How Does Food Get Broken Down in the Stomach?

Series Summary

Human physiology is the science of the mechanical, physical, and biochemical functions of humans in good health, their organs, and the cells of which they are composed. The principal level of focus of physiology is at the level of organs and systems. Traditionally, the academic discipline of physiology views the body as a collection of interacting systems, each with its own combination of functions and purposes. In this free video series, a science teacher provides information on human physiology and how the human body works. Discover how food gets broken down in the stomach, how the body makes blood and how much of the brain humans use. Learn about nucleotides, somatic cells and cytokinesis as well. Improve knowledge of how the body works with these science lessons.

Video Transcript

"Did you know the stomach is only one of the organs that helps the body break down food? Hi, I'm Janice Creneti and I'm here to talk to you today about how food gets broken down in the stomach. Food actually gets broken down through a series of steps and the stomach is down the list. Let me show you the process on the body. It actually starts when you ingest food. And even in the mouth, enzymes begin to be secreted in your saliva. It's called amilates. It helps to digest the starch. Once the food's been partially broken down it makes this long trip down the esophagus or it actually comes down in to the stomach that's hidden here behind the liver. The stomach is actually only responsible for breaking down proteins in something called pepsin. After that happens the food, now turned in to something called chyme makes its way in to the small intestines. This is where most of the work really gets done. More enzymes are produced which finishes the protein breakdown, the starch breakdown and all the breakdown of fat. Once that's done the small intestine actually has the job of moving the food in to the body so that it can be used as nutrition. Each of those individual molecules now broken down will get absorbed in to the blood stream where it'll travel to your muscles, to your bones, to your eyes; all the different places that your body needs to have nutrition. So that's the story of how the food goes from your mouth in to your body cells. I'm Janice Creneti and this is how food gets broken down in the stomach."