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Digestive System Diagram

When it comes to the digestive system, it can be hard to tell what is going on without a digestive system diagram to look at. Well today we are going to talk about the digestive system anatomy. We will take you through what happens from the time the food hits your mouth until the very end of the digestive system. Let's face it, sometimes digestive system pictures are not enough, you need a bit more to go with it.

First up for the digestive system is the mouth. Although this is normally the least talked about in digestive system anatomy, it really does a lot. Pretty much, this is where food is broken down by chewing and, of course, your saliva. However, you should also note that the saliva adds in lubrication for your esophagus, which we will get to in a second. In some species, the saliva even contains other enzymes that actually add even more in the digestive process.

From the mouth, the food will move down to the esophagus, as you can see on a digestive system diagram. This is pretty much the tube that leads from your mouth to your stomach. As you can see, this is a very important part of the digestive system, but nothing else really happens here. Thus, it is very important, but not nearly as interesting as the other parts of the digestive system.

The esophagus takes us to the stomach. This is where the real digestion starts. Although most digestive system pictures do not show it, there are a lot of enzymes in the stomach that help to break down the food. These enzymes aid in the digestion of proteins, which are hard to break down. On top of that, it turns the other food into a liquid like form. This makes it easier for it to travel through the rest of the body.

After the stomach the food moves on to the liver. This is the center of all metabolic activity in the body. This plays possibly the most important role in digestion. Here the liver makes bile salts to send to the small intestine. This is very critical for the small intestine. Without these salts, the small intestine would not be able to absorb any fat from the food you ate.

After the liver we move on to the pancreas. Digestive system anatomy will tell you that this is an organ that helps to make other digestive enzymes to send to the small intestine. This is very critical for the digestion of things like carbohydrates. The food makes its way to the small intestine, however, where the final stages of chemical enzymatic digestion occurs. This is the point where almost all the nutrients in the food are absorbed.

The large intestine is in charge of water absorption and feces is formed. In carnivores, that is about the extent of the large intestine. In other animals that do not eat meat, the large intestine does other things as well. Either way, it does play a role in the digestive system, and thus, you need it. As you can see, there is a lot that takes place during the digestive process.