By: aya and ick

Parts of the digestive system

Mouth, esophagus, liver,stomach,small intestine, large intestine, colon, rectum

Mouth

Digestion starts with your mouth. When you chew the food it is crushed with your teeth and then moistened by saliva.

Esophagus After the food goes down the esophagus

it passes though the stomach. Muscles along the length of the esophagus contract to push the bolus ( a wad of food) along.

Esophagus is the tube that runs from the throat to the stomach.

Stomach

Your stomach is not just a place where a meal is stored. Things get rough down there. Digestive juices, including acid, are added to the food. Muscles in the stomach squeeze and mash the food.

Small intestine

In the small intestine it breaks food down into tiny molecules and feeds it to your cells.

The food moves into the small intestine. This is where food changes into nutrients that cells can use. The most important nutrient is sugar.

The small intestine is lined with millions of capillaries.

Large intestine The undigested leftovers of food

leave and enter the large intestine and the colon.

By this time, most of the nutrients have been taken out. Bacteria living in the colon break down the remaining usable food. Water is taken out of the food mass.

Colon

The colon- also referred to as the large intestine is one of the four major main elimination systems of the body.

Our colons were intended by nature to function as smoothly flowing sewer systems, in order to promptly flush digestive wastes from the body.

http://www.netmender.net/health/articles/colon_facts.

Rectum Muscles in the wall of your colon separate the waste into

small segments that are pushed into your rectum.      As the rectal walls are stretched, they signal the need for a bowel movement. When the sphincter muscles in your anus relax, the rectal wall muscles contract to increase pressure. Sometimes you have to use your stomach muscles, which press on the outside of the colon and rectum. These coordinated muscle contractions expel your poop through your anus.

http://www.wonderrotunda.com/DigestiveSystem.php