Have you ever thought about where the food goes in your body after you’ve put it in your mouth? We all know that in the end, the food comes out of the body and into the toilet...but this is only after the body has taken the nutrients it needs from the food. What happens when it's in your body? Watch this video about the digestive system.
Video Transcript
Narrator: KidsHealth presents How the Body Works with Chloe and the Nerb.
Nerb: I see your gallstones and raise you four tonsils.
Teeth character: Golly, what you got?
Nerb: Read 'em and weep. A pair of kidneys.
Teeth character: Well, filter my trash. Too bad for you, I have a straight set of teeth.
Nerb: Argh! Stupid good-for-nothing cards. I curse the day I bought you. Double or nothing?
Chloe: Nerb, did you eat chili again?
Nerb: That's not me, Chloe.
Teeth characters: Help! Somebody help! Help!
Chloe: Nerb, let's get out of here!
Nerb: I can't. I'm paralyzed with fear!
Nerb: Chloe, wake up!
Chloe: Wha... where are we?
Nerb: We're in the mouth, the gateway to the digestive system.
Chloe: The digestive system?
Nerb: Yep. It takes the food you eat, breaks it down, and turns it into energy you can use. It's trying to break us down into tiny pieces as we speak.
Chloe: Ah!
Nerb: Oh, don't worry, Chloe. That's why we're wearing these spiffy anti-digestive suits.
Chloe: Nerb, what's this goop on my arm?
Nerb: Oh, that's saliva. As soon as you take a bite of food, digestion begins. Saliva contains things called enzymes that start breaking down food immediately.
Nerb: Whoa! Looks like we're in the esophagus, a tube that runs from your mouth to... the stomach!
Chloe: Ouch!
Nerb: Oh, happy day! Food! Now we can watch it be digested.
Chloe: Lucky us.
Nerb: Look at the food! Look at it! Right here in the stomach, gastric juices are starting to break it down. It's amazing!
Chloe: Gastric juices?
Nerb: Yes-sir-ee! Gastric juice isn't like orange or grape juice. Your stomach secretes a mix of acid and enzymes that start digesting the food you eat. The stomach also churns the partially digested food, turning it into a lovely, liquidy mush. Then the food moves into the small intestine. Bye-bye, handsome!
Chloe: Handsome? That combo of chewed-up food and gastric juices was gross.
Nerb: Well, then you're gross.
Chloe: Excuse me?
Nerb: Whoa! You've seen this combo of chewed-up food and gastric juices erupt from your own body if you've ever thrown up.
Chloe: Oh, I have seen that before.
Nerb: Nerb vomit sparkles with all the colors of the rainbow.
Chloe: I think it's time to move on to the small intestine.
Nerb: Whoa! Here we are. The first part of the small intestine is called the duodenum, and it's where liquefied food goes next. Duodenum, duodenum, duodenum!
There are more digestive juices found here, like bile. Bile is made in the liver and stored in the gallbladder until your body needs it. Bile and enzymes from the pancreas break down the proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. It's here that the body absorbs the vitamins and minerals from the food.
Nerb: Whoa! Welcome to the large intestine!
Chloe: Hold on. If the small intestine does all of that, why do we even need a large intestine?
Nerb: Oh, my dear Chloe, of course you need a large intestine. The large intestine has an important job: to absorb water and salt.
Chloe: So, what's left?
Nerb: At the end of the digestive process, anything that hasn't been absorbed is considered waste, which your body doesn't need. In other words... poop! Pooooooop! Pooooooop!
Chloe: Nerb, what's that sound? Uh-oh. Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!
How am I going to tell my diary about this?
Nerb: Just say, today me and my best buddy Nerb went on a journey through the digestive system, and we had the time of our lives.
Chloe: Uh, okay.