Amazing Digestive System

The epic journey from mouth to rectum. Happy Digestive Diseases Awareness Month!

How does the digestive system work? Teeth and saliva get things started by breaking food down in your mouth. Next, food travels down the esophagus and into the acidic stomach, which destroys food.

Other organs add their special sauces to help break down food even more -- bile, enzymes, stomach acid and digestive juices. This digestive slurry is called chyme and exits the stomach to the small intestine via the duodenum.

The small intestine is where most nutrients are absorbed. Waste and water move along to the large intestine via the ileum. This is where things get less digestive and more excretory!

The microbiome are the tiny bugs that live in our guts and help us digest food. Nutrients go from the intestine into the bloodstream via the villi.

The large intestine, aka the colon, is where water is absorbed and poop forms. The rectum tells the body when it's time to find a toilet.

Now you know! And if you're looking for digestive system plush toys and gifts, you know we love our stomachs stuffed.