How Do We Digest Food?
There are innumerable cells in our body. These cells help to make tissues of the body. The two main functions are performed in our body by the food that we take. First, it supplies proteins for the growth of the body and second it supplies energy to the tissues for the routine work. We get proteins for the growth of the body from eggs, fish and meat.
Do you know how do we digest food and how we get the essential substances from it?
The process of digestion is very complicated. Digestion starts from our mouth. When we chew the food it get moisten because of the saliva produced in the mouth. The saliva contains a substance known as ptyalin. The starch of the food is converted into sugar by ptyalin. You must have noticed that if one chews the food for long time it becomes sweet. This is due to the conversion 
of starch into sugar. This is the first phase of digestion. Hence, it is necessary that we should swallow the food only after properly chewing it. Then the food passes through the oesophagus to the stomach. In stomach the gastric juices get mixed with food. The juices are secreted by the walls of the stomach. These juices contain an enzyme known as pepsin and hydrochloric acid. The molecules of proteins are converted into peptones by pepsin. The food goes to the small intestine. In small intestine the food gets mixed with three digestive juices, these are bile, pancreatic and intestinal juice. Liver produces the bile juice which is used to digest the fats. The pancreatic juice neutralizes the acids as it is basic in nature. Pancreatic juice digests the proteins. Sugar is converted into glucose by intestinal juice. In small intestine many enzymes get mixed with food. Mainly the food gets digested in small intestine. The blood vessels present in the walls of the small intestine absorb the digested food. The rest of the waste food goes to the large intestine and is finally excreted out of the body through the anus. In this way our body gets essential substances from the food.
