rganautaFood's journey in 3D
The digestive tract runs from the mouth to the anus and is about 9 meters long. Food moves along by peristalsis: the muscle behind squeezes and the muscle…
Explained for every age
For kids (7–11)
Follow a bite of food from your mouth to the end of your intestine. In the scene the trip lasts 30 seconds, but in your body it takes hours or even days. Along the way, the food is broken into pieces so tiny that they pass into your blood.
For teens (12–16)
The digestive tract runs from the mouth to the anus and is about 9 meters long. Food moves along by peristalsis: the muscle behind squeezes and the muscle in front relaxes. The mouth chews, the stomach mixes the food with acid until it forms chyme, the liver and pancreas pour in bile and enzymes, the small intestine absorbs the nutrients, and the large intestine recovers water. The scene speeds everything up: the stomach takes about 4 or 5 hours to empty, the small intestine about 4 hours on average, and the large intestine 30 to 40 hours.
Pre-Med (17+)
Phases: cephalic (gastric secretion in response to the sight and smell of food, chewing, and saliva), gastric, and intestinal. Cited average times: chyme begins to reach the small intestine one hour after eating; the stomach is half empty at 1.2 hours and empty at 4 or 5 hours; small intestinal transit is about 4 hours and complete emptying about 8.6 hours; the colon takes 30 to 40 hours, with wide variation between individuals. Control combines hormones from the gastric and intestinal mucosa, the central nervous system, and the enteric nervous system, which speeds up or slows down motility and secretion according to wall stretch. The scene compresses into 30 seconds a journey that takes hours to days in the body, and it is not to scale.
What you can explore
Mouth: chewingEsophagus: peristalsisStomach: churningSmall intestine: absorptionLarge intestine: water recoveryRectumLiver and bilePancreas and digestive enzymesFood bolusAbsorbed nutrients
Missions
- The journey of a bite Explorer
- Digestive juices and timing Discoverer
- Chemical digestion and absorption Pre-Med