our mission
The Digestive System Mission Statement:
We, the teeth, esophagus, stomach, liver, pancreas, and intestines large and small, do solemnly swear to assist the inhabitant of this body to collect energy from those consumed foods. We swear to chew, swallow, break down, and pull water from the foods mentioned.
We, the teeth, esophagus, stomach, liver, pancreas, and intestines large and small, do solemnly swear to assist the inhabitant of this body to collect energy from those consumed foods. We swear to chew, swallow, break down, and pull water from the foods mentioned.
roadmap
The average sandwich has a 12 to 48 hour trip from the Ziploc bag to the toilet. It has to pass through your chomping jaws, then get squeezed down the esophagus into the stomach. There, it is churned into a pulpy mess and shipped off to the small intestine, where it is combined with acids from the pancreas and liver. Tiny structures called villi absorb nutrients as it passes through the small intestine, turning it into a moist mixture of waste matter. Your sandwich then enters the large intestine, where most of the water is sucked from it. By the time you're ready to flush, it's a relatively dry chunk of waste that doesn't even remotely resemble your sandwich.
bag o' acid
Your stomach can't digest food on its own, you know. It has outside help from the pancreas and liver, which supply it with hydrochloric acid. This helps to dissolve food, while a thick layer of mucus lining your stomach keeps the hydrochloric acid from damaging your organs. Sometimes, though, there are holes in the mucus lining. This is what causes ulcers.
long story
The small intestine isn't really small at all. Stretched out, it measures about 23 feet long. That's about the length of four of the average men laying in a straight line. It is called the small intestine not because of the length, but because it is so much thinner than the colon, or large intestine.
two sides of the same coin
The large and small intestines are always thought of as a pair. You can't have one without the other. Really, though, they're more than just two similarly functioning organs. The small intestine receives food and acid from the stomach, pancreas, and liver. The food is then squeezed through the small intestine, where small wiggly strands called villi absorb nutrients from it. By the time your food reaches the colon, it is a moist lump of waste matter. This is soon to change, as the large intestine is best at sucking water out of the waste. Every last drop of water that can be used is pulled from it and put to use.