Digestive System at a Glance Your digestive system is a group of organs that break down food so that it can be used by the body

Food passes through the digestive tract. The digestive tract includes your mouth, pharynx, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, rectum, and anus

The liver, gallbladder, pancreas, and salivary glands are also part of the digestive system

Breaking Down Food In chemical digestion, large molecules are broken down into nutrients with the aid of enzymes The breaking, crushing, and mashing of food is called mechanical digestion

Digestion Begins in the Mouth Teeth With the help of strong jaw muscles, teeth break and grind food

Saliva contains an enzyme (amylases) that begins the chemical digestion of carbohydrates

Leaving the Mouth Once the food has been reduced to a soft mush, the tongue pushes it into the throat, which leads to a long, straight tube called the esophagus

Bifid uvula Uvulitis

The epiglottis and peristalsis

The Harsh Environment of the Stomach The stomach is a muscular, saclike, digestive organ attached to the lower end of the esophagus

Gastric juice is made up of hydrochloric acid (HCL) and pepsin, where long strains of protein will be cut into smaller chains of amino acids

Peptic Ulcer Disease, Gastric Ulcer, Stomach Ulcer

The Pancreas and Small Intestine The Pancreas is an organ located between the stomach and small intestine. Its makes fluids that protect the small intestine from the acid in chyme

The Liver and the Gallbladder The liver is a large, reddish brown organ that helps with digestion by making bile (or lipases) to break up fat. The gallbladder is where bile is stored

Homeostasis and Storage Maintain a constant level of sugar inside the blood Extra sugar is converted into glycogen

When sugar is needed, glycogen is break down into glucose The pancreas release insulin for this to happen

The liver also stores irons and vitamins. Sometimes even stored heavy metals if it can not break it down

Bile is stored in a saclike organ called the gallbladder, which squeezes the bile into the small intestine The liver also stores excess nutrients until the body is ready to absorb them into the bloodstream

The Small Intestine is a muscular tube that is about 2.5 cm in diameter. In the small intestine, nutrients are absorbed into the bloodstream through fingerlike projections called villi Sugars and amino acids enter the bloodstream through capillaries

The End of the Line Material that can’t be absorbed into the blood is pushed into the large intestine

The large intestine absorbs most of the water in undigested material and changes the liquid into semisolid waste material called feces, or stool Feces are stored in the rectum until they can be released

It has taken each of your meals about 24 hours to make this journey through your digestive system Feces pass to the outside of the body through an opening called the anus

Cancer of the Pancreas Colon Cancer Gastric Cancer, Stomach Cancer

Constipation Diarrhea

Digestion The Digestive System animation Digestive System (2nd Ed., Rev.) (Clip) Digestion 2 Enzymes, Food Digestion Endocrine System, Pancreas How the Body Works : The Digestive System How the Body Works : The Small Intestine How a peptic ulcer develops