Meet the Organs
This muscular tube connects your throat to your stomach and uses wave-like muscle contractions called peristalsis to move food down.
what is the esophagus?
This watery liquid in your mouth contains enzymes that start breaking down starches and carbohydrates right away.
what is saliva?
This process happens when nutrients pass through the walls of your digestive system and into your blood.
what is absorption?
This painful, burning feeling in your chest happens when stomach acid leaks upward into your esophagus.
what is acid reflux?
This organ produces bile to help break down fats and processes nutrients absorbed from the small intestine.
what is the liver?
This is the type of digestion that uses chemicals and enzymes to break large food molecules into smaller nutrients.
what is chemical digestion?
These tiny, finger-like bumps line the inside of the small intestine to give it more surface area to absorb nutrients.
what is villi?
If your large intestine doesn't absorb enough water from waste, it results in this uncomfortable, watery condition.
what is diarhea?
This small, pear-shaped pouch sits under the liver and stores bile until it is needed in the small intestine.
what is the gallbladder?
This specific type of strong acid is found inside your stomach and helps kill bacteria while breaking down food.
what is stomach acid
The large intestine is responsible for absorbing this major, life-saving fluid so your body doesn't get dehydrated.
what is water?
If you stretched out an adult's entire digestive tract from end to end, it would be roughly this long in feet.
what is about 30 feet?
This long, coiled section of the GI tract is where roughly 90% of nutrient and water absorption happens, lined with tiny finger-like projections called villi.
what is the small intestine?
These special proteins act as biological catalysts to speed up the chemical breakdown of your food.
what are enzymes?
Millions of these helpful microscopic organisms live in your large intestine and help make essential vitamins like Vitamin K.
what is bacteria?
Your stomach is lined with a thick layer of this slippery substance to protect itself from being eaten away by its own strong acid.
what is mucus?