1. The Digestive System
By: Mike Phelan

2. Mouth Teeth break up food into smaller pieces
When food enters the mouth, the teeth start to grind up the food so it has an easier time traveling down the esophagus. To keep this part of your body healthy, people should not chew tobacco or smoke to prevent mouth cancer. Also, if you brush your teeth every day, it helps get rid of plaque build-up and keeps your gums from developing gingivitis.

3. Saliva Moistens food Starts to break down food
In the mouth, saliva starts working and it, too, starts to break down food. It also moistens the food to help it go down the esophagus. Use the tips to keep your mouth healthy to prevent unhealthy saliva and too much bacteria in the mouth, causing the immune system to work harder, making it more susceptible to disease, from severe dental problems to bad breath.
Moistens food
Starts to break down food

4. Esophagus Lined with muscles Pushes food to the stomach Mixes food
Once the food is broken down enough in the mouth, the tongue pushes the food down the esophagus. Then the muscles in the esophagus push the food toward the stomach. It is important to keep this passageway healthy. To keep it healthy, people need to visit the doctor about once a year to check to see if they have any allergies. If they do, then when they eat that food, their esophagus begins to close. Also, if someone has a cold then they could get a sore throat, so it is good to take allergy medicines.

5. Stomach Can hold 2-4 liters of food Stores food
Once the food has passed down the esophagus and into the stomach, it goes to work by churning food into a soupy liquid with the help of chemicals. When it’s done, it stores the food until it is ready to go into the small intestine. To keep your stomach healthy is really simple – all you have to do is eat a balanced diet and drink a lot of liquids. By doing this, you stay thin and give your whole body nutrients. Plus eating junk food can cause heartburn. This happens when some foods relax the valve that prevents the stomach acids from entering the esophagus and lets the juices come up and irritate your esophagus.
Can hold 2-4 liters of food
Stores food
Turns food into a soupy liquid with chemicals
Churns food

6. Small Intestine
Broken down into small enough particles to allow the nutrients in the food to go into the bloodstream
2-4 cm. in diameter
Villi absorb
The small intestine’s main job is to absorb nutrients so that they can go into the bloodstream. They can do this because of villi. There are thousands of villi that cover the inside of the small intestine. This would not be able to happen if it had not been for the mouth, the esophagus, and the stomach that food has passed through, because now it is small enough to be absorbed. Keeping this healthy is important because if you don’t, then your small intestine cannot allow food to pass through so smoothly. The way to prevent this is a healthy diet and exercise.

7. Large Intestine Water and salt is absorbed
Things it doesn’t absorb are feces
Muscles move feces to the anus
After the small intestine absorbs most of the food, it passes it on to the large intestine where the water is taken out. The water is absorbed into the bloodstream and brought to the cells, just as in the small intestine. Drinking lots of fluids and eating fiber is a good way to make the large intestine work better.

8. Anus Exit point for feces Strong muscles to get rid of solid waste
The anus is the exit point for all the feces, or food that has not been absorbed into the bloodstream. The anus is lined with muscles that move the feces. It works similar to the esophagus, but it is getting rid of feces instead of moving food to the stomach. Keeping your anus healthy is as simple as good hygiene and a balanced diet. If you don’t eat right, you can develop diabetes, and since during diabetes there is not enough insulin produced, it causes there to be a lot of waste (since insulin transports glucose to the cells), making the anus work harder than it has to.

9. Pancreas Is an organ Outside digestive tract
Produces chemicals that help digestion of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins
Helps neutralize stomach acid
The pancreas is an organ that is outside the digestive tract. It makes chemicals that help digest fats, carbohydrates, and proteins. Also, it neutralizes stomach acids. To keep the pancreas healthy is simple – by just eating right, it can prevent it from working harder than it needs to neutralize stomach acid. If you eat a lot of fatty foods, for instance, over time it can cause people to develop diabetes, which is where the pancreas does not make enough insulin.

10. Liver Produces bile Stores fats and carbohydrates
The liver is an organ that creates bile and then moves it on to the gallbladder where it is stored. The bile that is produced breaks down fats during digestion. By eating a healthy diet you can make the liver work a lot less, because if you’re eating fatty food, it causes the liver to produce more and more bile to break it down.
Produces bile
Stores fats and carbohydrates

11. Gallbladder Stores bile Releases bile into the small intestine
The gallbladder is the place where all the bile is stored after it is produced from the liver. The bile is produced to break down fats during digestion. Lastly if you eat healthy, like you need to do for almost every other body part, it will keep the gallbladder healthy and not have to work as hard since healthy foods don’t have fat, and then the gallbladder doesn’t have to store a lot of bile.
Stores bile
Releases bile into the small intestine
Bile breaks down fats