FOOD INTAKE JOURNEY
Storyboard Text
- Digestion begins in the mouth, well before I reaches the stomach. As the teeth tear and chop ME, mouth saliva moistens it for easy swallowing.A digestive enzyme in saliva called amylase starts to break down some of the carbohydrates (starches andsugars) in ME even before I leave the mouth.
- Swallowing, done bymuscle movements in the tongue and mouth, moves the food into the throat,or pharynx The pharynx is a passageway for food andair. A soft flap of tissue called the epiglottis closesover the windpipe when we swallow to prevent choking.From the throat, foodtravels down a muscular tube in the chest called the esophagus
- Waves of muscle contractions called peristalsis force ME down through the esophagus to the stomach. A person normally isn't aware of the movements of the esophagus, stomach, and intestine that takeplace as food passes through the digestive tract.
- By the time I am ready to leave the stomach,I has been processed into a thick liquidcalled chyme . A walnut-sized muscular valve at the outlet of the stomach called the pylorus keepschyme in the stomach until I reach the right consistency to pass into the small intestine.
- Chyme is then squirteddown into the small intestine, wheredigestion of food continues so the body can absorb the nutrients into thebloodstream.The inner wall of thesmall intestine is covered with millions of microscopic, finger-likeprojections called villi the vehicles through whichnutrients can be absorbed into the blood. The blood then brings these nutrientsto the rest of the body.
- From the smallintestine, undigested food (and some water) travels to the large intestine through a muscular ring or valve that prevents foodfrom returning to the small intestine. By the time food reaches the largeintestine, the work of absorbing nutrients is nearly finished.The large intestine'smain job is to remove water from the undigested matter and form solid waste(poop) to be excreted.The rectum is where feces are stored untilthey leave the digestive system through the anus as a bowel movement.
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