Understanding The Workings Of The Digestive System And The Connection To Disease

Your digestive system starts when you place food or liquids into your mouth and ends when you rid your body of waste products that it did not need for growth or cell production.

Along the way from mouth to anus the things we put into our mouth go through a process of disassembly (taking things apart) so that food can be broken down into useable parts for the growth and energy that the body needs to maintain function. Digestive System Diseases are those that interrupt or delay the process of breaking up and moving food and liquid from the mouth through the digestive system.

Our mouth contains saliva that is our first step in the digestion process. We salivate when we smell good food cooking, or see something that we really like to eat. Our mouth gets moist with the saliva produced there and we anticipate the food that we place on our tongue. Our tongue moves the food around and our teeth begin to break it down so that we can swallow the food and liquid. Your mouth not only takes in the food and moves it around so that it can be chewed, the mouth can also sense temperature of food and if it is too hot or too cold it can move it around until it is safe to swallow the food.

The epiglottitis is a flap of tissue that hangs at the base of the tongue. It prevents food from going into the trachea, ort he windpipe during swallowing. If the throat or nasal passages becomes infected or inflamed the infection can spread to other structures including the epiglottis. If the epiglottis becomes inflamed, the swelling can cause it to block the airway, which can besides not allowing food to pass and become further digested, can also lead to suffocation and even death. The common cause for epiglottitis is the organism known as Haemophilus influenzae type b (or Hib). Since 1985 there has been a vaccination to protect individuals against this disease.

The esophagus is the tube that carries the food and liquids as well as saliva from your mouth into the stomach. If you should swallow something too hot, too cold, or too big, you will become painfully aware of where your esophagus is. The esophagus is an important part of the digestive system. The disorders of the esophagus include gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), heartburn or cancer of the esophagus.

Acids and enzymes further break down the food as it sits in the stomach. Then the small intestine further breaks it down into molecules tiny enough for the body to use. Just a few of the digestive diseases of the stomach include: bleeding in the stomach (peptic ulcers), cyclic vomiting syndrome, gastroparesis, gastritis, indigestion, rapid gastric emptying, and Ménétrier's disease. There are several disorders of the small and large intestine including Celiac disease, Crohn's disease, Colon polyps, diverticular disease, intestinal parasites, irritable bowel syndrome, lactose intolerance, and ulcerative colitis. Any of these diseases or conditions can have an adverse effect on the digestive system's ability to breakdown or process the food and liquids.

Food is vital to the survival of our body, as the food is needed for both energy and for cell growth and to maintain cell health. If the food we eat is not able to be broken down into useable molecules than the cells of the body will not be able to get the energy needed to function or the nutrients needed for cell growth. This results in disease in other parts of the body. The body needs liquids to help with digestion, and to be used in the function of the body. When we do not drink enough water each day our body becomes dehydrated and we become sick. Severe dehydration can lead to death.