From the time you put food in your mouth until you eliminate it from your body, your digestive tract processes the food you eat. From the stomach to the gall bladder to the large intestine, it’s amazing how everything works together. Nutrition and water are provided to you through this highly organized system, which supports your life.
Top 20 Fun Facts
- Food digestion isn’t primarily carried out by the stomach, as is widely believed. In the stomach, mechanical digestion occurs, but the small intestine does most of the work.
- You don’t need gravity to move food down your esophagus. Food is moved down to the stomach by the muscles of the esophagus. You can eat upside down, but be careful not to choke.
- A layer of mucus lines the stomach to protect it from acid erosion. In this way, the hydrochloric acid in the stomach that digests food does not break down the stomach as well.
- Every two weeks, the stomach produces a new layer of mucus to protect itself, as well as half a gallon of hydrochloric acid each day.
- Foodstuffs are broken down by enzymes in the digestive system. Proteins are broken down by proteases, while carbohydrates are broken down by amylases. In order to break down fats, lipases work.
- In some laundry detergents, the enzymes that break down food are used to break down stains as well.
- There is nothing small about the small intestine. When stretched out, it would cover an area the size of a tennis court. As a result of folds in its walls, known as villi and microvilli, the surface area is increased.
- There is a great deal of variation between species when it comes to stomachs. Seahorses and platypuses have no stomachs at all, unlike ruminants such as cows.
- Gas is a result of fermentation in the large intestine. The bacteria in the large intestine digest the remaining food material. Their work releases gases such as methane and hydrogen sulfide.
- The digestive system is associated with more cancers and causes more deaths than any other body system.
- Adolph Kussmaul used a primitive endoscope to look inside a living stomach for the first time. Since the tool was rigid, he had to swallow it with a sword swallower.
- A physician studied the effects of hydrochloric acid on digestion within the stomach by working with a man with a fistula, a hole in the stomach wall allowing access from outside. The fistula allowed direct feeding into the stomach.
- Borborygmi refers to the sounds your stomach makes when it rumbles. Regardless of whether you’re hungry or not, it can happen to you. Your intestines vibrate loudest when your stomach is empty, as peristaltic waves pass through them.
- Every day, the average person produces enough saliva to fill two soda cans, approximately two pints.
- It is possible for your stomach to hold up to four pounds of food at a time.
- To protect your teeth from gastric acids, your body produces more saliva when you throw up.
- A burp is a release of excess air that the body takes in when drinking carbonated beverages, smoking, or eating too quickly.
- The bolus of food can travel down the esophagus and into the stomach in 2 to 5 seconds.
- The digestive system is complemented by other organs. Among the digestive aids that the liver and pancreas produce are bile and proteases.
- The importance of dietary fiber cannot be overstated. As a result, the stool becomes softer and bulkier. Additionally, it can affect gut bacteria.