the small intestine. Once the bolus has entered your stomach it begins to be broken down with the help of the strong muscles and gastric juices which are located in the walls of your stomach. The gastric juices are made up of hydrochloric acid, water, and mucus- and the main enzyme inside of your stomach is what is known as pepsin, which needs to be surrounded in an acidic setting in order to do its job, that is to break down protein. Once the bolus has been inside of your stomach for long enough it begins to form into a liquid called chyme, and what keeps the chyme from flowing back into our esophagus are ring shaped muscles known as sphincters located at the beginnings and ends of the stomach and they have the task of controlling the flow of solids and liquids.

    Read More

  • digestion of a sandwich

    574 Words  | 2 Pages

    Imagine you are eating a sandwich containing wheat bread, ham, lettuce, and Swiss cheese. Do you ever wonder where the nutrients go from all of the previous listed ingredients? Well, when a bite of this sandwich is taken, the mouth produces a saliva enzyme called amylase. This enzyme immediately goes to work by breaking down the carbohydrates that are in the bread. Once, the bite is completely chewed, the contents then are swallowed and go down the esophagus and begin to head towards the upper esophageal sphincter and the is involuntarily pushed towards the stomach. The next passage for the sandwich is to go through the lower esophageal sphincter; which transports the sandwich into the stomach.

    Read More

  • The Digestive Process Of Nutrition And The Digestive System

    853 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Fetal Pig Dissection Essay

    996 Words  | 2 Pages

    During digestion, the body breaks down food into smaller molecules that could then be used by the body’s cells and tissues in order to perform functions. This starts off in the mouth with the physical movements of chewing and the chemical breakdown by saliva. Enzymes in the stomach break food down further after traveling from the mouth through the esophagus. The food from here then moves into the small intestine, where pancreatic juices and enzymes dissolve proteins, carbohydrates, and fibers, and bile from the liver breaks down fats into these small molecules. Any portion of the fibers or food that were unable to be broken down are passed from the small intestine to the large intestine, which is where the digestive tract transitions into the excretory tract, then the colon and out of the rectum. Any liquids that have been stripped of their nutrients by the body proceed from the stomach to the kidneys. In the kidneys, sodium ions (Na+), uric acid, and urea are exchanged with water, which moves urinary bladder and is excreted through the

    Read More

  • Nutrition And Digestion Essay

    2515 Words  | 6 Pages

    Digestion have a function of breaking down all food into our body. Our body use all nutrients to help in the process been health and growth. Digestion supplied small molecules that will be absorbed into our bloodstream.

    Read More

  • Digestion of Cheetos

    1001 Words  | 3 Pages

    Crunch, Crunch, Crunch. As you munch on those first few Cheetos the digestion process begins in your mouth. Here, mechanical digestion begins to reduce the size of the Cheeto and mixes the food particles with saliva. The tongue helps mix and move the pieces of Cheeto throughout the mouth. The salivary glands in the mouth also contribute to the breakdown of the Cheetos in the mouth. They secrete amylase and mucus. The parotid glands begin chemical digestion on the Cheetos. It secretes a clear, watery fluid that is high in amylase. The enzyme, amylase, begins to breakdown carbohydrates into disaccharides. The other two salivary glands, the submandibular and the sublingual, secrete saliva containing mucus, which binds and lubricates the Cheeto particles for easy swallowing. Now the food has been formed into a bolus with the help of saliva, the tongue, and teeth. Next the bolus travels into the pharynx, where the epiglottis closes off the top of the trachea so no food can enter. Then it moves on to the esophagus, where peristaltic waves push the food toward the stomach. The food enters the stomach through the cardiac sphincter at the end of the esophagus.

    Read More

  • Digestion of a Sandwich

    1738 Words  | 4 Pages

    As I look at the ham sandwich sitting on the plate before me, I start to feel queasy with disgust. The slab of ham is laced with fat. The white solid stuff is just sitting there, taunting me. Daring me to eat it. The bread is stale, crumbling, falling apart. I know that as soon as I pick up the sandwich, the bread is going to disintegrate in my fingers, leaving me with nothing but the malicious ham. No, I think to myself. I will not eat this sandwich.

    Read More

  • Mindful Eating Essay

    1210 Words  | 3 Pages

    Mindfulness unlocks your senses. It is the practice of being fully aware of what is happening within and around you in the moment. This is not easy to do! Practicing mindfulness helps people make better choices in regards to what and how they eat. There is a lot to learn here, but taking simple steps like noticing the smells, temperatures, textures and tastes of the foods in your meal is a good place to start. Mindful eating also requires you to reduce distractions such as physical, mental, social and emotional ones. People often find that they enjoy their food much more once beginning more mindful approaches to eating. Mindful eating also seems to improve food choices, in both what and how people eat. It essentially reshapes your relationship with food and makes eating more enjoyable because you learn your reactions to food preferences, habits and tastes.

    Read More

  • Pancreas Essay

    1638 Words  | 4 Pages

    The exocrine function of the pancreas is that it produces enzymes that aids in the digestion of food. There are three important enzymes that are crucial in helping with digestion. The first digestive enzyme is amylase. Amylase function is to break down carbohydrates. The amylase enzyme is made in two places: the cells in the digestive tract that produces saliva and the main one specifically found in the pancreas that are called the pancreatic amylase (Marie, Joanne; Media Demand, “What Are the Functions of Amylase, Protease and Lipase Digestive Enzymes”). The amylase in the pancreas passes through the pancreatic duct to the small intestines. This amylase in the pancreas completes the process of digestion of carbohydrates. Consequently, this leads to the production of glucose that gets absorbed into the bloodstream and gets carried throughout the body. The next enzyme that aids in digestion of food is protease. While amylase breaks down carbohydrates, protease breaks down protein. Protease breaks down protein into the building block form of amino acids. The three main proteases that it produces are: pepsin, trypsin and chymotrypsin (Marie, Joanne; Media Demand, “What Are the Functions of Amylase, Protease and Lipase Digestive Enzymes”). Pepsin does not occur in the pancreas but it is the catalysis in starting the digestion of proteins. Trypsin and chymotrypsin are the two proteases that occur in

    Read More

  • Understanding the Digestive System

    600 Words  | 2 Pages

    The human digestion system is very complex. It starts with the mouth, salivary glands, pharynx, esophagus, stomach, liver, pancreas, gallbladder, small intestine, large intestine, then ends/exits with the anus. Each step is essential to the whole system. For example, the mouth chews food and mixes it with saliva produced by the salivary glands, and then the pharynx swallows chewed food mixed with saliva, this is followed by the food traveling through the esophagus to the stomach where the food gets a bath and mixes with acids and enzymes. After the stomach, the liver, pancreas, and gallbladder produce, stores, and releases bile and bicarbonates. Bile is produced in the liver and aids in digestion and absorption of fat while the gallbladder stores bile and releases it into the small intestine when needed. Following the process into the small intestine, this is where nutrients will be absorbed into the blood or lymph (most digestion occurs here). Next is the large intestine this is where water and some vitamins and minerals are absorbed. Finally, it is the end of the road, the anus. At...

    Read More

  • Gastroenteritis Essay

    827 Words  | 2 Pages

    Gastroenteritis, sometimes referred to as infectious diarrhoea is a common disease that affects millions of people annually. It is a disease caused by viruses, bacteria or parasites that enter the human body and spread, which induce symptoms such as vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pain and nausea. Although it is a common occurrence in society and is usually not harmful, cases of gastroenteritis in less developed countries may have more fatal repercussions due to their inability to access ample means of treatment. Over time, as more research was conducted into the disease, scientific developments were made to aid those affected by gastroenteritis and reduce the number of fatalities by educating people regarding preventative methods.

    Read More

More about Digestion Essay

Open Document