Digestive System Observation: Functions And Recommendations

Definition of Digestive System:

We can say that the digestive system is a process which involves a number of organs that helps us to digest our food and absorb the nutrition from it. It starts from our mouth and it ends at the anus. It is the process of breaking down of food and liquid in smaller parts so that our body can generate energy from it for survival. All animals have a digestive system, but the shape and the sizes are different. For example, humans have only one stomach while a cow has four stomachs. Thus, it depends upon the needs and the functions.

Observation on Digestive System

Function of Saliva

Saliva is produced in our salivary gland and it has a very important role in the digestive system. It lubricates the food, moisten it and then it creates a food bolus so that it can pass through our food pipe easily. It also activates our taste receptors and prevents sudden changes in the PH level. Saliva also has lysosomes (Suicide Bags) which help in killing the microorganisms. For instance, we all have seen animals like dogs and cats licking their wounds. By licking, they are cleaning the wound as it kills microorganism growth, so it has some medicinal properties also.

Why is Bile present inside our body?

Bile is a fluid which contains water, electrolytes, and organic molecules. The main function of bile is the absorption of fat and fatty acids in our small intestine. On average, an adult produces around 400-800 ml of bile a day

Why is Bacteria present inside our digestive system and how it benefits our body?

Inside our gut, there are about 400-500 different kinds of bacteria. The bacteria present inside to protect us from various kinds of diseases, and it breaks down the large food molecules into smaller one and helps in the digestion

Fiber vs. Digestive system: –

The human digestive system cannot digest the fiber. It is directly passed to the intestine and only water is absorbed from it but there are many benefits of eating fiber like it prevents constipation, keeps our digestive system smooth, maintains our healthy weight, type 2 Diabetes risk is reduced, reduces the risk of cancer and keeps our bones healthy.

Digestive System of Plants (Why plants do not have a digestive system?)

Plants do not need a digestive system to digest their food. The reason behind this is that plants make their own food by a process named ‘Photosynthesis’ in which they use sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to synthesize the organic material. Plants also need phosphorous, nitrogen and potassium which they can directly absorb from the soil, so they require no digestion.

Ways to Keep Our Digestive System Healthy

It’s very important to keep our digestive system healthy because we need the energy to survive and energy is generated from food by the digestive system. Here are some ways in which we can keep our digestive system healthy.

• Eating more fiber-rich foods for better performance
• After eating food take a walk of about 5-10 minutes so that food can be digested easily.
• Eating a Balanced Diet and avoid fast food, fried food, and fatty foods.
• Avoid bad habits such as drinking alcohol, smoking, vaping, immediately sleeping after having dinner because it will slow down your digestion rate and will affect the digestive system.
• Chewing the food thoroughly and drinking more and more water as water helps to clean our digestive system.

Why is Digestion Necessary?

Answer – According to me, digestion is necessary because our body needs nutrients which we can get from foods and drinks to keep our body working properly. Nutrients like carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals etc. need to be synthesized and synthesis can be done only in our digestive system in order to get energy from it.

Summary

As compared to any other system, the digestive system is one of the most important systems in our body as we can’t live without it because food can’t be digested without this system and enzymes also play a very important role in synthesizing the food. According to research by a scholar, if there are no enzymes in our stomach and small intestine a single batch of food will take 10 years to digest and pass through our whole digestive system. However, if we want to compare our digestive system with something, we can compare it with the fuel injection system of an automobile. As in automobiles, fuel is firstly filled into tanks then it is passed to the combustion chamber where it is synthesized with some other material and then it is used to generate energy from that fuel by which the engine of a car or any other vehicle works. The waste products are then moved into the exhaust from where they are released into the air in the form of gas or liquid. Thus, our digestive system works the same as the fuel injection system of an automobile. We can compare food with fuel, intestines with combustion chambers and excretion of food with the exhaust of a car.