Nutrition

Aaron Clemons

SCI/241 Nutrition

July 24, 2013

Julie Pybas

Describe, in 200 to 300 words, the path food follows through the digestive system and how digestion occurs in each of the following parts of the digestive system.

Include descriptions of other organs or components of the digestive system, including:

Large intestine

Mouth

Small intestine

Stomach 

After food enters the mouth and after being chewed by the teeth, the food then transforms into a bolus. Bolus refers to the soft mass of chewed food that passes through the digestive system. The bolus then leaves the mouth and moves into the pharynx. The bolus then travels down into the esophagus, which leads to the stomach. Once the bolus enters the stomach, it begins to mix with the acid secretions transforming the bolus into chyme. Chyme is the semifluid mass of partially digested food expelled from the stomach in to the duodenum. Depending on the size and type of meal digested, chyme usually empties from the stomach in 2 to 6 hours. The liver, gallbladder and pancreas begin to contribute to the digestive process once the chyme reaches the small intestine.

The digestive system is important because when you eat foods—such as bread, meat, and vegetables—they are not in a form that the body can use as nourishment. Food and drink must be changed into smaller molecules of nutrients before they can be absorbed into the blood and carried to cells throughout the body. Digestion is the process by which food and drink are broken down into their smallest parts so the body can use them to build and nourish cells and to provide energy

There are two types of digestion: Mechanical and chemical. The teeth carry out mechanical digestion. There are 4 types of teeth: Incisors: eight front teeth, four on the top and four on the bottom. Shaped for biting, and cutting. Canines: four teeth located on either side of the incisors. Two on the top and two on the bottom. Shaped for tearing food. Pre molars: Eight...