Major Organs Of The Digestive System
What are the major organs of the digestive system?
Major Organs Of The Digestive System
The digestive system is an important biological system inside our body. It is the function of the digestive system to digest the food we eat into useful energy and excretory wastes. Without the proper functioning of the digestive system, an organism cannot lead a normal lifestyle. Kidney failure may eventually lead to other complications and may become fatal if necessary treatment is not received. We have to look into every organ involved in the digestive process. The primary organ is the mouth itself. The saliva present in the mouth would start the process of digestion from the mouth itself. Teeth will help to convert the food into a paste form so that it can be easily digested by other organs. That is why it’s important to chew the food well. The chewed food will then go to the stomach via the oesophagus. The esophagus has a wavy unidirectional movement named peristalsis, which helps in the movement of food
The food reaches the stomach and gets digested in the Hydrochloric acid secreted in the stomach. Later, the food moves to the small intestine, where the absorption process occurs; the energy is absorbed by the body in this phase.
The food then moves to the large intestine and the rectum. The food is now fully converted to energy, and the only remaining is excretory waste. The waste is expelled via anus. The digestive process is regulated by many hormones, the liver and the kidneys.
– Written by Edutuber Mallu
The digestive system helps in the digestion and absorption of food that we eat. It starts from mouth and ends at anus.
The process of digestion begins in the mouth itself. The human mouth, rather the buccal cavity, consists of salivary glands that secrete salivary amylase, an enzyme that digests starch. Thus, the food we chew/masticate is being digested in the mouth. Almost 30% of the starch gets digested in the mouth.
The food, now known as the bolus, moves to the stomach through a long, tube-like structure called the oesophagus. The oesophagus does not secrete any enzymes. It simply acts as the passage for the movement of food/bolus. The bolus moves through the oesophagus by peristalsis.
It reaches the stomach. The stomach is guarded by the cardiac sphincter. The food is acted upon by various enzymes. The stomach consists of 3 parts: the upper cardiac region, the middle fundus region and the pyloric region. This food is still semi-digested and in a semi-liquid state. The food, now known as chyme, moves from the pyloric part of the stomach to the small intestine.
The small intestine is made of 3 parts- duodenum, jejunum and ileum. The walls of the small intestine consist of microvilli that help in the absorption of food. The small intestine secretes several enzymes known as ‘succus entericus’. The enzymes released first digest the chyme, and then the nutrients are absorbed. The large intestine does not participate in digestion. It absorbs water and minerals and prepares the wastes that are passed out from the body as faeces.
Other parts of the digestive system include-
The gall bladder forms bile that helps in the emulsification of fats, leading to their absorption.
The pancreas secretes most of the enzymes that help in digestion.
The food gets digested and absorbed through a complex mechanism. Each nutrient gets broken into its simplest forms and then is absorbed. As Carbohydrates get broken into starch and then into their monomer, which is glucose units. The entire process is a complex mechanism.
– Written by Manpreet
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