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Essay about The Importance of Digestive System

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How is it so that something as simple as a piece of steak can be turned into fuel for our bodies once it is consumed? It happens through this one system with many functioning parts known as the digestive system. When it comes to the human body the digestive system is very important. It gives our bodies the ability to process foods, extract the nutrients we need from the foods, and eliminate the wastes (smartlivingnetwork). Without these abilities our bodies wouldn’t be able to function. So what is the digestive system exactly? It is a complex series of organs that processes the food we eat. Altogether this system is about 6-9 meters of muscular tubes running from the mouth to the anus. According to Robert Sullivan, the organs of this …show more content…

Nucleases are enzymes that split nucleic acids into nucleotides and other products. Protease is an enzyme that catalyzes the hydrolytic breakdown of proteins. Amylase is an enzyme that catalyzes the hydrolysis if starch to sugar to produce carbohydrate derivatives. Trypsin is an enzyme produced by the exocrine pancreas that catalyzes in the small intestine the breakdown of dietary proteins to peptones, peptides, and amino acids. Lipase is an enzyme that splits the fatty acid residue from the glycerol residue in a phospholipid. Collagenase catalyzes the hydrolysis of collagen and gelatin. Elastase catalyzes the digestion of elastic tissue. Chymotrypsin catalyzes the hydrolysis if casein and gelatin.
The Process of the Digestive System This complicated process begins in the mouth as soon as you put the food in your mouth. Salivary amylase, which is found in saliva, starts the chemical digestion of starch by converting it from a polysaccharide to the disaccharide maltose. It functions best with a pH 6 or 7 which is slightly acidic. It then enters the pharynx and travels down the esophagus and into the stomach. The stomach is lined with strong muscular walls that contain millions of gastric glands. Our food is mechanically digested by our stomach’s walls while its enzymes and acids chemically digest it. Just about everything then goes into the liver to be metabolized except for fats.

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