 Our digestive
system is a 9 metre long tube. The digestive process begins in the mouth,
where the teeth and tongue break up the food after it has been softened
with saliva. The food is then swallowed and travels down the oesophagus to
the stomach.
 While the
food is in the stomach it is mixed with a mild acid which breaks the food
down into a paste similar to porridge. The food then passes, a little at a
time into the small intestine, which is roughly 6 metres long. Here the
food is broken down even further until it is small enough to pass through
the walls of the small intestine into the bloodstream.
Food that cannot be digested passes into the large
intestine, where the water and minerals are absorbed into the blood
stream. The solid waste, the faeces, is then expelled from the body
through the rectum and anus.
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