The Human

Digestive System
DRNHS
Mr. V.E.L. Ilagan
BIOLOGY
Important Vocabulary
 Digestion: The process of breaking food
down to be used by the body.
 Why is digestion important?
 Food must be broken down in order for our body to
be able to absorb all of the substances important
for daily functions.
 Food must small enough to be absorbed into the

blood and carried to the cells.

Important Vocabulary
 Digestion cont:
 Two types of digestion:
 Mechanical Digestion: occurs in the mouth
(chewing), and in the stomach (churning of
stomach muscles)
 Chemical Digestion: occurs through the use of

enzymes (substances which chemically act on

food to break it down) in saliva, the stomach, in the
small intestine
Important Vocabulary: Organs of
the Digestive System
 Mouth: The first step in digestion is
actually getting the food into your body.
 Teeth: mechanically break food down into
smaller pieces
 Saliva: softens food and chemically breaks
food down further
 Tongue: moves food around the mouth, forms
a bolus (ball of food)
Important Vocabulary: Organs of
the Digestive System
 Esophagus: a hollow tube at the back of the
throat that connects to the stomach.
 To prevent food from “going down the wrong pipe”
a flap of skin called the epiglottis closes over the
opening of the trachea (windpipe) when we swallow
 Peristalsis: muscular contractions that move food
down the esophagus into the stomach.
 Imagine squeezing a tube of toothpaste…
Important Vocabulary: Organs of
the Digestive System
 Stomach: a hollow, J-shaped organ
located below the esophagus and above
the small intestine.
 Thestomach uses both mechanical and
chemical digestion to break food particles
down.
 Mechanical digestion: 3 layers of muscles
 Chemical digestion: digestive or gastric enzymes
Important Vocabulary: Organs of
the Digestive System
 Small Intestine: responsible for absorbing
nutrients from food.
 First1/3 of the S.I. :Bile from the gall bladder
and digestive enzymes from the pancreas and
walls of the small intestine further break food
down.
 Second 1/3 of the S.I.: contains finger-like
projections called villi
Important Vocabulary: Organs of
the Digestive System
 Small Intestine cont:
 Villi:increase the surface area of the S.I. so
that more nutrients can be absorbed into the
blood stream
Important Vocabulary: Organs of
the Digestive System
 Large intestine: “large” because it is wider in diameter
than the small intestine (about 3” vs. 1”). Responsible
for absorbing water from undigested food.
 Materialfound in the large intestine is mostly food that
cannot be digested any further and water.
Important Vocabulary: Organs of
the Digestive System
 Large Intestine: 3 parts
 Colon: Absorbs water and nutrients from food,
as the material moves through the colon it
gets harder and harder-turning into feces.
 Rectum: Stores feces. Feces move to the
anus by peristalsis.
 Anus: Eliminates solid waste from the body
Other Organs
 Liver: produces bile, is located to the right
of the stomach.
 Bile: responsible for breaking down fats
 Pancreas: located behind the stomach,
and above the small intestine.
 Secretes digestive enzymes
 Gall Bladder: stores and excretes bile