In order for us to actually get the nutrients out of the food we eat, we have to break up our food into small enough pieces to enter the cells lining the alimentary canal; the food bits get taken up through endocytosis.  How do we break up our food into small enough bits?  With mechanical stress (chewing and churning) and chemicals (enzymes, acids, and emulsifiers).  Many of the regions of the digestive system provide the mechanical and chemical stresses that we need to digest our foods.  On this page, you will investigate the chemicals that each digestive system region provides to directly cause food digestion.  As you click on the completely schematic drawing of the digestive system, you will go to a description of the chemicals that region secretes for food digestion.  Start clicking!

Please note that this page works best with Internet Explorer...  if you cannot see the window to the right
of the diagram, you will have to view it separately by following this link.

© 2011 STCC Foundation Press
written by Dawn A. Tamarkin, Ph.D.