WHAT HAPPENS TO MY FOOD?
The Digestive System
Did you know your digestive system starts work even before you
take the first bite of your food? Once you eat, your digestive system
will be working away for hours afterwards (sometimes days!).
All of this is called digestion, and it is how your body gets all of the
nutrients and energy it needs to survive from the food that you eat.
1
Saliva
YOUR FOO
’S
D
When you first see or smell food the digestion
process begins. Your saliva (your spit) begins to
build up in your mouth. Once your food reaches
your mouth there are chemicals in your saliva that
help to start breaking down the chemicals in the
food, making the food more squishy and easier
to swallow. Your teeth chomp down and break it
up further, with your tongue helping to push the
food around your mouth. Once you are ready to
swallow the food, your tongue pushes back the
balled up food, called a bolus, towards your throat
and into the opening of your oesophagus.
2
3
The stomach
Your stomach is like a big stretchy bag, shaped like the
letter J. It churns your food and bathes it in a very strong
acid called gastric acid. This acid also helps kill bacteria that
may be on your food. Food stays here for several hours and
gets churned around by the strong muscles in the wall of
your stomach until it is turned into a thick, creamy soup.
16
FUSE
2
Oesop Y