Digestive System

Parts of the Digestive System

• The digestive tract (or gastrointestinal tract) consists of the mouth, pharynx, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, rectum, and anus (1^✔ ✔Trusted Source
  Digestive tract
  
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• The accessory organs of the digestive system are the teeth, tongue, salivary glands, liver, gall bladder, and pancreas.
• The digestive tube begins to form around the third week of pregnancy (2^✔ ✔Trusted Source
  Physiology, Gastrointestinal
  
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Esophagus

• The esophagus is also called a food pipe or gullet. It is a muscular tube that connects the mouth to the stomach, through which food and liquid are carried to the stomach (3^✔ ✔Trusted Source
  Esophagitis
  
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Saliva

• The average daily saliva production ranges between 0.5 and 1.5 liters (4^✔ ✔Trusted Source
  Saliva between normal and pathological. Important factors in determining systemic and oral health
  
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• Saliva helps in tooth decay prevention (5^✔ ✔Trusted Source
  Tooth Decay
  
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Swallowing

• It is estimated that a healthy adult swallows 1000 to 2000 times per day (6^✔ ✔Trusted Source
  Management of Dehydration in Patients Suffering Swallowing Difficulties
  
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Liver

• The human liver performs 100 different functions (7^✔ ✔Trusted Source
  The Liver
  
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• The Liver is the largest and heaviest internal organ of the body and weighs about 1.5 kilograms (8^✔ ✔Trusted Source
  Liver Weight
  
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• The liver is the only organ in the body that can regenerate completely, even after up to 90% of it has been removed (9^✔ ✔Trusted Source
  Cells that maintain and repair the liver identified
  
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• A healthy liver filters approximately 1.7 liters of blood each minute (10^✔ ✔Trusted Source
  Liver Immunology
  
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• The liver produces a digestive fluid called bile that helps breakdown and absorb fats (11^✔ ✔Trusted Source
  Bile
  
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Transit Time

• In an average person, it takes 2 to 5 hours for gastric emptying, 2 to 6 hours in the small intestine, and 10 to 59 hours in the large intestine (12^✔ ✔Trusted Source
  How to Assess Regional and Whole Gut Transit Time With Wireless Motility Capsule
  
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Stomach

• It is possible to live without a stomach by making dietary changes, but this may result in nutritional deficiencies (13^✔ ✔Trusted Source
  Life without a stomach
  
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• The food will get into the stomach even if one stands on their head. The capacity of the stomach ranges from 30 ml at birth to 1000 ml at puberty and 1500 ml in adults (14^✔ ✔Trusted Source
  A Study of Variations of the Stomach in Adults and Growth of the Fetal Stomach
  
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• Every 2 weeks, the human stomach produces a new layer of mucous lining, otherwise the stomach will digest itself (15^✔ ✔Trusted Source
  How does the stomach work?
  
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Gastric Juice

• The human stomach produces about 2.5 liters of gastric juice every day (16^✔ ✔Trusted Source
  Aquaporin water channels in gastrointestinal physiology
  
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• Hydrochloric acid in gastric juice kills food-derived bacteria, aids digestion, and promotes mineral absorption (17^✔ ✔Trusted Source
  The Physiology of the Gastric Parietal Cell
  
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Small Intestine

• The longest part of the digestive system is the small intestine.
• It is about 22 feet long and connects the stomach to the large intestine.
• It is divided into three parts: the duodenum, the ileum, and the jejunum.
• Most of the nutrients in food are absorbed in the small intestine. The villi and microvilli in the small intestine help absorb the nutrients (18^✔ ✔Trusted Source
  Small Intestine Disorders
  
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Large Intestine

• The length of an adult’s large intestine is about 5 feet. It makes up one-fifth of the gastrointestinal tract (19^✔ ✔Trusted Source
  Physiology, Large Intestine
  
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Hiccups

• Charles Osborne had the world's longest hiccup attack, lasting 68 years between 1922 and February 1990 (20^✔ ✔Trusted Source
  Sarcoidosis presenting as hiccups
  
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