Absorption and digestive system

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Absorption has many meanings in different fields within science. In the physical sense, the absorption of electrical radiation in a material medium such as gases or liquids. In biology, it means the absorption of substances, such as entry of various gases and solids consumed from the outside world into the plant, animal, or human body, through roots, the outer skin, and through the gastrointestinal tract. In technical terms, it makes sense during force damping to reduce too strong and harmful external effects. Or, in economic terms, the reception of goods, when picking up large market products, consumes continuously. It is derived from the Latin “apsorptio” and means absorption. Absorption decides the process by which one thing becomes part of another thing, or the process of some soaking. Using an example, absorption is when the spilled milk is sucked up with a paper towel.

In a biological sense the absorption is important in digestion, used to break down food into nutrients, to grow, and to regenerate cells. After eating, it takes exactly six to eight hours for the food to pass through the stomach and small intestine. The food costumed then enters the colon for further digestion, absorption of water and removal of undigested food. Peristalsis is the process by which the muscles of the esophagus move and relax in a wave-like manner, so that food not only simply falls into the stomach through the esophagus but is dropped into the stomach through the small duct. So, even if you can out on your head, the food will get into your stomach the same way.

Many people believe that the stomach is the center of digestion as well as the organ plays a big role in the so-called mechanical digestion, but the stomach plays a very small role in chemical digestion, the process by which food is shredded into molecular size, which is then absorbed into the bloodstream. Instead, it is in the small intestine, which is about two-thirds of the length of the digestive tract, that much of the absorption and digestion of nutrients takes place. Then, after further breakdown by powerful enzymes, the small intestine absorbs the nutrients and releases them into the bloodstream.

The most interesting fact about the stomach is that the cells in its inner walls secrete about 2 liter of hydrochloric acid a day, which helps to kill bacteria and aids digestion. Hydrochloric acid is a powerful chemical commonly used to remove rust and scale from steel plates and is also found in some cleaning products. To protect itself from the corrosive acid, the mucous membrane of the stomach is covered with a thick layer of mucus cannot protect the digestive fluid indefinitely, so the stomach produces new mucus every two weeks.

Information complied by: Dezső Sándor