The human digestive system consists of the
gastrointestinal tract plus the accessory organs of digestion (the tongue, salivary glands,
pancreas , liver, and gallbladder). [1] In this system, the process of digestion has many stages, the first of which starts in the mouth . Digestion involves the breakdown of food into smaller and smaller components, until they can be absorbed and assimilated into the body.
Chewing , in which food is mixed with saliva begins the process of digestion. This produces a bolus which can be swallowed down the
esophagus and into the stomach. Here it is mixed with gastric juice until it passes into the
duodenum where it is mixed with a number of
enzymes produced by the pancreas . Saliva also contains a catalytic enzyme called amylase which starts to act on food in the mouth. Another digestive enzyme called lingual lipase is secreted by some of the lingual papillae on the tongue and also from serous glands in the main salivary glands. Digestion is helped by the
mastication of food by the teeth and also by the muscular actions of peristalsis and
segmentation contractions . Gastric juice in the stomach is essential for the continuation of digestion as is the production of mucus in the stomach.
Peristalsis is the rhythmic contraction of
muscles that begins in the esophagus and continues along the wall of the stomach and the rest of the gastrointestinal tract. This initially results in the production of chyme which when fully broken down in the small intestine is absorbed as chyle into the
lymphatic system. Most of the digestion of food takes place in the small intestine. Water and some minerals are reabsorbed back into the blood in the colon of the large intestine. The waste products of digestion ( feces) are
defecated from the anus via the rectum .
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