Figuratively speaking, the human digestive system resembles a crusher. Only the crusher is smart, because it directs all the useful substances to the functioning of other organs, and unnecessary ones to waste.
The human digestive system is a combination of many organs and glands that provide the body with the nutrients necessary for life. It occupies almost the entire human body, starting from the oral cavity and ending with the rectum. Therefore, the functioning of one of the digestive organs is reflected in the entire digestive system as a whole. Her condition is influenced by environmental conditions and stresses, food and supplements, drugs and treatment.
Digestive system
Each section of the digestive tract performs a separate process of processing and digestion of products. Many processes of the breakdown of food particles occur with the help of enzymes that produce the organs of the digestive system.
These include the oral cavity and pharynx, esophagus and stomach, liver and pancreas, small and large intestines. All these organs, with the exception of the liver and pancreas, make up the digestive tract about 10 meters long.
The human digestive system is an interconnected complex of processing of products entering the body, divided into certain stages.
Food enters the oral cavity primarily, here it is ground with teeth and moistened with saliva. The entire subsequent digestion process depends on the correctness of the initial processing.
The pharynx serves as a channel for the passage of food masses into the esophagus, where the food entering the stomach is moistened.
The stomach is the main component of the digestive tract. Here, the juice soaks the food masses, an intensive process of their digestion takes place. Gastric juice is mainly composed of enzymes, hydrochloric acid and mucus. Solid food can be digested within five hours, and liquid up to two hours. Under the influence of gastric juice, chemical processing of food occurs, which turns into a semi-liquid mass entering the duodenum.
The duodenum is called the upper part of the small intestine. Bile and pancreatic juice come here from the gallbladder. The duodenal glands produce an alkaline secretion that is saturated with mucus. It protects it from the effects of acidic gastric juice.
The small intestine, in addition to the duodenum, also includes the skinny and ileum. In this area, food is digested and absorbed. The process of digestion in humans ends in the small intestine, rich in glands that secrete intestinal juice with a large number of enzymes. Enzymes of intestinal juice complete the breakdown of proteins, carbohydrates and fats. Then, with the help of peristalsis, food masses move along the small intestine, gradually moving into the large intestine.
Remnants of food that has not been digested enter the colon. Here the processes of water absorption and the formation of feces occur. From here, all the "waste" goes into the rectum.
Digestion of food is impossible without the participation of bile. It is continuously formed in the liver, but enters the duodenum only at the time of digestion.
Digestive system
Since the human digestive system consists of many organs, there are many varieties of its diseases.
"Leaders", as statistics show, are inflammatory processes in the esophagus (esophagitis) and the stomach (gastritis). Such diseases as inflammation of the duodenum (duodenitis), malfunctioning of liver cells (hepatitis), and insufficient pancreatic activity (pancreatitis) are also common . Often there are problems with the gallbladder and ducts (cholecystitis and cholangitis), inflammation of the small and large intestines (enteritis and colitis), etc.
These diseases of the digestive system, in turn, lead to ulcers and cancer of the stomach, the formation of stones in the gall bladder, ulcerative colitis. In modern society, intestinal dysbiosis has spread, including in newborn children.
Symptoms of diseases of the digestive tract are manifold and depend on problems with one or another organ. The first signals of violations in the digestive system are abdominal pain, the appearance of belching, heartburn, nausea, vomiting, flatulence, weakness and weight loss.