Steps of digestive system how does it work

Your email address will not be published. Explore Health Beat:. Explore Inspire. What does your digestive system look like? From start to finish. For Spectrum Health Beat You just ate lunch and your stomach is making ridiculous noises. Step 2: Esophagus Once your food is broken down from saliva and chewing, it moves through your esophagus, which is the pipe that connects your mouth to your stomach. Step 3: Stomach Your stomach is where food is stored and further broken down by acid and powerful enzymes.

Step 4: Small Intestine Most nutrients are absorbed in the small intestine, where food is broken down even more by enzymes released from the pancreas and bile from the liver.

Step 5: Large Intestine, Colon, Rectum and Anus The colon is a 5- to 7-foot long muscular tube that connects the small intestine to the rectum. Did you enjoy this story? Share It:. Comments 78 Thanks for the good information. It would be helpful too if each stage was given an approximate chronology.

What about the liver, it filters blood from the digestive track. Thank you! The small intestine has three parts. The first part is called the duodenum.

The jejunum is in the middle and the ileum is at the end. The large intestine includes the appendix , cecum, colon , and rectum. The appendix is a finger-shaped pouch attached to the cecum. The cecum is the first part of the large intestine. The colon is next. The rectum is the end of the large intestine. Bacteria in your GI tract, also called gut flora or microbiome, help with digestion.

Parts of your nervous and circulatory systems also help. Working together, nerves, hormones , bacteria, blood, and the organs of your digestive system digest the foods and liquids you eat or drink each day. Digestion is important because your body needs nutrients from food and drink to work properly and stay healthy.

Proteins , fats , carbohydrates , vitamins , minerals , and water are nutrients. Your digestive system breaks nutrients into parts small enough for your body to absorb and use for energy, growth, and cell repair. MyPlate offers ideas and tips to help you meet your individual health needs. Each part of your digestive system helps to move food and liquid through your GI tract, break food and liquid into smaller parts, or both.

Once foods are broken into small enough parts, your body can absorb and move the nutrients to where they are needed. Your large intestine absorbs water, and the waste products of digestion become stool. Nerves and hormones help control the digestive process. Food moves through your GI tract by a process called peristalsis. The large, hollow organs of your GI tract contain a layer of muscle that enables their walls to move. The movement pushes food and liquid through your GI tract and mixes the contents within each organ.

The muscle behind the food contracts and squeezes the food forward, while the muscle in front of the food relaxes to allow the food to move. Food starts to move through your GI tract when you eat. When you swallow, your tongue pushes the food into your throat. All users are urged to always seek advice from a registered health care professional for diagnosis and answers to their medical questions and to ascertain whether the particular therapy, service, product or treatment described on the website is suitable in their circumstances.

The State of Victoria and the Department of Health shall not bear any liability for reliance by any user on the materials contained on this website. Skip to main content. Digestive system explained. Actions for this page Listen Print. Summary Read the full fact sheet. On this page.

The mouth and oesophagus The stomach The small intestine Pancreas Liver The large intestine Common problems in the digestive system Where to get help Things to remember.

The mouth and oesophagus Digestion begins in the mouth. The stomach The food passes through a sphincter, or small muscle ring, into the stomach.

The small intestine Once in the duodenum, the food is mixed with more digestive enzymes from the pancreas and bile from the liver. Pancreas The pancreas is one of the largest glands in the human body. Liver The liver has a number of different roles in the body, including: breaking down fats, using bile stored in the gall bladder processing proteins and carbohydrates filtering and processing impurities, drugs and toxins generation of glucose for short-term energy needs from other compounds like lactate and amino acids.

The large intestine Once all the nutrients have been absorbed, the waste is moved into the large intestine, or bowel. Common problems in the digestive system Some common problems include: colitis — inflammation of the bowel diverticulitis — inflammation of pouches lining the small intestine gastroenteritis — an infection that causes vomiting and diarrhoea heartburn — when the contents of the stomach back up into the oesophagus ulcer — a hole in the mucous membrane lining the stomach or duodenum.

Segmentation , which occurs mainly in the small intestine, consists of localized contractions of circular muscle of the muscularis layer of the alimentary canal. These contractions isolate small sections of the intestine, moving their contents back and forth while continuously subdividing, breaking up, and mixing the contents.

By moving food back and forth in the intestinal lumen, segmentation mixes food with digestive juices and facilitates absorption. In chemical digestion , starting in the mouth, digestive secretions break down complex food molecules into their chemical building blocks for example, proteins into separate amino acids. These secretions vary in composition, but typically contain water, various enzymes, acids, and salts.

The process is completed in the small intestine. Food that has been broken down is of no value to the body unless it enters the bloodstream and its nutrients are put to work. This occurs through the process of absorption , which takes place primarily within the small intestine. There, most nutrients are absorbed from the lumen of the alimentary canal into the bloodstream through the epithelial cells that make up the mucosa.

Lipids are absorbed into lacteals and are transported via the lymphatic vessels to the bloodstream the subclavian veins near the heart. The details of these processes will be discussed later. In defecation , the final step in digestion, undigested materials are removed from the body as feces. Age-related changes in the digestive system begin in the mouth and can affect virtually every aspect of the digestive system.

Swallowing can be difficult, and ingested food moves slowly through the alimentary canal because of reduced strength and tone of muscular tissue. Neurosensory feedback is also dampened, slowing the transmission of messages that stimulate the release of enzymes and hormones.

Pathologies that affect the digestive organs—such as hiatal hernia, gastritis, and peptic ulcer disease—can occur at greater frequencies as you age. Problems in the small intestine may include duodenal ulcers, maldigestion, and malabsorption.

Problems in the large intestine include hemorrhoids, diverticular disease, and constipation. Conditions that affect the function of accessory organs—and their abilities to deliver pancreatic enzymes and bile to the small intestine—include jaundice, acute pancreatitis, cirrhosis, and gallstones.

In some cases, a single organ is in charge of a digestive process. For example, ingestion occurs only in the mouth and defecation only in the anus. However, most digestive processes involve the interaction of several organs and occur gradually as food moves through the alimentary canal Figure 2.

Figure 2.