It can be scary to experience unusual stomach and digestive system problems.
This understanding can also help you to better describe your symptoms to your healthcare provider.
Here you will find pictures of the primary organs of your digestive system.
Illustration by Joules Garcia for Verywell Health
Your Upper Digestive System
The process of digestion begins in your mouth as you chew food.
As you swallow, food moves into youresophagus, where it travels downward to yourstomach.
In yourstomach, the act of digestion begins in earnest.
SEBASTIAN KAULITZKI/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Getty Images
Your Small Intestine
The digestive process continues as chyme from the stomach enters the small intestine.
The main job of the small intestine is to absorb essential nutrients into the bloodstream.
In theduodenum, bile from the gallbladder and pancreatic secretions are added to the chyme.
OpenStax College/Wikimedia Commons/CC-BY-3.0
Theliverproduces bile, which is then stored in thegallbladder.
The GI tract is one part of the digestive system.
Thesmall intestineis responsible for absorbing nutrients.
PIXOLOGICSTUDIO/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Getty Images
As food is broken down by the stomach and small intestine, nutrients are absorbed into the bloodstream.
The exact size of the stomach will differ from one person to another.
Generally, the average stomach can comfortably hold 1 or 2 cups of food.
Blausen.com staff (2014). “Medical gallery of Blausen Medical 2014”. WikiJournal of Medicine 1 (2). DOI:10.15347/wjm/2014.010. ISSN 2002-4436./Wikimedia Commons/CC-BY-3.0
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PIXOLOGICSTUDIO / Getty Images
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