Human Digestion

Human Digestion

Betty Grissett

11/02/13

SCI/241

In understanding how long it takes for food to go through the digestive system varies between men, women, and children. Through your stomach and small intestine it takes six to eight hours for food to pass through, entering your colon (large intestine) for further digestion. This absorption of water process finally eliminates any undigested food. From eating to elimination in your stool, this averages for men through the large intestine at about 33 hours, this is the depending on the women or man situation because women it takes around 47 hours for women. In children it takes around 33 hours to transmit from mouth to anus. With the mouth the first part of the gastrointestinal tract, I want to begin with it; this is where the food is taken in and where the digestion process begins. In the mouth, chewing, grinding, and mixing the food for further digestion plays the role here. With your tonsils, pharynx, tongue, gums, posterior pillar, and uvula working together this makes for a better swallowing process, also this helps with not choking on your food. Pharynx is where it passes though after entering the mouth and leaving your tongue. The stomach receiving food from the esophagus comes with the process now and it’s a temporary storage and mixing sack. The stomach has exocrine secretion, hydrochloric acid, intrinsic factor, pepsinogen, and mucus. Food mixed in with the secretions helps to process the food particles to the small intestine. The small intestine finishes the process of digestion, which absorbs the nutrients and passes the residue on to the large intestine. Associated with the small intestines are the liver, gallbladder, and pancreas. Divided into three sections, duodenum, jejunum, and ileum the small intestine follows the GI tract structure. This is the major site of digestion, 90% of absorption, plus here the small intestine protects against infection. The large intestine...