Suggest other organs associated with the digestive
system? Explain how do they play
their role in
digestion
Answers
Answer:
Food enters the mouth and passes to the anus through the hollow organs of the GI tract. The liver, pancreas, and gallbladder are the solid organs of the digestive system. The digestive system helps the body digest food. Bacteria in the GI tract, also called gut ffora or microbiome, help with digestion.
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Answer:
energy and waste products. This process takes place in the gastrointestinal tract, a long, connected, tubular structure that starts with the mouth and ends with the anus. The food is propelled forward within the system, altered by enzymes and hormones into usable particles and absorbed along the way. Other organs that support the digestive process are the liver, gallbladder, and pancreas. The time it takes for food to travel from entering the mouth to be excreted as waste is around 30 to 40 hours.
The mouth
The mouth is the entry point for food, but the digestive system often gets ready before the first piece of food even enters our mouth. Saliva is released by the salivary glands into our oral cavity when we smell food. Once the food enters the mouth, chewing (mastication) breaks food into smaller particles that can be more easily attacked by the enzymes in saliva. Our teeth can perform a cutting as well as grinding function to accomplish this task. The tongue assists in mixing the food with the saliva and then the tongue and roof of the mouth (soft palate) help move the food along to the pharynx and esophagus.
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The pharynx and esophagus
The pharynx (throat) is the transition area from the mouth to the esophagus. From the pharynx there are two paths that the food bolus can take; 1) the wrong path, which is down the windpipe into the lungs, or 2) the correct path into the esophagus and then the stomach. The act of swallowing is a complex process that closes the windpipe (to protect our lungs) and moves food into the esophagus. This process is mostly automatic (reflex) but it is also partially under our direct control.
Once it enters the esophagus, food is moved down the esophagus and into our stomach. The esophagus is a muscular tube that contracts in a synchronized fashion (peristalsis) to move food down towards the stomach. While the muscles behind the food product contract, the muscles ahead of the food relax, causing the forward propulsion of the food. Peristalsis is the main mechanism by which food moves through our digestive system.
Once the food approaches the stomach, a muscular valve (the lower esophageal sphincter) relaxes and lets the food pass into the stomach. This sphincter has the important function of closing the stomach so no food or stomach acid reenters the esophagus (and therefore avoiding heartburn or regurgitation).
The stomach and small intestine
From glands that line the stomach, acid and enzymes are secreted that continue the breakdown process of the food. The stomach muscles further mix the food. At the end of this process, the food you placed in your mouth has been transformed to a thick creamy fluid called chyme.
This thick fluid is then pushed into the duodenum (the first part of the small intestine). With the help of enzymes from the pancreas and bile from the liver, further breakdown of the food occurs in the small intestine.
The small intestine has three segments. The first segment is the duodenum where further breakdown of the food takes place. The next two parts of the small intestine (jejunum and ileum) are mostly responsible for the absorption of nutrients from the processed food into the bloodstream through the walls of the intestine.
After the small intestine, the leftover waste leaves the upper gastrointestinal tract (upper GI tract) which is made up of everything above the large intestine, and moves into the large intestine or colon (the beginning of the lower GI tract).