NAME: HANNAH KRISTEL B.

OGENA
GRADE IV – ST. SIMON
SCIENCE
MRS. AMPARO RAMOS

What is the stomach’s function?

Your stomach’s purpose is to digest food and send it to your small
intestine. It has three functions:

 Temporarily store food.

 Contract and relax to mix and break down food.
 Produce enzymes and other specialized cells to digest food.

Food moves through your GI tract in a few steps:

1. Mouth: As you chew and swallow, your tongue pushes food into your
throat. A small piece of tissue called the epiglottis covers your
windpipe. The epiglottis prevents choking.
2. Esophagus: Food travels down a hollow tube called the esophagus.
At the bottom, your esophageal sphincter relaxes to let food pass to
your stomach. (A sphincter is a ring-shaped muscle that tightens and
loosens.)
3. Stomach: Your stomach creates digestive juices and breaks down
food. It holds food until it is ready to empty into your small intestine.
4. Small intestine: Food mixes with the digestive juices from your
intestine, liver and pancreas. Your intestinal walls absorb nutrients
and water from food and send waste products to the large intestine.
5. Large intestine: Your large intestine turns waste products into stool.
It pushes the stool into your rectum.
6. Rectum: The rectum is the lower portion of your large intestine. It
stores stool until you have a bowel movement.