Our human body is a complete machine. It is more typical than other machine in world. Since we are living things, we have some characteristics like growth, reproduction, movement, breathing etc. For our good fitness one should have good digestion. In our blog I have to discuss about digestion and the precaution that can be made to keep us fit and healthy.
When we take our food in the mouth, the first digestion process is started. We have to chew the food properly so that the food can break into small pieces. The chewing action of food is called mastication. As we chew the food properly the saliva produced by salivary glands mixes the food. Saliva is a watery substance produced in the mouths of many animals. Saliva also contains immunoglobulins and lysozymes, which have antibacterial action to reduce tooth decay. The main action of saliva is to convert starches in the food into maltose. And another enzyme, lipase, is produced by the cells in the tongue. It works on the components of fat present in food. Saliva and other enzymes make our food sleepery as we can take our food in stomach through food pipe.
The food enters in stomach by food pipe called Esophagus. It is a tubular organ connecting the mouth to the stomach. The chewed and softened food passes through the esophagus after being swallowed. After that a large part of digestion occurs in the stomach. It secrets gastric digestive juices.A highly-acidic environment is required for the chemical breakdown of food and the extraction of nutrients. The pH value in the stomach is between 1.5 and 2.5. The stomach is also the main site for protein digestion in animals. The chief cells of stomach secrets pepsin, that is useful in protein digestion. The highly acidic mediam of stomach helps to kill the many microorganisms in the food.
Here our food reacts with many liquid and enzyme . The liver is the large organ opposite the stomach and behind the rib cage. one of the most function of liver is to create bile juice that is responsible for digest food in small intestine.
Gallbladder is a pear-shaped sac under the right lobe of the liver. It is responsible to store and concentrates bile. After meals, the gallbladder releases bile into the duodenum to aid with digestion.
Here one more gland is important called pancreas. It is a long, thin gland that lies horizontally behind the bottom part of your stomach .The pancreas makes insulin and glucagon, hormones that help regulate blood glucose (sugar) levels. It makes digestive enzymes that flow through the pancreatic duct to the small intestine.
The small intestine is a long tube that is approximately 6 meters. The small intestine is called small because the diameter or the width of the tube is much less than the large intestine. There are three part of small intestine. 1. duodenum 2. jejunum 3. ileum.
It is the location in the body where the majority of the nutrients from ingested food are absorbedas the stomach is responsible for mechanical breakdown of food. Digested food passes through the wall of the intestine into the blood vessels which then distribute the nutrition first to the liver and through the rest of the body. The membrane on the inner surface of the jejunum is covered with hair-like projections called villi.
It is the instruments for absorption of nutrients like proteins, carbohydrates, amino acid, sugar, vitamins, minerals, electrolytes and water.
The large intestine, also know as colon, is the part of the final stages of digestion. It is a large tube that throw out waste from the body.The colon is much wider than the small intestine, but is also shorter than small intestine.
The colon is only 6 feet about 1.8 m long in size. It is divided into four parts. The four parts are - the ascending colon, the transverse colon, the descending colon and the sigmoid colon. The beginning of the ascending colon is called the cecum. It is connected to the small intestine and the appendix. The main function of colon is to get rid of food left over after the nutrients are removed from it. First liquid and salt is removed from the waste. Once or twice per day, when our body is ready for a bowel movement, the waste is dumped into the rectum. And finally the process of digestion completed.