BASIC NUTRITION

• Mouth


  Oral cavity containing the tongue and teeth
• Pharynx


  Passageway leading from the nose and mouth to the larynx and esophagus
• Salivary glands


  Secrete saliva which contains starch-digesting enzymes
• Epiglottis


  Cartilage in the throat that guards the entrance to the trachea and prevents fluid or food from entering it upon swallowing
• Trachea


  Windpipe, allows air to pass to and from the lungs
• Esophagus


  The food pipe, passes food from the mouth to the stomach
• Esophageal sphincter


  At the upper and lower ends of esophagus, LES is also called cardiac sphincter. Prevent the backflow of food from stomach to esophagus and from esophagus to mouth
• Stomach


  Muscular, elastic, sac like portion of the digestive tract that grinds and churns swallow food; mixing it with acid and enzymes to form chyme
• Pyloric sphincter


  The circular muscle that separates the stomach from the small intestine and regulates the flow of partially digested food into the small intestine
• Liver


  Largest organ in the body, secretes bile, forms and stores glycogen, plays important part in the metabolism of protein and fats
• Gallbladder


  Organ that stores and concentrates bile; when bile is needed, the gallbladder contracts and squirts bile through the bile duct into the duodenum
• Bile duct


  Conducts bile from the gallbladder to the small intestine
• Ileocecal valve


  The sphincter separating the small and large intestines
• Appendix


  A narrow blind sac extending from the beginning of the colon that stores lymph cells
• Small Intestine


  • Main site of digestion of food and absorption of nutrients
  • Most of the digestive process is completed in the duodenum and upper jejunum
  • Segments are duodenum, jejunum, ileum
• Pancreas


  A gland that secretes digestive enzymes and juices into duodenum
• Pancreatic juice


  Conducts pancreatic juice from the pancreas to the small intestine
• Large Intestine


  • The lower portion of intestine that completes the digestive process
  • Segments are the ascending colon, transverse colon, descending colon and sigmoid colon
• Rectum


  The muscular terminal part of the intestine, extending from the sigmoid colon to the anus
• Anus


  The terminal outlet of the GIT. Holds rectum closed, opens to allow elimination