Human Digestion

Assignment: Human Digestion Summary

Sean Putnam

SCI/241 - NUTRITION

Thu 05/02/2013

AURORA MERRY

Assignment: Human Digestion Summary

Write a 350- to 700-word summary in APA format describing the path food follows through the digestive system. Answer the following questions:

• How long does it take for food to go through the digestive system?

• How does digestion occur in each of the following parts of the digestive system?

o Large intestine

o Mouth

o Small intestine

o Stomach

o Note. Include descriptions of other organs or components of the digestive system.

From what I have learned from this week’s reading and watching the animated digestive tract. Digestion is the complex process of turning the food you eat into the energy you need to survive. The digestion process also involves creating waste to be eliminated. The digestion begins before one even takes a bite. When the smell of food makes the moth begin to water; that is the salivary glands getting ready for the food to inter the mouth. Once the food inters the mouth the saliva along with chewing the food begins the digestion process. This part of the process can take only few seconds depending on the food. The food continues to be digested as it goes through the esophagus and inters the stomach; the stomach is a sac-like organ with strong muscular walls. In addition to holding food, it serves as the mixer and grinder of food. The stomach secretes acid and powerful enzymes that continue the process of breaking the food down and changing it to a consistency of liquid or paste (Johnson, MD, July). After the food has been in the stomach for two to six hours, again depending on the type of food, it is now moved to the small intestine. In the small intestine the digestion is aided from secretions from the liver and pancreas. The small intestine is about 20 feet long and an inch in diameter. The job of the small intestine is to absorb most of the nutrients from...