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How does the food change in consistency and form?
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The food that we eat goes through a process of digestion, it changes form and consistency along the way. First, after chewing, it becomes a ball called bolus which is pushed back by the tongue. After swallowing, it takes about 5-8 seconds to reach the stomach which will be mixed with gastric juice. It will then be reduced through muscle contractions and turn into a chyme that is a thick milky material and be released into the duodenum. Then it will exit from the ileum and will follow a path to the small intestine in the jejunum and ileum. Undigested remains pass through the caecum in the large intestine. The leftover water and electrolytes in the digested chyme are next absorbed by the large intestine. Finally, the leftover chyme solidifies into feces, which the body subsequently excretes.
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How could the body absorb the nutrients from the foods we eat?
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The small intestine is one of the primary organs for nutritional absorption; with the aid of villi, it is responsible for pulling glucose, amino acids, fatty acids, vitamins, and minerals from food so that the cells can use them. Villi increases the surface area of the small intestine which are essential for diffusion, which is the chemical process used by the small intestine. This moves water and water-soluble compounds straight to the bloodstream, however, additional steps are needed for fat and fat-soluble vitamins. The large intestine aids in the absorption of water, ions, vitamin K, and other materials.
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