Science Common Sense

343 - How does the process of digestion work?

The process of digestion is how your body breaks down food into energy. Here's how it works:

1. Mouth: You eat food, and your teeth chew it into small pieces. Your saliva (or spit) has special helpers called enzymes that start breaking down the food.
2. Esophagus: When you swallow, the food goes down a tube called the esophagus into your stomach.
3. Stomach: In your stomach, strong juices and more enzymes break down the food into a liquidy mix. This mix is called chyme.
4. Small intestine: The chyme goes into your small intestine, where tiny fingers called villi grab the nutrients (like vitamins and minerals) and send them into your bloodstream.
5. Large intestine (colon): What's left goes into your large intestine, where water is soaked up and the leftover waste is turned into poop.
6. Energy: The nutrients in your bloodstream go to all the parts of your body, like your muscles, heart, and brain, to give you energy and help you grow.

That's the basic process of digestion!