Digestive System

Your Digestive System and How It Works
On this page:
  * Why is digestion important?
  * How is food digested?
  * How is the digestive process controlled?
  * For More Information

1. Esophagus       2. Liver       3. Stomach       4. Gallbladder       5.Duodenum       6. Pancreas       7. Transverse Colon       8. Descending colon       9. Ascending colon       10.Jejunum                 11. Small intestine       12. Sigmoid colon       13.Cecum       14.Ileum       15. Appendix     16.Rectum Anus

The digestive system.
The digestive system is made up of the digestive tract—a series of hollow organs joined in a long, twisting tube from the mouth to the anus—and other organs that help the body break down and absorb food (see figure).
Organs that make up the digestive tract are the mouth, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine—also called the colon—rectum, and anus. Inside these hollow organs is a lining called the mucosa. 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 helps break down food and move it along the tract.
Two “solid” digestive organs, the liver and the pancreas, produce digestive juices that reach the intestine through small tubes called ducts. The gallbladder stores the liver’s digestive juices until they are needed in the intestine. Parts of the nervous and circulatory systems also play major roles in the digestive system.
Why is digestion important?
When you eat foods—such as bread, meat, and vegetables—they are not in a form that the body can use as nourishment. Food and drink must be changed into smaller molecules of nutrients before they can be absorbed into the blood and carried to cells throughout the body. Digestion is the process by which food and drink are broken down into their smallest parts so the body can use them to build and nourish cells and to provide energy.
How is... [continues]

Read full essay