How your digestive system works - Emma Bryce

It’s a long tube that transports all your food through one end of your body to the other. During this trip down your body it is broken apart, digested and then the rest is disposed.

These organs all break down food into tiny little pieces, so it can be digested afterwards.

These four cell types work together to digest the broken down food and then transport the final products to where it’s needed.

This is the tissue that supports and position all the digestive organs in the right place.

1. Saliva is produced before eating
2. You crush the food in your mouth and mix it with the saliva, this mix is called the bolus. Enzymes in the saliva break down any starch
3. The bolus then travels down your esophagus into your stomach
4. The muscles in the stomachs wall pound the bolus into little bits. Hormones then trigger acids and enzymes that help break down the food
5. The liver, gallbladder and pancreas create digestive juices and bile which are then transported to the small intestine where fat is disolved and protein and carbs are broken down. These are transported through blood to the final organs

1. Leftover fiber water and dead cells from the digestion make their way through the large intestine. Most of the water is drained out, leaving stool
2. This then is squeezed into the rectum and expells the waste through the anus

The entire process usually takes in between 30 and 40 hours.