Digestive System Flashcards
Function of digestive system
- Breaks down food.
- Absorbs food’s useful substances nutrients—to be used by cells throughout the body for energy and building materials.
- Gets rid of food waste.
Digest
Break down food into smaller pieces
Digestive System
Breaks down and extracts nutrients and water from food.
Nutrients are then absorbed into the bloodstream
Food Processing
- Ingestion
- Digestion
- Absorption
- Egestion
Ingestion
The act of eating
Digestion
Process of breaking food down into small molecules – “Mechanical and Chemical Digestion”
Absorption
Uptake of nutrients by body cells
Egestion
The passage of undigested material out of the digestive compartment
Mouth
- Teeth
- Salivary Glands
- tongue
- Breaks down food into smaller
pieces through chewing - Lubricate food for friction-free
movement into esophagus - Tongue pushes food into the
esophagus
Esophagus
- Connects the mouth with the stomach
- squeezes food down using involuntary muscle contractions, known as peristalsis
Stomach
- Large muscular bag that breaks down food down even more through involuntary muscular contractions
- Secretes acids (HCl), mucous, and enzymes which digest food
- Partially digested food that passes through the stomach is called chyme, which passes to the small intestines
Peristalsis
wave-like muscular contractions of the esophagus forcing the bolus of food down to the stomach
Accessory organs
- Liver
- Gallbladder
- Pancreas
Liver and Gallbladder
Connected to the small intestine.
Liver produces bile and it is stored in the
gallbladder.
Helps to digest fats by breaking them down.
Pancreas
Connected to the small intestine.
Pancreas releases enzymes to help break down
chyme.
Release bicarbonate (base) to increase pH of
chyme.
