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Mouth
The mouth is the beginning of the digestive system, and fact, digestion starts here before you even take the first bite of a meal. The smell of food triggers the salivary glands in your mouth to the saliva, causing your mouth to water. When you actually taste the food, saliva increases. -
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The Pharynx and Esophagus
Also called the throat, the pharynx is the portion of the digestive that receives the food from your mouth. Branching off the pharynx is the esophagus, which carries food to the stomach, and the windpipe, which carries air to the lungs. -
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The Colon, Rectum, and Anus
The colon (large intestine) is a five- to seven -foot -long muscular tube that connects the small intestine to the rectum. It is made up of the cecum, the ascending (right) colon, the transverse (across) colon, the descending (left) colon and the sigmoid colon, which connects to the rectum. The appendix is a small tube attached to the ascending colon. The large intestine is a highly specialized organ that is responsible for processing waste so that defecation (excretion of waste) is easy and con -
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The Stomach and Small Intestine
The stomach is a organ with strong muscular walls. In addition to holding food, it serves as the mixer and grinder of food. The stomach secretes acid and powerful enzymes that continue the process of breaking the food down and changing it to a consistency of liquid or paste. From there, food moves to the small intestine. Between meals, the non-liquefiable remnants are released from the stomach and ushered through the rest of the intestines to be eliminated.