Human Digestion

Human Digestion
Tamika Youngblood
SCI/241
July 20, 2010

The digestive system is a series of organs that are joined in a long, twisting tube from the mouth
to the anus. This tube has a lining called the mucosa. For example, in the mouth, stomach, and
small intestine, the mucosa contains tiny glands that produce juices to help digest food. The
digestive tract also contains a layer of smooth muscle that help break down food and move it
along the tract. Two solid organs, the liver and the pancreas, produce digestive juices that reach
the intestine through small tubes. The path food follows through the digestive system, and
digestion occurs in each of the following parts of the digestive system, including the mouth,
down the esophagus, the stomach, small intestines, large intestines, and exits the anus. The
digestive process includes the following food path. The first major muscle movement is
swallowing food or liquid. The esophagus, which connects the throat above with the stomach
below, is the first organ into which the swallowed food goes? The food then enters the stomach,
this completes three mechanical tasks which includes stores, mixes, and empties. First, the
stomach stores the swallowed food and liquid, which requires the muscle of the upper part of the
stomach to relax and accept large volume of swallowed material. Second, the lower part of the
stomach mixes up the food, liquid, and digestive juices produced by the stomach. Third, the
stomach empties the contents into the small intestine. The food is digested in the small intestine
and dissolved by the juices from the pancreas, liver, intestine, and the contents of the intestine
are mixed and pushed toward further digestion. Last, the digested nutrients are absorbed through
the intestinal walls. The waste products, including undigested parts of the food, known as fiber,
and older cells that have been shed from the mucosa, move into   the colon. Waste products
usually...