Digestion begins before food reaches your stomach. Your teeth break food into smaller pieces, and saliva starts changing some of it.
Fun fact: Saliva moistens food so it is easier to swallow.
Follow food from your mouth through the organs that help your body use nutrients and remove waste.
How Your Digestive System Works
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After you swallow, food moves down a tube called the esophagus. Muscles push it along until it reaches your stomach.
Fun fact: The squeezing movement of these muscles is called peristalsis.
The stomach mixes food with digestive juices. Then the small intestine takes useful nutrients from the food and passes them into your body.
Fun fact: Your body uses nutrients for energy, growth and repair.
The large intestine takes in much of the water that remains. What your body does not need leaves as waste. Each part has a job that helps you use your food.
Fun fact: Helpful bacteria also live in the large intestine.