Digestive System is one of the most important topics for SSc and other Government Competitive exams. If we talk about parts of digestive system of the human body then there are various enzymes, organs, glands are there which involve in the digestion of food.
The Human Digestive system involves eating food by an organism after its utilization for energy the rest of the useless parts extracts from our body. So in today’s post, let us have a look at the Parts of the Human Digestive System in Detail and its work function
Table of Contents
Definition of Digestive System
Digestive System is a chemical process in which humans and animals convert the big molecules of Carbohydrate, fat, and proteins into the small molecules of Carbohydrate, fat, and proteins (As Carbohydrate converts into Glucose, fatty acid converts into acid and glycerine, and proteins convert into amino acid) with the help of Enzymes.
Diagram of Digestive System of Human Body
A diagram of the digestive system of human body represents the essential Parts of the Human Digestive System that convert food into vital nutrients and extract waste substances from the body.
Parts of the Human Digestive System in Detail
Parts of digestive system of human body contain a group of organs that work together to converting energy and other vital nutrients to give energy to the body. After utilization, the unused parts are extracted from the body. Major unnecessary parts are extracted from the Anus and liquid substances are extracted in the form of urine and sweat.
There are two main parts of digestive system of human body first is the gastrointestinal canal and the other is accessory organs. These two parts help together in the digestion of food in our body. The foods which we take undergoes well processing till the nutrients present in them. And this process is called digestion. Humans and animals have different organs and systems for this process. In the human body, the process of digestion is very simple because of its monogastric nature unlike the animals, on the other hand, there are four-chamber in the animals.
As we mentioned that the parts of the human digestive system contain two major components gastrointestinal canal ( or Alimentary canal ) and accessory organs.
The gastrointestinal canal or Alimentary canal is a long tube with the help of it the food which we take passes. It starts from the mouth and passes through the pharynx, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, rectum and end at the anus. When the food passes through the alimentary canal then the food particles gradually get digested by the different components of the alimentary canal.
The Accessory organs are those organs which involve in the Digestion process but not the part of the gastrointestinal tract. Accessory organs like tongue, salivary, glands, pancreas, liver gallbladder etc.
Mouth
The mouth is the first part of the upper gastrointestinal tract and the food starts its journey from the mouth. Apart from the mouth, there are many other organs including the salivary, teeth, glands, and tongue, that help to the digestion of the food. Teeth are specially designed for masticating the food into small pieces. The work of the tongue is to mix the food particles with the saliva ( Saliva is produced from the salivary glands). After that, the tongue and upper part of the mouth help to move the food towards the pharynx.
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Pharynx
The pharynx is a funnel-shaped fibromuscular tube whose one end connects with the buccal cavity (mouth) and the other one is joint with the oesophagus. Through the pharynx, the food goes into the oesophagus and the air goes into the windpipe or trachea. Epiglottis is a part of the pharynx which prevents the food to go into the trachea. The pharynx also helps in swallowing the food. It plays a major role in the respiratory system too.
There are three types of Pharynx
- Nasopharynx
- Oropharynx
- Laryngopharynx
Oesophagus (Food Pipe)
It is about a 25 cm long tube with a 2 cm diameter. The upper part of the oesophagus connects with the laryngopharynx while the lower part of the oesophagus joins with the stomach. This part of the elementary canal (food pipe) does not participate in the digestion of food It only helps to pass the food and liquid from the mouth to the stomach.
Stomach
The stomach is like a J shaped bag structure whose wall is made of thick elastic muscles that is situated towards the left side of the abdominal cavity below the diaphragm. The stomach has mainly four parts named as Fundus, Cardiac, Body and Pylorus. The vital role of the stomach is to store the meals for a long time and provide enough space to digest the food. The stomach produces the essential enzymes and hydrochloric acid which helps the process of digestion.
The wall of the stomach releases digestive fluid which is known as gastric juice. It is mixed with food and makes chyme.
Small Intestine
The small intestine or small bowel is about 20 feet long and a thin tube whose diameter is 2.5 cm. It is a part of the lower gastrointestinal tract. The small intestine is divided into three parts are called Duodenum, Jejunum and Ileum. The semi-digested food(chyme) from the stomach is passed into the Duodenum first here it gets to mix with the major two secretions which come from the two major glands that are the liver and the pancreas.
The jejunum is the middle part of the small intestine which connects the duodenum and ileum.
The ileum, the lowest part of the small intestine, absorbs vitamin B12, Bile acid and other essential nutrients.
Large Intestine
The large intestine or large bowel is the last part of the gastrointestinal tract, is about 1.5 feet long with a diameter of 3 inches. The cecum is the part of the large intestine, receives food from the small intestine and helps in the absorption of water and electrolytes. Like the small intestine, the large intestine also has four parts called the cecum, colon, rectum and anus.
Rectum
The undigested and waste food material comes from the colon to the rectum. Here in the rectum, it is stored as a semi-solid substance called stool which is later extracted from the body through the anal canal.
Accessory digestive organs
Pancreas
The pancreas is a pale grey gland of weight 60 grams. It is located in the epigastric and left hypochondriac region of the abdominal cavity and surrounded by the liver, spleen, small intestine. It is the main source of enzymes to digest proteins and fats. The pancreas secretes mainly three types of enzymes called Trypsin, Amylase and lipase The pancreas is both endocrine and exocrine glands. The endocrine glands release insulin hormone when blood pressure becomes high.
Liver
The liver is the biggest gland in the human body which is present in the upper part of the abdominal cavity. Its weight is about 1.5 kg. The liver produces bile juice which mixes into the food and it makes the food basic in nature and helps digestion. The gall bladder is the organ where bill juice is being stored.
So, In this post, we read about the parts of the human digestive system in detail. If you found any type of error mistake you can contact us. We will try to improve that part.