The message about the stomach is a little story. Interesting facts about digestion. Digestion - small intestine

Like every part human body, is a complex part of a complex organic machine, which is .

It carries out the accumulation and transformation of incoming substances, participating in the important process of obtaining energy for the operation of the entire system.

When everything is fine with him, we do not even pay attention to his daily tireless work. Here are some surprisingly interesting facts about the stomach.

1. Contrary to popular belief, food that enters the body is digested in the small intestine, and not in the stomach, in which it only mixes with acids and enzymes that separate foods into individual components. Then everything moves to the lower intestine, where, in fact, absorption takes place. useful substances with the accompanying formation of waste products that will be sent further to the “discharge site”.

2. There is a widespread myth that if you reduce the amount of food consumed at one meal, then gradually you can achieve a reduction in the stomach, which will reduce hunger and allow you to reduce your weight.

In fact, the stomach of an adult, having reached its current size, is not capable of contraction, so the only option to reduce an oversized stomach is surgery.

3. Another popular misconception says about the indispensable relationship between the weight of a person and the size of his stomach. But there is no direct connection here, and often thin man may have a larger stomach than a full stomach. In general, the average adult stomach has a volume of about 1.5 liters.

4. Surprisingly, the human stomach can theoretically absorb a lot with proper training. A trained digestive system is able to determine for itself which enzyme to use to break down a particular substance. So, a person is quite capable of digesting even pieces of a car tire without special harm for myself, another thing is that there are not many owners of such special stomachs.

But for the average person, the use of not only rubber, but simply a large amount of spicy or fried foods can have bad consequences like gastritis with high acidity or other unpleasant diseases. So it is better not to test your stomach for strength unnecessarily.

5. Internal cavity The stomach is filled with hydrochloric acid, which plays an important role in the processing of incoming products. This stomach acid is produced in the parietal cells and interacts with the important enzyme pepsin, which is involved in the breakdown of proteins. In addition, it also works as an activator for additional enzymes that work to separate carbohydrates and fats. By the way, hydrochloric acid also plays important role in maintaining an aggressive bacterial environment at the entrance to the stomach.

6. For some reason, many people believe that training can reduce the stomach, but physical exercises unable to influence the size of organs. Although, undoubtedly, such activities are very useful for those suffering from overweight people, as they can reduce the fatty membrane around the stomach and other organs, which interferes with their work.

7. Fighter function harmful bacteria in the stomach, the same irreplaceable hydrochloric acid performs, which destroys pests and, together with the protease enzyme, forms a special acidic environment.

8. The stomach is the most main body digestive system and is located between the esophagus and the small intestine.

When we eat, we do not think about what is waiting inside our food, and how it turns into useful substances for the body. But the digestive tract is not in vain compared to the heating system: food is the fuel, the intestines are the pipes, and the stomach gets the role of the boiler. Some interesting stomach facts will help to understand the importance of this body.

1. The stomach resembles a hollow leather bag with muscles.. With the help of muscles, food enters it, where it undergoes both mechanical and chemical processing, and then enters the intestines.
2. The muscles of our digestive sac are so strong that we can easily eat in different positions., and even standing on your head - the food will still get where it needs to be.

   

3. The digestive sac in an adult can hold about 1.5 liters of food or water.. It stretches and contracts like a rubber bag.

   

4. The ancient Greeks considered the stomach to be a living being within us.. The works of the ancient Greek healer Galen confirm this fact - the ancient Greeks really considered the muscular cavity for food to be an animated being capable of feeling emptiness. This creature sent hunger and forced a person to look for food.

   

5. Gastric juice contains a large amount of concentrated sulfuric acid, which allows you to digest heavy food and kill bacteria and microorganisms that enter the body with food. The pH value is 1.2. This level of acid allows you to digest small bones, wood and even plastic.

   

6. Despite the extremely aggressive environment, there is one bacterium in our digestive sac, which feels great in an explosive acid mixture. This is Helicobacter pylori.

   

7. In the normal state, Helicobacter pylori is involved in the process of food processing. But if her population gets too big, this bacterium destroys our digestive organ, causing ulcers.

   

8. A strong acidic environment constantly corrodes the walls of the stomach. To maintain normal performance, the body is forced to constantly renew the epithelium layer on inner walls. In two weeks, this part of the body completely replaces the layer of mucous tissue located inside.

   

9. There are nerve cells in the stomach - there are many more of them than in the brain of some animals. Scientists sometimes refer to this part of the body as the “second brain.” Thanks to nerve cells we feel pain in the abdomen.

   

10. The rush of blood to the cheeks causes a similar reaction inside our body - the walls of the digestive sac turn red at the same time as our face.

    

11. A person's weight and stomach size are not related in any way.. This statement has been proven by observations of those who surgically removed part of the stomach. As observations have shown, the appetite and weight of a person after this operation did not decrease.

    

12. Food stays in the stomach for about 6 hours. The stomach of an adult digests a normal meal within six hours. In order for the food to dissolve during this time, 1.5 liters of acid are required.

    

13. Most of the stomach is not occupied by food or juice, but ... air, which gets there in the process of eating or breathing. The accumulation of air interferes with the work of this organ and makes digestion difficult. The best way to get rid of air is a burp.

    

14. Despite the importance of the stomach, a person can do without it.. There are cases when the patient's digestive cavity was completely removed, and at the same time people lived to a ripe old age. But the pancreas, although much smaller in size, is vital.

    

15. Our stomach is able not only to digest, but also to produce. Serotonin, the hormone responsible for pleasure, is produced primarily in this internal organ.

    

According to medical statistics, half of humanity on Earth is faced with diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. The most commonly diagnosed and the most common of these, of course, is gastritis, which can occur due to nervous strain, malnutrition or inflammatory processes and infections in oral cavity and nasopharynx.

The branch of medicine that deals with problems gastrointestinal tract called gastroenterology. A doctor specializing in this field is a gastroenterologist. In his realm medical duties include the study of anatomy, physiology and possible diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. In addition, his activities cover the study of narrow areas of diseases of the organs and departments of the gastrointestinal tract:

• Gastrology is the study of stomach problems.
• Esophatology deals with problems of the esophagus.
• Hepatology is designed to study diseases of the biliary tract, gallbladder, liver.
• Enterology for the study of diseases of the small intestine.
• Proctology is the study of problems in the rectum.
• Coloproctology deals with problems of the rectum and large intestine.

Despite this coverage possible diseases The gastrointestinal tract, gastroenterology, as a separate section of medicine, was singled out only in the 19th century, before that the problems of the gastrointestinal tract were dealt with by therapy, although references to diseases of the gastrointestinal tract are still present in the ancient treatises of healers. Their transcripts indicate that a person already had diagnoses of diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, which in our time have names: gastritis, ulcers, dysbacteriosis, enterocolitis and others.

Only the invention by the scientist F. Bozzini in 1806 of the endoscope allowed the science - gastroenterology to stand on new level and make many discoveries for physicians in this area. As, for example, the discovery of the bacterium Helicobacter pylori by scientists B. Marshall and R. Warren, awarded the Nobel Prize. It is these previously unknown bacteria that provoke the occurrence chronic gastritis, stomach ulcers and malignant tumors in the gastrointestinal tract. Data Russian Association gastroenterologists are disappointing, they say that 80% of the Russian population are infected with these bacteria.

The delicacy of gastrointestinal diseases, in most cases, does not allow patients to consult a gastroenterologist in time, which means finding the right ways to solve the problem. We hope that our section of articles - All about diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, will help you assess the severity of the existing problem, use the proposed methods for the prevention and treatment of diseases of the gastrointestinal tract and, of course, contact a gastroenterologist in time, leaving inappropriate doubts and embarrassments.

Gastrointestinal tract and bacteria - informational video

Digestion is an indispensable process. As a result of the activity of the digestive system, a person receives the chemicals and energy he needs for life.

Food is digested in the stomach. As a result of chemical reactions, food decomposes, it becomes possible to extract the simplest components from it and absorb them into the blood. It all starts with the fact that a person chews food, which then descends into the stomach. The opening through which food passes from the esophagus to the stomach is called the cardia. Muscles in the area of ​​the cardia work like a gateway, i.e. food only travels in one direction.

The stomach in the process of digesting food is filled with gastric juice more than half. Food falls into this liquid and begins to be digested there. The lower part of the stomach is not so spacious. The end of the stomach is somewhat narrowed and is in horizontal position. This part of the stomach is called the pylorus.

As already mentioned, in the pyloric part of the stomach narrows, it becomes like a tube. Next is a hole leading to duodenum. The pyloric muscles work like a valve. They push the semi-digested food into the intestines, preventing the food from passing back.

The stomach is surrounded by muscles - longitudinal, circular and oblique. The inner part is called body of the stomach, while the inside of the stomach is covered with a mucous membrane. Muscles are needed by the stomach in order for food to move in the direction from the cardia to the exit from the stomach. Muscle movements are undulating, along the way they mix food with gastric juice, squeeze food and make it grind into even smaller pieces. A slurry is formed, almost a liquid. This product of the stomach is called chyme.

Food is ground in the stomach not only due to muscles, but also due to chemistry - in the stomach, food is exposed to a strong acid - gastric juice. Gastric acid appears in the stomach itself (it is secreted by cells on inner surface stomach). In addition, an enzyme is produced pepsin and hydrochloric acid. All three substances help to digest the incoming food, split it into pieces.

Stomach acid is so strong that it can burn through a carpet or digest a piece of iron (such as a razor blade). Without this property gastric juice would not be able to cope with ordinary tasks, as well. proteins are very difficult to digest. It is also important that he the stomach is made up of protein. Why then does the process of digestion not involve the stomach itself? The secret lies in the properties of the walls of the stomach. They are uneven, consist of jagged zigzag folds. And in the depths of these folds are special cells that can protect the stomach from its own juice. These cells are able to produce mucus that envelops the stomach, forming the so-called mucous membrane. It turns out that two completely opposite groups of cells work in the stomach - some secrete the strongest acid, others - the opposite substance "mucus" (mucus that protects against acids).

The mucous membrane protects not only from acid, but also from microbes too. Viruses cannot enter the body through food amazing properties mucus. Another function of this mucus is to facilitate the movement of food to the lower stomach. Thanks to the cardia, stomach acid does not penetrate higher (into the esophagus). If there were no such protection, the esophagus would quickly become destroyed (burned by acid), because the esophagus has no protection in the form of mucus.

Gastritis and ulcers appear only when the thickness of the mucus layer becomes too thin. As a result, wounds appear on the walls - the stomach begins to digest itself. Only the simultaneous work of mucus and acid in the stomach makes the process of digestion possible. And this one complex mechanism works for a person from the moment of his birth until the last days.

It turns out that there is a lot of interesting things in this process!

1. Your digestive tract is a 9 meter long tube, which begins in the mouth and ends at the anus.
2. In small intestine so many folds, down to the most microscopic, that its total surface area is 250 square meters. That's enough to cover a tennis court.
3. Digestion begins even before you eat something. The sight and smell of food triggers salivation and the production of digestive juices. As soon as the first piece enters your mouth, all digestive systems begin to work actively.
4. The ancient Roman physician Galen considered the stomach to be an animated being within us, which "is able to feel emptiness, which stimulates us to look for food."
5. It takes us about 72 hours to digest a festive dinner. Carbohydrates, such as various pies and pastries, will be digested first. Then comes dry overcooked protein (fried chicken), and fats take the longest, including sauces and whipped cream from the cake.


6. A person eats an average of 500 kg of food per year..
7. The mouth has a neutralizing function. It either cools or heats food to a temperature that is acceptable to the rest of the digestive tract.
8. Every day we produce about 1.7 liters of saliva. The amount of saliva is regulated by the autonomic nervous system, which means that the process occurs automatically. This is why we produce saliva at the mere sight, smell, or thought of food.
9. Muscles digestive organs are contracted by wave movements and this process is called peristalsis. It is thanks to this that food will enter the human stomach, even if he eats standing on his head.
10. The stomach has a huge capacity. On average, an adult stomach can hold about 1 liter of food.. 11. Digesting food also requires calories, which is 5 to 15 percent of our energy expenditure. Most energy is required for the digestion of proteins and alcohol.
12. Pica or perverted appetite is an eating disorder in which a person develops a need to eat inedible things such as paint, chalk and dirt. It occurs in 30 percent of children, and the cause is not known. There are suggestions that the lack of some minerals is to blame for everything.
13. The main digestive juice is hydrochloric acid, which can dissolve metal, but plastic toys, pencils and hair come out at the other end of the digestive tract almost unchanged.
14. What happens if you swallow gum? There is a myth that chewing gum stays in the stomach for 7 years before being digested. It is not true. Our body really cannot digest gum, but it will come out relatively unchanged with the stool. In very rare cases a large number of chewing gum and constipation can lead to a blockage in the intestines.


15. Most of the hormone serotonin - the main mood hormone - is not made in the head, but in the stomach.
16. With pancreatitis, your body begins to literally devour you from the inside. The pain that comes with it, due to the fact that fat-digesting enzymes seep from the pancreatic duct to other tissues, which actually corrodes you.
17. Water, enzymes, basic salts, mucus and bile create about 7.5 liters of fluid that enters our large intestine. And only about 6 tablespoons come out of this whole mixture.
18. The liver is the laboratory of our body. It performs over 500 different functions, including storage nutrients, filtering and processing chemical substances in food, bile production and many others.
19. The loudest burp that was recorded was 107.1 decibels, which can be compared to the volume of a chainsaw. Its owner was the Briton Paul Hann, who demonstrated his abilities on television.
20. Flatulence or intestinal gases are a mixture of swallowed air, gas produced by a reaction in the stomach, and gas produced by bacteria in digestive tract. This mixture consists of nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, hydrogen and methane.