Digestion involves breaking down organic compounds into smaller, soluble organic molecules.
Ingestion
The first step of digestion begins with the consumption of foodstuffs.
organs involved:
digestion
To get the most (nutrients/ energy) out of the recently ingested foodstuff, we must increase the items SA (Surface area). Our body does so in two ways: Mechanical and Chemical Digestion. Mechanical digestions consists of physically crushing, cutting, and mixing the items into smaller pieces using our teeth, tongue and muscles lining the GI tract. This larger surface area is important for increasing the rate of chemical reactions. Chemical digestion then follows further breaks the foodstuffs down into it's molecular components using acid and various enzymes. This larger surface area is important for increasing the rate of absorption.
organs involved:
absorption
Involves the importing the digested nutrients from the digestive tract into the bloodstream. These nutrients include: electrolytes (ie minerals), water, digestion products (ie glucose, amino acids, fats), and vitamins. This is done so through the use of active and passive transport.
organs involved:
Elimination
The last step involves compacting and eliminating the the byproducts and undigested components of digestion. Defecation is the process of eliminating fecal material from the GI tract.