Page 57 - 1

FoodJourney of

Asha loves to ea ng. She complained of a stomach ache and went
to a doctor, who put her through on MRI scanner to diagnose her
problem. He explained to her the process of diges on. This what
he told her.

1 Mouth: Diges on begins here, where the teeth chew the food. The

saliva, a diges ve juice secreted by the salivary glands, moistens the
food and lubricates it to pass through throat into the esophagus.

2 Esophagus: This is a tube-like part, also called food pipe, which connects

the throat to the stomach. Here, in a process called peristalsis, the
squeezing walls of the esophagus push the food down into the stomach.

3 Stomach: The diges ve juices produced from many glands, present in

the walls of the stomach, break down the proteins present in the food.
The stomach peristalsis churns the food into a thick liquid called chyme.

4 Small intes ne: The peristalsis then pushes the chime into small

intes ne, where the food gets digested further. Bile juices from the
liver and enzymes from pancreas reach small intes ne through a duct
and help in breaking down fats, proteins, and carbohydrates present in
the food. The food, now broken down to simple chemicals, enters the
blood stream through the walls of the small intes ne.

5 Large intes ne: The indiges ble food, mostly fibre, goes to the large

intes ne. Here the fluids and salts are absorbed from the remaining
food which then turns into solid. Then it gets ready for disposal as body
wastes. The colon contains bacteria that digest any remaining food
products and also produce folic acid and other vitamins.

6 Anus: Then solid waste passes from the large intes ne to the rectum

and get excreted through the anus.

57