Functions Of The Digestive System

864 Words2 Pages

The organs of the digestive system are in two different groups. One is the alimentary canal known by as the gastrointestinal tract. It is a muscular tube that digests the food and breaks it down and absorbs the digested fragments in the lining of the blood. The organs in the gastrointestinal tract are the mouth which the food comes into the body and out of the body by peristalsis. The pharynx called the throat which receives the food; this is where swallowing occurs, while the esophagus transports the food to the stomach. The esophagus is a muscular tube that food is pushed into by contractions caused by peristalsis. Also food is kept in the stomach by the esophageal sphincter (LES), which opens to let food pass into the stomach and closes to keep it there. Now the stomach it is the storage system and grinder of the digestive system. It secretes acids and enzymes that break down the food. Those that cannot be broken down are passed through the small intestine to be taken care of. The small intestine is made up of three sections the duodenum responsible for the breakdown of the food, jejunum, and ileum which are responsible for the absorption of food; it also has enzymes that also break down food released by the pancreas and liver. The large intestine is where the waste goes to the anus. The accessory digestive organs are the teeth, tongue, gallbladder, salivary glands, pancreas, and liver. The teeth help to chew the food while the tongue helps to reposition the food to teeth to be chewed. The salivary glands are associated with the section of saliva which cleans the mouth, dissolves food chemicals to be tasted, moisten foods, and enzymes to break down starchy food. The pancreas, liver, gallbladder are responsible for the secretio...

... middle of paper ...

...e small intestine. Improvments will not be seen in short stature and dental enamel defects. But sometimes those who are on the gluten diets show no improvements since small amounts of gluten are still being consumed. Also cross contamination can occur if a product that has gluten comes in contact with one that does not. And even though a person may be on a strict gluten diet there intestine may not heal. The fact that their intestines are severely damaged they have no hoped for them to be healed this is called refractory celiac disease. They may need to receive nutrients directly into their bloodstream through a vein, or intravenously. To find out what product you should get without gluten you can go seek a dietician. That will be able to help you find a diet that works for you. Through research there are now hope for drugs to be able to treat celiac disease.

More about Functions Of The Digestive System

Open Document