Briefly describe the path of food through the digestive system and explain each organ's role in the

digestive process. Research two digestive dysfunctions that can occur and discuss how each of them
could impact a person's health.
To understand the path of food through the digestive system, we must also understand the main
function of Digestive system. Digestion, absorption and excretion are the main task of our digestive
system. The digestive system is made up of the gastrointestinal track also called GI track and organs
like liver, pancreas and gallbladder. The GI track is a long twisting muscular tube includes the
mouth, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine and the anus. Each part of our digestive
system helps to move food and liquids through our GI track. As we cannot absorb whole food
directly so our digestive system break down the food in to smaller molecules of nutrients with the
aid of enzymes and hormones so our body can use them for energy production, cell repair and
growth.

Our digestive activity starts even before we start to eat the food. When we smell the food our brain
sends signal to the salivary gland to make the mouth water and to the stomach to secrete gastric
juice.
Once the food is swallowed, more saliva is produced which helps to moisturize the food and starts
to break down carbohydrates with the help of enzymes. After the food is chewed and is formed in to
small pieces also known as bolus, it is pushed to the pharynx also known as throat. A small cartilage
“lid” also known as epiglottis closes trachea so the partially chewed food can enter in to the
esophagus. Esophagus is a tube which connects mouth to the stomach. When the food reaches the
end of our esophagus through peristalsis which is a series of wave-like muscle contraction, a ring
like muscle called lower esophageal sphincter (LES) which controls food entering into the stomach
opens, letting food pass into the stomach and then closes. After the food enter in the stomach, it
mix the food with gastric juices. This mixture of partially digested food and gastric juices is also
known as chyme. Another ring-like muscle called pyloric sphincter at the lower end of the stomach
slowly releases chyme in to small Intestine.

Small intestine is made up of duodenum, jejunum and ileum. Each part plays an important role in
nutrient absorption. Small intestine continue the breaking down of food with enzymes released by
pancreas and bile produced by the liver and stored in gallbladder. The walls of the small intestine
absorb water and the digested nutrients into our bloodstream. As peristalsis continues, anything left
in this process pushed through to the large intestine.

Large intestine also known as colon is a long muscular tube and is made up of the cecum, ascending
portion, transverse portion, descending portion, sigmoid portion, rectum and anus. The large
intestine absorbs water and any remaining nutrients from waste that is left over from digestive
process and changes the waste in to more solid stools. The rectum stores stools until it pushes stool
out of the body through the anus.

Gastroesophageal Reflux disease also known as GERD is digestive dysfunction. GERD occurs
when LES (lower esophageal sphincter) the ring like muscle between esophagus and stomach not
works properly. It opens more often or opens at wrong time, allowing the stomach’s contents to flow
back up into the esophagus. GERD can cause heartburn, sore throat, chest pain, vomiting, bloating or
even tooth erosion and if it is not treated it can cause further serious health problems such as
inflammation, irritation or swelling of the esophagus also known as esophagitis, esophagus ulcers,
esophageal cancer or strictures. Another digestive dysfunction is inflammatory bowel disease also
known as IBD. The type of IBD include ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. In this condition the
intestine become inflamed. IBD can cause severe diarrhea, abdominal pain, fever and fatigue,
reduced appetite, blood in stools and even weight loss. If IBD is not treated it can cause severe
health problems like colon cancer, ulcers in the digestive track, increase the risk of blood clots in
veins and arteries, toxic megacolon, which is a condition where the colon swell and widen rapidly, a
hole in colon usually caused by toxic megacolon but can also occur by its own.