Diabetes: Digestive System

To-Do Date: Jan 27 at 9:30am

Organ Systems

Our body is made of billions of cells, but they are organized into tissues and organs. These organs are working to accomplish particular tasks and when coordinated together we call organ systems.  The digestive system for example, is made up of mouth, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, pancreas and liver as seen in the picture below.  We need all of those organs working together . Your Digestive System & How it Works | NIDDK

 

Digestive System

The digestive system has three  primary tasks

  • Digestion: mechanically and chemically break down the food we eat into small molecules 
  • Absorption: to absorb the small monomers and miscellaneous molecules into the blood stream (ie water, vitamins, minerals,)
  • Elimination: get rid of any molecules that weren't absorbed. This is usually a combination of carbohydrates such as fiber. 

 

 

The following assignments will go over the function of the system from start to finish!