How the digestive system works
To understand the various operations, it can help to get to know the main features of the gastrointestinal (digestive) system and the way it works. As you can see from the diagram below, the gastrointestinal tract, which is also known as the gut, is like a long tube that starts at the mouth and ends at the anus.
The main purpose of the gut is to break down the food we eat so that our body can absorb its nutrients. This begins as we chew and swallow food, and it passes down the oesophagus (gullet) into the stomach where digestive juices break it down further over 2-4 hours.
The stomach then empties the food into the small intestine (also known as the small bowel). Here the food is broken down into even smaller particles and the useful nutrients are absorbed through the wall of the intestine into the blood stream.
The waste products from this process, which include liquid and undigested parts of food, are then pushed into the large intestine or large bowel. The colon – which together with the rectum makes up the large bowel - has four main sections: the ascending colon, the transverse colon, the descending or distal colon, and the sigmoid colon which connects to the rectum.
The colon absorbs some vitamins and minerals and the water from the liquid waste. The left over waste becomes solid faeces (stools). These collect in the rectum and are passed out of the body through the anus in a bowel movement.
To understand the various operations, it can help to get to know the main features of the gastrointestinal (digestive) system and the way it works. As you can see from the diagram below, the gastrointestinal tract, which is also known as the gut, is like a long tube that starts at the mouth and ends at the anus.
The stomach then empties the food into the small intestine (also known as the small bowel). Here the food is broken down into even smaller particles and the useful nutrients are absorbed through the wall of the intestine into the blood stream.
The waste products from this process, which include liquid and undigested parts of food, are then pushed into the large intestine or large bowel. The colon – which together with the rectum makes up the large bowel - has four main sections: the ascending colon, the transverse colon, the descending or distal colon, and the sigmoid colon which connects to the rectum.
The colon absorbs some vitamins and minerals and the water from the liquid waste. The left over waste becomes solid faeces (stools). These collect in the rectum and are passed out of the body through the anus in a bowel movement.
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