How Human Digestive System Works ?

The intestinal tract in an average adult is about 9 meters (30 feet) long and is divided into a number of different parts. Each part of the intestinal tract has its own job to do. Semi-digested food passes from the stomach into the small intestine where another set of enzymes completes the digestive process. The resultant tiny particles are absorbed into the wall of the intestine.

By the time food reaches the end of the small intestine and is about to enter the part of the intestinal tract known as the large bowel, it is little more than waste residue. Water is removed in the colon and mucus is secreted to help the stools pass easily along to the exit point; but the actual digestive process has finished much earlier on.

How Human Stomach Works ?

Your stomach helps digest food in two ways. First, the cells of the stomach lining produce something like three liters of gastric juice every day. Of the different substances which make up these juices, the most important one is probably hydrochloric acid which is produced by the parietal cells. These exist in the stomach wall in a total population of something approaching a billion.

The power and effect of these juices is enhanced by the stomach's muscular wall which churns the food and the juices together before squirting the resultant soup-like mixture through a valve into the next part of the intestinal tract, the duodenum.

It is these two properties of the stomach which give it its power as a digestive force and there are a number of different factors which can influence both the production of acid and the activity of the stomach's muscular wall. Of these factors, the two most important in a normal stomach are the presence and absence of food.

Why Human Stomach and Digestive Systems go Wrong ?

How your stomach functions depends mainly on the type of food you consume and how often you consume it. Its only function is to prepare food for digestion and if there is too little or too much of the wrong sort of food, then your stomach is bound to show some signs that all is not well.

Researchers are still not absolutely certain what other problems can cause damage to the stomach. There is considerable evidence, however, to suggest that drinking too much alcohol, smoking too many cigarettes and taking too many of the wrong sort of drugs will all damage the digestive part of the intestinal tract. These behaviors affect the rate at which acid is produced and the speed and nature of the movements of the stomach's muscle wall.

Individuals who are under stress are very often also the same sort of people who drink too much alcohol, smoke too much and eat irregularly or too quickly. These types of activities can also cause stomach disorders. Therefore, establishing a strict and formal relationship between stress and stomach problems is difficult.