What is Digestion?
How does the human digestion process work?
What is digestion? Digestion is the process of breaking down food into nutrients and energy for use by the body. In the human digestion process, food is firstly pre-digested by saliva during chewing, then travels via the oesophagus to the stomach. This first stage gives you the best opportunity to
improve your digestion
by chewing your food well and following basic
food combining
principles.
Once food reaches your stomach, the strong muscles of the stomach wall work together with gastric juices to break down food into a mushy mixture. Gastric juices have a high acidity that also helps kill off any germs in food. Partially digested food then enters the small intestine, where the pancreas, liver and gallbladder contribute juices that help the body digest food and absorb nutrients. The remaining mixture then moves on to the large intestine for the body’s final go at absorbing nutrients and water, and then leaves the body as waste. In humans the digestive system is over 9 metres long!
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