The digestive system is a group of organs in your body that work together to break down the food you eat, absorb the nutrients, and remove the waste. This system allows your body to get energy and stay healthy. It starts at the mouth and ends at the anus.

1. Mouth (Oral Cavity)

Digestion begins in your mouth when you chew your food. Your mouth has different parts that start breaking the food down:

Teeth

Teeth cut and grind food into small pieces so it can be swallowed and digested easily. There are four main types of teeth:

• Incisors – The front teeth (8 in total: 4 on top, 4 on bottom). Used for cutting food.

• Canines – Pointed teeth next to the incisors (4 total). Used for tearing food.

• Premolars (Bicuspids) – Flat teeth behind the canines (8 total). Used for crushing and grinding food.

• Molars – The back teeth (12 total, including wisdom teeth). Used for heavy grinding and chewing.

Tongue

The tongue is a strong muscle that moves food around the mouth, helps with chewing, and pushes food to the back of the throat for swallowing. It also helps you taste food using taste buds.

2. Esophagus

After you swallow, the food goes down a long tube called the esophagus, which connects your throat to your stomach. The walls of the esophagus squeeze in a wave-like motion called peristalsis to push the food downward.

At the bottom of the esophagus is the lower esophageal sphincter, a ring-like muscle that opens to let food into the stomach and closes to stop stomach acid from coming back up.

3. Stomach

The stomach is a muscular bag that stores food and breaks it down further. It mixes food with strong stomach acids and enzymes. The food is turned into a thick liquid called chyme.

4. Small Intestine

The small intestine is a long, coiled tube where most of the digestion and nutrient absorption happens. It is about 6 meters (20 feet) long in adults. The walls of the small intestine are lined with tiny finger-like shapes called villi and microvilli, which absorb nutrients into the blood.

The small intestine has three main parts:

1. Duodenum – The first part. This is where food mixes with bile (from the liver and gallbladder) and enzymes (from the pancreas) to break it down even more.

2. Jejunum – The middle part. Most nutrient absorption happens here.

3. Ileum – The final part. Absorbs the last bits of nutrients and passes the rest to the large intestine.

Helper organs release juices into the small intestine:

• The liver makes bile to help digest fats.

• The gallbladder stores and releases bile.

• The pancreas releases enzymes to break down proteins, fats, and sugars.

5. Large Intestine (Colon)

After the small intestine, the leftover waste moves into the large intestine, also called the colon. This part absorbs water and minerals from the waste and turns it into solid stool (poop).

6. Rectum and Anus

The rectum stores the stool until it’s time to go to the bathroom. The anus is the opening where stool leaves the body. A muscle called the anal sphincter controls when the stool comes out.

my note

i learned that digestive system is where the organs work together to digest the food that we eat