Our Amazing Bodies

Here on the Amazing Bodies page, our School Nurse Kiera Heasly shares an amazing fact about the human body.

Did You Know?

It takes your food around 24 - 72 hours to travel through your digestive system. 

How our digestive system works: 

THE MOUTH

It all starts when you take a bite of food. Your teeth chew it up and your saliva (spit) starts to break it down. 

THE OESOPHAGUS

When you swallow, the food goes down a long tube called the oesophagus on a one-way journey to your stomach. 

THE STOMACH

Acts like a mixer. It churns the food and uses stomach acid to break it down into a mushy mixture of partly digested food called chyme before moving into the small intestine. 

THE SMALL INTESTINE

Breaks down the mixture even more. Nutrients (essential vitamins and minerals) from the food pass through the walls of the small intestine into your blood, giving you energy and help your body grow. 

THE LARGE INTESTINE

After the small intestine, the leftover food goes into the large intestine. Here, water is absorbed, and the remaining waste gets ready to leave your body. 

OUT OF THE BODY

Finally, what’s leftover goes into the rectum, and the waste exits your body when you go to the toilet.

Reference: Fernández-Tomé, S. (2024). Role of food digestion and digestive system in the nutritional, functional and health properties of food bioactives. Nutrients, 16(5), 712. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu16050712

Nutrients (2024). Special Issue: Role of food digestion and digestive system in the nutritional, functional and health properties of food bioactives. Retrieved from https://www.mdpi.com/journal/nutrients/special_issues/food_digestion_digestive_system

Kiera Heasly

ENPS School Nurse