Your stomach is part of your digestive system. It is a muscular
sac located near the bottom of your ribcage, a little to your left. Place
your hand below your ribcage and then move it slightly to the left. That
is where your stomach is located!
Your body breaks down the food you eat into very small pieces so
that it can absorb nutrients from the food. This is called digestion.
Digestion begins in your mouth when you chew your food. When you
swallow, the food travels through a tube called the esophagus
(pronounced ee-sah’-fuh-gus). Muscles in the esophagus push your
food to your stomach.
In your stomach, bits of food mix with acid and other substances
called enzymes that break down the food even more. This mushy
mixture is called chyme (pronounced kime). Your stomach sends the
chyme to your small intestine to be broken down even more.
Have you ever heard your stomach “growl”? Those rumbly sounds
have a funny-sounding name:
borborygmi (pronounced bore-buh-rig’-me).
The sound is caused by the muscles in the
walls of your stomach and small intestine
when they contract to push your food
through your body. Next time you hear
someone’s stomach “growl,”
surprise them by telling them
about borborygmi!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.