Name: __________________________________________ Grade & Section: ______________ Date: __________ Score: ____

Activity 1: Tracking Food through my Digestive System

Direction: Label the parts of the digestive system given below. Give the function of each part.

Functions:

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What is Digestion?
Digestion is the complex process of turning the food you eat into nutrients, which the body uses for energy, growth and cell
repair needed to survive. The digestion process also involves creating waste to be eliminated. 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. Proteins break into amino acids, fats break into fatty acids and glycerol
and carbohydrates break into simple sugar.

What is the Digestive System?

Human digestive system, system used in the human body for the process of digestion. The human digestive system
consists primarily of the digestive tract, or the series of structures and organs through which food and liquids pass during
their processing into forms absorbable into the bloodstream. The system also consists of the structures through which
wastes pass in the process of elimination and other organs that contribute juices necessary for the digestive process. The
gastrointestinal tract that also called the GI tract or digestive tract and the liver, pancreas, and gallbladder are all part of the
digestive system. The GI tract is a series of hollow organs joined in a long, twisting tube from the mouth to the anus. The
hollow organs that make up the GI tract are the mouth, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, and anus. The
liver, pancreas, and gallbladder are the solid organs of the digestive system.

The Digestive System

The Digestive system is consists of the following organs: • mouth • esophagus • stomach • small intestine • large intestine
• rectum • anus

These are joined together in a long tube called the GI tract or the gastrointestinal
tract. Accessory organs also help in digestion such as the
liver and pancreas Bacteria in your GI tract, also called gut flora or micro
biome, 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.

How does it work?

Anything you eat 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.

Mouth. Food starts to move through

your GI tract when you eat. When you
swallow, your tongue pushes the food
into your throat. A small flap of tissue,
called the epiglottis, folds over your
windpipe to prevent choking and the
food passes into your esophagus.

Esophagus. Once you begin swallowing, the process becomes automatic.

Your brain signals the muscles of the esophagus and peristalsis begins.
The esophagus is a muscular tube extending from the pharynx to the stomach.
The esophagus delivers food to the stomach.

 Peristalsis is a series of wave-like muscle contractions

that move food through the digestive tract. This
movement begins in the pharynx, once a food bolus is
formed, and ends in the anus. Along with segmentation
or mixing of food, peristalsis an essential part of providing
the body with nutrients.

Stomach. The stomach is a sac-like organ with strong muscular walls. In addition to holding the food, it's also
a mixer and grinder. The stomach secretes acid and powerful enzymes that continue the process of breaking
down the food. When it leaves the stomach, food is the consistency of a liquid or paste.

Small intestine. Made up of three segments, the duodenum, jejunum, and ileum,
the small intestine is a long tube loosely coiled in the abdomen (spread out,
it would be more than 20 feet long). The small intestine continues
the process of breaking down food by using enzymes released by
the pancreas and bile from the liver. Bile is a compound
that aids in the digestion of fat and eliminates waste products from the blood.
Three organs play a vital role in helping the stomach and small intestine digest food:

Pancreas
Among other functions, the oblong pancreas secretes enzymes
into the small intestine. These enzymes break down protein, fat,
and carbohydrates from the food we eat.

Liver
The liver has many functions, but two of its main functions within
the digestive system are to make and secrete bile, and to
cleanse and purify the blood coming from the small intestine
containing the nutrients just absorbed.

Gallbladder
The gallbladder is a pear-shaped reservoir that sits just under
the liver and stores bile. Bile is made in the liver then if it needs
to be stored travels to the gallbladder through a channel called
the cystic duct. During a meal, the gallbladder contracts,
sending bile to the small intestine.

Large intestine. Waste products from the digestive process include undigested parts of food,
fluid, and older cells from the lining of your GI tract. The large intestine absorbs water and
changes the waste from liquid into stool. It normally takes about 36 hours for stool to get
through the colon. The stool itself is mostly food debris and bacteria. These bacteria perform
several useful functions, such as synthesizing various vitamins, processing waste products
and food particles, and protecting against harmful bacteria. When the descending colon
becomes full of stool, or feces, it empties its contents into the rectum to begin the
process of elimination.

Rectum. The lower end of your large intestine, the rectum, stores stool until it
pushes stool out of your anus during a bowel movement. It is the rectum's job to
receive stool from the colon, to let you know there is stool to be evacuated, and
to hold the stool until evacuation happens.

Anus. The anus is the last part of the digestive tract.

This is the external opening of the rectum, through which feces are expelled.

The Digestion Processes

As food moves through your GI tract, your digestive organs break the
food into smaller parts using: motion, such as chewing, squeezing, and mixing
digestive juices, such as stomach acid, bile, and enzymes There four main processes
wherein the digestive system break food into small parts that your body can use.

Ingestion
Ingestion is the intake of food into the alimentary canal or GI tract. The digestive process starts in your mouth when you
chew with the help of your teeth. Your salivary glands make saliva, a digestive juice, which moistens food so it moves more
easily through your esophagus into your stomach. Saliva also has an enzyme that begins to break down starches in your
food. After you swallow, peristalsis pushes the food down your esophagus into your stomach. Glands in your stomach lining
make stomach acid and enzymes that break down food. Muscles of your stomach mix the food with these digestive juices.

Absorption
After breaking complex food substances into smaller soluble food substances, it moves down into the small intestine. The
small intestine has many folds and on this folds, there are many fingerlike projections called villi. These villi increase surface
area for absorption to take place. Absorption is the process wherein the digested food passes through the blood vessels in
the wall of the intestine.

Assimilation
It is the process wherein the digested food absorbed by the walls of the intestine are carried to the different organs of the
body through blood vessels to build complex substances such as proteins that is required by our body.

Egestion/Excretion
Egestion is the process that involves the removal of undigested food products from the body. Discharged materials are
undigested food and toxic substances leftover from digestion. On the other hand, excretion involves the removal of wastes
from the cells of organisms. Discharged products are metabolic wastes such as carbon dioxide.