LISTEN AND READ

 

 

 

The crushed food goes from the mouth to the esophagus and later to the stomach.

• The esophagus is a simple conduit between the mouth and stomach - clearly important but only marginally interesting compared to other regions of the tube.

• The stomach is a muscular sac that is located in the upper left portion of the abdominal cavity. The inner lining of the stomach wall contains millions of tiny gastric glands that secrete gastric juice, which dissolves the food to form a thick liquid that goes to the intestine.

 

After food has been preprocessed in the stomach, depending on what and how much is eaten, it is gradually passed through a sphincter valve, at the bottom of the stomach, into the small intestine for finishing and absorption. It is here that the pancreas and liver add their own digestive fluids to the mix, along with those of the gall bladder, which only processes fats and oils.

• The Pancreas: It has got important roles as both an endocrine and exocrine organ - provides a potent mixture of digestive enzymes to the small intestine which are critical for digestion of fats, carbohydrates and protein.

• Liver: The centre of metabolic activity in the body - its major role in the digestive process is to provide bile salts to the small intestine, which are critical for digestion and absorption of fats.