Your digestive system is an amazing group of organs that break down food into simple substances that can be absorbed by your body.
On average it takes 1 to 2 days for food to move from through your entire digestive system including the colon varies from 40 to 50 hours.
Digestion can be broken down into two different types, mechanical and chemical.
Mechanical digestion is breaking down food physically when you chew. Imagine taking a large piece of paper and ripping it into small pieces. The physical digestion exposes more surface area which aids chemical digestion.
Chemical digestion is the breaking down of food chemically. Your body secretes several enzymes and acids as the food passes along the digestion tract to break the food down.
Why does it take so long to digest our food?
Your digestive tract is long. In fact, your small intestine is roughly 3 times your height or around 20 feet long, and the large intestine is roughly your height or 5 feet long.
This allows your body to absorb the maximum amount of nutrition from your food.
10 Interesting facts about digestion
Your food moves through your digestive tract due to the action of smooth muscles.
Your stomach contains lots of mucus.
Most of the major digestion takes place in the small intestines.
Your small intestines are longer than your large intestines.
Your small and large intestines have huge numbers of bacteria.
Chemical digestion actually starts in the mouth.
You can swallow food upside down due to the smooth muscles in your esophagus.
Your colon absorbs water during digestion which helps to keep you hydrated.
The small intestine is so long it is divided into three parts called the Duodenum, Jejunum, and Ileum.
Saliva produced in the mouth is the first location of chemical digestion.
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