Question: What brings about digestion of food

Grace Kago answered on 5 Jun 2019:

So: the purpose of digestion is to break down the food that we eat in a way for the body to access it and be able to extract the nutrients 🙂 Organs in the body work in concert to break down that piece of bread/chapati/banana so that your body can actually absorb the useful nutrients from it. I’ve included a source for more details, but some very broad points are below:

“First, the first step is to chew the food so that it becomes softer. In our saliva there is an enzyme called amylase that breaks down starches. Then the rest of the work is done by the stomach/pancreas/liver/intestines. In the stomach, there are lots of really powerful enzymes that break down the food even further. Then the pancreas makes a digestive juice that breaks down carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. The pancreas delivers the digestive juice to the small intestine through small tubes called ducts. Your small intestine makes more digestive juice, which mixes with bile (from the liver) and pancreatic juice to complete the breakdown of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. You also have some resident bacteria in your small intestine make some of the enzymes you need to digest carbohydrates. In addition, the small intestine will bring water to help break down the food even better. As for the large intestine, more water moves from your GI tract into your bloodstream. Bacteria in your large intestine help break down remaining nutrients and make vitamin K . Waste products of digestion, including parts of food that are still too large, become stool.”

Source: https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/digestive-diseases/digestive-system-how-it-works