Teeth Choop Food: Journey Through The Digestive System
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The mouth is where food begins its journey through the digestive system. There are many different organs in the mouth which play keys roles in digestion, including, teeth, tongue and salivary glands. Digestion begins as soon as food enters the mouth (117). Teeth chop food down into small enough pieces to be which increase the surface area available to enzymes. The salivary glands are accessory organs that produce saliva. Saliva helps moisten food begins the digestion of carbohydrates (WebMD). The body uses saliva to lubricate food as it passes through the mouth down to the esophagus.
As food is being swallowed, the epiglottis closes off the air passage and prevents choking as the food travels down the esophagus (WebMD). The esophagus is the…show more content… The stomach is the enlarged, muscular, saclike portion of the digestive tract between the esophagus and the small intestine, with a capacity of about 1 quart (117). The stomach cells produce secretions that are collectively called gastric juice. After swallowing, salivary amylase continues to digest carbohydrates. An important action of the stomach is to continue mixing food with GI secretions to produce the semiliquid chyme. When the chyme is ready to leave the stomach, about 30 to 40 percent of carbohydrate, 10 to 20 percent of protein, and less than 10 percent of fat have been digested (118). The stomach normally empties in one to four hours, depending on the types and amounts of food eaten. Carbohydrates speed through the stomach in the shortest time, followed by protein and fat. The higher the fat content of a meal, the longer it will take to leave the…show more content… It produces and secretes 600 to 1,000 milliliters of bile daily. Bile acts as an emulsifier by reducing large globs into smaller globs. This process breaks no bonds in fat molecules, but it increases the surface area of fat, allowing more contact between fat molecules and enzymes in the small intestine. The liver also serves as a detoxification center that filters toxic substances from the blood and alters their chemical forms. The liver is a chemical factory—performing over 500 chemical functions that include the production of blood proteins, cholesterol, and sugars (116). The liver is also a warehouse that stores vitamins, hormones, cholesterol, minerals, and sugars, releasing them through the blood stream as