The Digestive System

How Your Digestive System Works

We’ve all heard that eating good foods helps keep our bodies well and strong. Within your body, your digestive system makes that possible. Breaking down the foods you eat to release basic nutrients into your blood stream, your digestive system also rids your body of the resulting waste.

The primary organs of the gastrointestinal tract include the esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine (also called the colon), and the rectum. Other organs that play a role in digestion include the liver, pancreas, and gallbladder.

Food from your mouth passes to your stomach via your esophagus, moved along by waves of muscle contractions. Your stomach acts as a kind of storage container. There, food is mixed with digestive substances that partially break down the food so that the nutrients can be absorbed by other organs. High acidity in the stomach also kills bacteria to protect your body from infection.The food passes into the small intestine in small, manageable amounts. Using digestive fluids it receives from the pancreas and liver, the small intestine further digests and absorbs the food. Thousands of small folds in the lining increase its surface area for greater absorption. The folds are full of blood vessels that carry the nutrients to the rest of the body.

The partially digested food material then passes into the large intestine, which continues the digestion and absorbs water and other liquids. The large intestine contains natural bacteria that help in the digestion and absorption process. The solid waste material that is left over then passes into the rectum, where it leaves the body through defecation.