Digestion by Luke

            In the Advanced Biology class, our class is learning about the digestion system. There are three different types of digestive systems. Herbivores it plants and carnivores eat meat. Also, omnivores eat both such as humans. All vertebrates have one-way digestive tracts, they typically begin in the mouth and end in the anus.

The mouth is the first step of the process. The mouth breaks down food using teeth and saliva. The saliva serves as a lubricant for food so it can pass through the esophagus easily, and the esophagus connects the mouth to the stomach. The stomach is a sac-like structure that stores food that is waiting to be digested and it churns food with the help of HCl. The processed food, called chyme, leaves the stomach through the pyloric sphincter into the small intestine. While in the small intestine enzymes created by the pancreas continues to break down food into useful nutrients like carbohydrates and protein. After it passes through the small intestine, the large intestine compacts the waste products into feces so it can pass through the anus. Overall the digestion system is used to break down food into useful nutrients that our bodies need, but how long does it take humans to completely digest a piece of food?

Interesting Facts

1.      The small intestine in humans is about 23 feet (7 meters) long.

2.      Herbivores have large divided stomachs called ruminants.

3.       Hydra worms have two way digestive tracts.