The human digestive system is very complex and has evolved over millions of years.

It basically consists of the

● rectum,
● the large intestine,
● the small intestine,
● he pancreas,
● the stomach, also called gaster and ventriculus, and
● the liver with the gallbladder.
● The esophagus is also part of this system,
● as well as various salivary glands near the mouth.
○ Parotid Gland
○ Submandibular Gland
○ Sublingual Gland

First the food is broken up in the mouth by the teeth, and then mixed with saliva with the help
of the salivary glands.
○ Saliva contains a digestive enzyme called amylase that already begins to digest
carbohydrates in the mouth. It splits carbohydrates into smaller units.
The ball-like mixture of food with saliva, also known as bolus, is pushed into the throat by the
tongue and finally into the esophagus which propels the bolus to the stomach.

The esophageal lumen, that is the opening inside the esophagus, is very flexible, which allows
boluses of different sizes to be transported.

The esophagus consists of several layers. These layers occur throughout the interdigestive
tract. The two outer muscle layers are responsible for peristalsis. Through these two muscles
the bolus can be transported from the mouth to the stomach, even if the person is standing on
his head.

The stomach is often divided into six areas. The stomach is composed of a similar structure
to the esophagus. It has a longitudinal muscle layer on the outside. Underneath we can find
circular muscle fibers. In addition to this, there is an oblique muscle layer overlaying the
mucosa. On the inside there are rugae that allow the stomach to enlarge when food is
consumed. The stomach wall contains gastric glands. They produce mucus, which is able to
protect the stomach wall from the secreted gastric acid.

Gastric acid is produced by simply smelling or seeing food, but also spices, and the stretching of
the stomach causes the secretion.
That is, the release of gastric acid. About one to two liters of gastric juice
are produced per day.

Since the esophagus does not have a protective mucus layer,

like the stomach, stomach and esophagus are separated by a sphincter. It relaxes when a bolus
is pushed from the esophagus into the stomach, and then contracts to prevent acid and food
from going back up.

Gastric juice consists,

● among other things, of hydrochloric acid,
● the enzyme pepsin, the intrinsic factor, and
● lipase for the digestion of fats.

In addition to nutrients, food also contains bacteria that can damage the body.

The components of hydrochloric acid are able to destroy harmful bacteria.

In addition, hydrochloric acid converts pepsinogen also released by the gastric glands into
pepsin. Pepsin is able to break down proteins in the stomach.

For a vitamin B12 absorption in the small intestine, the intrinsic factor is needed, which is
produced by the gastric glands. The vitamin must combine with intrinsic factor, then it can be
absorbed later by the small intestine. Vitamin B12 helps keep the body's nerve and blood cells
healthy, and helps make DNA. It also contains gastric lipase, an acid resistant enzyme for fat
digestion.

In the stomach, gastric lipase splits a triglyceride into a free fatty acid, and a diglyceride
whereby only the free fatty acid can be absorbed by the body.

More effective fat digestion takes place in the small intestine. Through gastric juice and stomach
movements, which take place approximately every 20 seconds, the individual boluses are mixed
to a semi fluid mass of partly digested food, the so-called chyme.

The chyme cannot enter the duodenum at first because there is a sphincter at the stomach exit.
The pyloric sphincter resembles the esophageal sphincter. The pyloric sphincter opens only a
few millimeters, so that larger pieces remain inside the stomach. In the first section of the small
intestine, the duodenum bile, and pancreatic secretions are mixed with the chyme via the
ampulla of the vater. Pancreatic juice contains numerous digestive proenzymes and enzymes.

In order for these to do their job, a higher pH value than that in the stomach is necessary.
For this reason pancreatic juice contains sodium hydrogen carbonate. Hydrogencarbonate is
able to neutralize the acid in the chyme and thus produce the optimum pH value of 7 or 8.

Pancreatic juice also contains proenzymes. It is only through enterokinase released by the
duodenum wall that the proenzyme trypsinogen and becomes tripsin, which can split proteins
and activate other trypsinogen. We also find alpha amylase, which we had already found in the
mouth. It now does the rest regarding the splitting of carbohydrates which it converts into
maltose and isomaltose.
Furthermore, the pancreatic lipase is able to split triglycerides into two free fatty acids. The
gastric lipase, as we have seen before, can produce only one free fatty acid. The pancreatic
lipase can cleave triglycerides excellently because the bile breaks the fats down into tiny
droplets. This is called emulsification.

Numerous other enzymes are part of pancreatic juice, but these will not be explained in detail
here.

Bile is produced by the liver cells and transported to the gallbladder. The bile is stored in the
gallbladder, and finally added to the food in the duodenum via the ampulla of Vater.

The small intestine consists of three sections,

● duodenum,
● jejunum, and
● ileum.

The ileum continues into the large intestine in the right lower abdomen.
The duodenum and the jejunum have circular folds to increase the contact surface with the
food. These circular folds extend about centimeters into the lumen of the small intestine.

These folds are covered with small finger-like projections called villi. Villi increases the surface
considerably. Villi Is about one millimeter long.

Each villus contains blood capillaries and a lymphatic capillary called lacteal, which we will see
later. The nutrients are absorbed by the villus and transferred to the blood capillaries.

Some nutrients, such as glucose, do not require a carrier. They are transported freely in the
bloodstream. Other nutrients, such as iron, require transport proteins like transferrin.

Fats are transported by chylomicrons, which are lipoproteins. The triglycerides to be transported
are virtually enclosed in the lipoprotein.
Chylomicrons and triglycerides are then transported through the lacteal of the villus. Each villus
is covered by even smaller microvilli. They multiply the intestinal surface considerably.
The microvilli absorb nutrients and transport them to the inside.

The last part of the small intestine is the ileum. It does not have, unlike the duodenum and
jejunum, circular folds.
The ileum absorbs electrolytes, such as calcium for building bones, hair, and teeth.
Trace elements, such as zinc for sperm production, and the immune system,
Vitamins such as B12 for the formation and maturation of red blood cells,
And remaining bile acid, which is transported back to the liver via the bloodstream.
As with the esophagus the food is transported by peristalsis. In contrast, segmentation
contractions served to mix the chyme, which is shown here in yellow and red, to make it easier
to see the mixing process.

The large intestine is thicker than the small intestine. It is about one meter long and surrounds
the small intestine. The small intestine is connected to the large intestine via the Bauhin's valve.
It opens when chyme is to pass from the small intestine to the large intestine. The large
intestine does not have any villi like the small intestine, because most digestible substances
have already been absorbed in the small intestine.
However the large intestine has an estimated 100 billion bacteria inside.
They are important for many other tasks, such as the production of vitamins, and the
decomposition of fiber for the body's energy production.

Many of these bacteria are an important part of the immune system by killing harmful germs.
Through peristalsis, the chyme is transported from the ascending colon to the transverse colon
to the descending colon. On its way through the large intestine water is removed from the
chyme. Furthermore, mucus is added for proper excretion of waste. Substances that cannot be
absorbed through the small intestine or the large intestine remain in the rectum and are
finally excreted through the anus.

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