Take a journey through your digestive system as you explore these slides and discover the unknown!

1. The
Digestive
System

2. Your Digestive System…
 breaks down food into
smaller pieces the body can
absorb.
 passes these molecules into
the blood to be carried
throughout the body.
 eliminates solid wastes
from the body.

3. The Digestive Journey
 Digestion begins in your mouth
with action of your teeth and
tongue (mechanical digestion)
and your salivary glands
(chemical digestion).
 The salivary glands produce enzymes that
are mixed with the food, breaking down the
starches. Peristalsis is the muscular action
that moves the food through the esophagus
and into your stomach after you swallow.

4. Mouth
 Begins to break down
food into smaller
pieces through
mechanical digestion;
saliva in the mouth
starts the process of
chemical digestion

5. Esophagus
 Connects the mouth to the
stomach and squeezes food down
using peristalsis.

6. Your Stomach
The food moves into your stomach,
which contains chemicals such as
hydrochloric acid and pepsin. Pepsin
breaks proteins, and other enzymes
break down fat. Your stomach
gradually releases these materials
into the upper small intestine
(duodenum), where digestion is
completed. Your stomach also has a
thick coating of mucus to protect it
from the acids and to keep it from
digesting itself!

7. Stomach
 contains acids, pepsin,
and enzymes to break
down fats, proteins, and
carbohydrates. Mucus
lining protects against
these strong chemicals.

8. Your Liver, Pancreas, and
Gallbladder
Located in the upper portion of your
abdomen, your liver is the largest and
heaviest organ of your body. It is like a
busy chemical factory that plays many
roles. For example, your liver breaks
down many substances and toxins, and
produces bile- a substance that helps
break down fat. The bile flows from the
liver into the gall bladder, where it is
stored until needed. The pancreas lies
between the stomach and the duodenum
and produces enzymes that flow into the
small intestines, helping to break up
complex starches, proteins, and fats.

9. Liver
 A secondary
organ of the
digestive
system that
produces bile
and eliminates
toxins. The
largest organ
in the body.

10. Gallbladder
 A secondary
organ to the
digestive system
that functions
to store bile
which breaks
down fat in the
small intestines.

11. Pancreas
 A secondary organ to
the digestive system
that functions to
release enzymes into
the small intestine
that break down
complex starches,
proteins, and fats.
 Produces insulin.

12. Your Small & Large Intestines
After the solid food has been digested the
fluid remaining is called chyme When it is
thoroughly digested it passes through an
opening (called the pylorus sphincter) into
the small intestines. In the small intestines
all the nutrients are absorbed leaving
undigestible wastes. These wastes pass into
the large intestines, where water is removed.
Then the wastes are stored in the rectum
until they are released by the anus.

13. Small Intestines
 The organ where most
of the chemical
digestion of food takes
place
 absorbs all nutrients
and passes them into
the bloodstream.
Wastes are passed on
for elimination.

14. Large Intestines
 absorbs remaining water
from waste and prepares
for removal.

15. Cross Section of your Intestines
 The Villi add surface area to increase absorption of food and
nutrients. On the left you see how the villi line your small
intestines, and on the left you see 1 villi with its capillaries.

16. Rectum
 the part of the large
intestine that
stores waste before
removal from the
body (elimination).
Anus
 The end of the
digestive system where
waste is removed.