1. How does the food change in consistency and form?
Food that we ingest changes in consistency and form through a process called digestion. Eating or drinking triggers a series of nerve impulses Food or drinks that we swallow enters the body through the mouth, travels down the esophagus, and into the stomach. Once in the stomach, the process of breaking down food begins via the digestive juices in our stomach. This is when the food starts changing in form and consistency, becoming a semi-fluid mass called chyme, which then empties into the small intestine. Digestive juices and flora from the intestines, pancreas, and liver break the chyme down even further. The byproducts of the digestion such as undigested food, fluid, and dead cells then moves to the large intestine. The final change in form and consistency is when the large intestine absorbs water to transform and expel these waste products through the rectum as stool.
2. How could the body absorb the nutrients from the foods we eat?
The process of digestion serves to absorb nutrients from the food and drink that we ingest. The digestive system breaks our food and drink into their fundamental amino acids, fatty acids, sugars, and more such that the body can use them for cellular respiration, cellular repair, and growth. The process starts in the stomach as enzymes, bile, and gastric acid breaks the food down into smaller parts. Once the food is digested thoroughly, the intestinal walls absorb the water and digested nutrients into the bloodstream, to be distributed throughout the body. Eating balanced meals supplies our body with necessary vitamins that it needs to sustain our daily activities.