Story of the food through the digestive
A chunk of food enters The first ever digestion of food takes place in the
the digestive system mouth as it enters the body. First mechanical
digestion takes place, using the 3 types of teeth in
our mouth, the molars are for chewing and
grinding, canines are for ripping and tearing and
incisors are for slicing and cutting. By working
together, they break the down into smaller pieces.
Doing this increases the surface area for enzymes
to break them down, which increases the speed.
The tongue helps to mix the saliva with the food, as
saliva is needed for chemical breakdown as it
contains a digestive enzyme called amylase, this
breaks down starch into maltose. 1 ball or many
saliva(enzyme)-food balls are produced, these are
called boluses. This bolus then goes down the
throat and into the oesophagus.
The bolus travels down the oesophagus and
into the stomach using muscle
contractions(peristalsis), this is used so that the
food always travels to the stomach, even if you
are upside down.
There are two muscles producing this,
longitudinal (goes down and circular muscles
(goes around the oesophagus). After the food
enters the stomach. The lower oesophagus
sphincter closes, to stop stomach acid coming
up the oesophagus, which will erode it.
Mechanical digestion happens further in the
stomach involving stomach muscles breaking
down food into smaller pieces for the same reason
as before. Gastric juices are then secreted into the
stomach. These gastric juices contain acids and
enzymes. The acids (hydrochloric acid) do not
break down the food, but instead kill all pathogens
contained in it. Chemical digestion also happens
here; an enzyme called pepsin is involved in the
break down proteins. The stomach thwn pushes
the food through to the duodenum.