The digestive system

Question 1

What does the digestive system do?

Answer 1

The digestive system helps to break down the food for the body to process and use.

Question 2

What will happen if digestion did not happen

Answer 2

Without digestion, the food we eat would just come straight out in our poo.

Question 2

Digestion happens in the ________

Answer 2

Digestion happens in the digestive system

Question 3

What is digestion

Answer 3

This is a series of organs that break down the food so it can be absorbed into our blood and travel around to where it is needed.

Question 4

Food enters the digestive system as soon as you put it in your _______. This is where food is broken down by your _______, mixed with saliva and swallowed.

Answer 4

mouthh
teeth

Question 5

Once you have swallowed your food, it travels down your _____________ into your stomach where the food is churned with ___________ to kill any germs which may be on it.

Answer 5

oesophagus
stomach acid

Question 6

Your body has two sets of intestines:

Small intestines: __________________

Large intestines: ___________________

Answer 6

Your body has two sets of intestines:

Small intestines: where food is broken down and nutrients are absorbed into the blood.
Large intestines: where water is absorbed into the blood.
Any food that can’t be absorbed is then stored in your anus until you go to the toilet

Question 7

What part of the digestive system carries food to the stomach?

Answer 7

Oesophagus

Question 8

What happens to food in the stomach?

Answer 8

It is mixed with acid

Question 9

Where does food go after your mouth?

Answer 9

Oesophagus tube

Question 10

What is food mixed with in the mouth?

Answer 10

Saliva

Question 11

All the food you eat is absorbed into your blood.

Answer 11

False

Question 12

What are the 7 main parts of the digestive system?

Answer 12

mouth;
oesophagus;
stomach;
small intestine;
liver;
gall bladder;
large intestine

Question 13

How do you explain the digestive system?

Answer 13

The digestive system converts the foods we eat into their simplest forms, like glucose (sugars), amino acids (that make up protein) or fatty acids (that make up fats). The broken-down food is then absorbed into the bloodstream from the small intestine and the nutrients are carried to each cell in the body.

Question 14

How long does food take to digest?

Answer 14

After you eat, it takes about six to eight hours for food to pass through your stomach and small intestine. Food then enters your large intestine (colon) for further digestion, absorption of water and, finally, elimination of undigested food. It takes about 36 hours for food to move through the entire colon

Question 15

Which organ absorbs water?

Answer 15

Nearly all the water is absorbed into the bloodstream from the small intestine. The excess fluid absorbed in the blood is filtered by the kidneys, which produce the urine that is transported to the bladder.

Question 16

How does the bowel work?

Answer 16

The bowel goes from the stomach to the back passage (anus). It is a hollow muscular tube. It processes all the food we eat and breaks it down into nutrients for the body to use. It also gets rid of any solid waste matter from the body as poo (also called faeces or stools).

Question 17

___________and nerves work together to control the digestive system. Hormones tell the parts of the body, like the stomach, to make the digestive liquids like stomach acid.

Answer 17

Hormones

Question 18

___________ connect the brain to the digestive system. The brain sends signals to the different parts of the process, causing them to begin working. For example, it’s the brain that triggers the salivary glands to produce saliva once food is smelt. Saliva allows us to begin breaking down food and prepare it for its journey through the digestive system.

Answer 18

Nerves

Question 19

What happens in the mouth

Answer 19

Mouth
The first stage of the digestive system is the mouth. This is where the food begins its journey through the body.

In the mouth, food is chewed to make it softer and smaller, so it can be swallowed.

The tongue is a muscle in the mouth, covered in thousands of taste buds. This helps to push food into the throat.

Your teeth are what allow us to break down food so that it is smaller and easier to digest.

The salivary gland is also an important part of digestion in the human body. This gland produces secretion saliva, this softens our food and helps us swallow it.

Did you know?
Young children have 20 baby teeth that fall out and are replaced by adult teeth around the age of 6.
Adults have more teeth than babies - most have around 32 teeth.
There are four different types of teeth: premolars, molars, incisors and canines.

Question 20

The role of the Oesophagus

Answer 20

Oesophagus
The second stage of digestion in the human body is the oesophagus. From here, the digestive process become automatic, with the brain signalling to the muscles. The oesophagus is a tube that connects the mouth to the stomach. The oesophagus has muscles in it which work in waves to move food safely down to the stomach and stop anything from getting stuck. This process is called peristalsis.

What is Peristalsis?

The oesophagus has a layer of muscle that works to squeeze food down it. This process is known as peristalsis.
Peristalsis means that food would get to your stomach even if you were standing on your head! This process is controlled by the brain, signalling the muscles of the oesophagus.
The oesophagus also creates a slimy mucus that oozes out to help the food make its way down.
The oesophagus is about 25 cm long.

Question 21

Role of the stomach

Answer 21

Stomach
The stomach is a very important organ in the digestive system. The stomach is like a stretchy sack where food is broken down by acids and enzymes. This kills many harmful microorganisms that might have been swallowed along with the food. When food is broken down, it becomes a porridge-like substance called chyme.

After the chyme comes out of the stomach, it goes into the duodenum. Here, it continues to be broken down. The duodenum also connects to other organs which are central to digestion in the human body: the liver, the gall bladder and the pancreas.

Question 22

Role of the liver

Answer 22

Liver
The liver acts as a chemical processing factory to change the food that you eat into substances that your body can use. It also gets rid of the things that are no use or are toxic to your body. The liver produces a liquid called bile which aids digestion and helps to absorb fats.

Question 23

Role of the Gall bladder

Answer 23

Gall Bladder
The gall bladder is a small pouch that sits just under your liver. This is where the bile that the liver produces is stored.

Question 24

Role of the small intestine

Answer 24

The Small Intestine
When the food, or chyme, has been properly broken down with all the necessary chemicals provided by the liver, it is ready to go into the small intestine. This is a long stretchy tube which processes the food and gives lots of opportunities for vitamins, minerals,proteins, carbohydrates and fats to be absorbed through its walls.

Question 25

Role of the large intestine

Answer 25

The Large Intestine
At this stage, the digestive system has extracted everything it can from the food and needs to get rid of the remaining unwanted material. This passes through a part of the large intestine called the colon, which is where the body gets its last chance to absorb any water or minerals into the blood. As the water leaves the waste product, what’s left gets harder and harder as it keeps moving along and reaches the rectum - the lower end of the large intestine, until it becomes a solid poo which is removed from the body through bowel movement.

Question 25

How does the digestive system break down food

Answer 25

Each part of the digestive system works to break down food using:

chewing
squeezing
stomach acid
bile
enzymes
A mixture of physical motion, chewing and squeezing, and chemical processes that take place in the liver, stomach, gall bladder and intestines play a role in breaking down food. This break down allows the body to extract and absorb nutrients that provide us with energy and support cell growth.

Question 26

Why is Digestion in the Human Body Important?

Answer 26

It is through the digestion of food that the human body receives the important nutrients from food and drink that it needs to function properly. The digestive system involves different stages, and in each stage the nutrients are broken down so that we can absorb them, using them for energy, growth and repair.

Question 27

Fast Facts about the Digestive System

Answer 27

The average person produces 2 pints of saliva every day.

The second part of your small intestine is called the jejunum.

Enzymes in your digestive system are what separate food into the different nutrients that your body needs.

A close bond exists between your brain and your digestive system. This is called ‘the gut-brain axis’. This explains why emotions and brain disorders affect how your body digests food.

The whole digestive system is disconnected from gravity. Because it works with muscles, you can digest food no matter if you’re stood up, upside down or laid on your side.

Some of the enzymes that are found in clothes washing detergents are the same as those found in your digestive system.

The large intestine is only about 5 feet long making it smaller than the small intestine which is about 22-23 feet long.

The gas in your body is produced by fermented bacteria and then mixed with air which is why it smells bad.

Platypuses don’t have stomachs!

Stomach growling actually happens all the time, but you can hear it much more when your stomach is empty because there’s no food to muffle it.

When the stomach is fully stretched it can hold up to 4 pounds of food at one time.

The best kind of exercise you can do to keep a healthy digestive system is aerobic exercise - like walking and running.

Babies aren’t born with the healthy bacteria your system needs to digest food.

Hiccups can be caused by a change in temperature that happens suddenly. The longest attack of constant hiccups lasted 68 years!

You might have noticed your mouth has more saliva when you are about to be sick. This is to protect your teeth from the acids in your stomach that will come up.