Written By John Bradley
Contrary to popular belief, the stomach isn’t the main source of food digestion. While mechanical digestion occurs in the stomach, most of the work is done by the small intestine.
It doesn’t take gravity to move food down your esophagus. The muscles of the esophagus move food down to the stomach. This means you can eat upside, but beware of choking.
The stomach has to protect itself from acid erosion by lining itself with a layer of mucus. This keeps the hydrochloric acid that is in the stomach digesting food from breaking down the stomach as well. The stomach produces a new layer of mucus every two weeks to protect itself, while it produces half a gallon of hydrochloric acid each day.
The digestive system uses enzymes to break down foodstuffs. Proteases break down proteins, while amylases target carbohydrates. Lipases act on fats to break them down. Some laundry detergents use the same enzymes that your body uses to break down food in order to break down stains.
The small intestine isn’t small at all. Stretched out, it would cover space the size of a tennis court. This is due to the folds in its walls, known as villi and microvilli that provide increased surface area.
When you pass gas, it’s related to the fermentation occurring in the large intestine. Bacteria work on digesting the remaining food material that makes it to the large intestine. As they work, they release gases, such as methane and hydrogen sulfide.
The digestive system is linked to cancer and causes more mortalities than any other body system.
A normal or average person produces enough saliva to fill two soda cans every day, roughly 2 pints.
Your stomach can stretch to hold up to four pounds of food at one time.
Other organs are accessories to the digestive system. The liver and pancreas produce materials to aid in digestion, including bile and proteases.
Burps are designed to release excess air that the body intakes from drinking carbonated beverages, smoking, or eating too fast.
