1. The Digestive System

2. Function
Break down the food you eat into nutrients that your body can absorb

3. Digestive tract The path that food takes in your body
Includes: mouth, pharynx, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, rectum, anus

4. Accessory organs
Organs that aid in digestion, but do NOT have food pass through
Includes: salivary glands, liver, gall bladder, pancreas

5. Mechanical digestion The breaking, crushing, and mashing of food
Stomach

6. Chemical digestion
Large molecules are broken down into nutrients

7. Enzymes
The chemical scissors that break some nutrients into smaller pieces

8. What happens to our food after we eat it?

9. Step 1: Mouth
Mechanical digestion starts when we bite and chew our food
Chemical digestion starts as saliva (enzymes) start to break down the food further

10. Step 2: Stomach
After you swallow, the food travels down the pharynx and esophagus to the stomach.
Mechanical digestion happens as the stomach muscles contract and squeeze the food
Chemical digestion happens as stomach acid further breaks down the food into nutrients

11. Step 3: Small Intestine
The liquefied food (chyme) moves from the stomach into the small intestine.
It mixes with chemicals from the pancreas that make it less acidic (and safer).

12. Beginning of small intestine/ pancreas

13. Nutrients absorbed
The nutrients are absorbed into the bloodstream through the walls of the small intestine (villi).

14. Step 4: Large Intestine The water is absorbed by the large intestine
This creates solid waste…feces

15. Problems with the large intestine
Diarrhea: When the large intestine does not remove enough water from the waste
Constipation: When the large intestine removes too much water from the waste