Digestion is a process of how food is broken down, so that it can be absorbed by the body.
This is the Journey of my cheese sandwich, from beginning to end!
The pancreas and the liver all contain enzymes that help to break down the food as it travels through the body
The saliva in the mouth starts to break down the sandwich so it is easier to be swallowed, as the saliva contains the Carbohydrase enzyme. Once I swallow it travels down the oesophagus into my stomach.
Broken down food travels firstly to the small intestine and then onto the large intestine
My stomach makes Hydrochloric acid and kills bacteria. My body absorbs all protein and moves the food down into my small intestine
How long is this going to take? maybe I should have had one of those 'Get Going' bars instead!
My liver creates bile to help break up fats in the body and my pancreas makes 3 other enzymes, protease which digests proteins, carbohydrase which digests carbohydrates and lipase which digests lipids/fats. All of these processes help get nutrients into my body as they break down my sandwich.
is My broken down sandwich is digested and absorbed into the blood through the small intestine and then sent through the large intestine where it absorbs water and then is compacted into poo!