Your digestive system is a complex structure which has developed and evolved over millions of years. All organisms have some way that they digest or break down their sustenance, but animals come at the top of the list of complexity. The ability to obtain nutrients and vitamins from any form of food is an ability that can decide whether a species can live on or not. Read on to find out more about the digestive system.

Something which you could have probably figured out by yourself, the first step in the digestive process is consumption through your mouth. This is a step which isn’t always necessary, as supplements can be injected or absorbed in ways that do not necessarily require having a mouth. Saliva in your mouth is responsible for breaking down food into smaller particles. This is why supplements are fine grained, usually in liquid form, they do not go through the mouth to be broken down by saliva. The food travels down your throat, where it doesn’t spend much time, into your esophagus. Now, the food has entered a place of no return. The esophagus has a pressure lid which keeps it from exiting. This pressure also forces it into your stomach, which is further down. Your stomach is home to many different enzymes and amounts of pressure keeping it in between layers of fat and muscle.

Your food continues to be broken down, and the acids separate the nutrients. The food is now in the small intestine. This is where separation occurs. After the waste is separated from the nutrients, the food is almost done processing. Before moving onto it’s famous counterpart, the food has to go through the pancreas and liver. At the stage of pancreas, the nutrients have been broken down to their most basic compounds. The liver purifies these compounds to the best of it’s abilities. After this, liquid waste is dropped off in the gallbladder. The compounds continue to the large intestine. The solid waste moves to the colon. Contractions called peristalsis move the waste and compounds to where they need to be. The compounds are absorbed by blood, the waste is stored and expelled.

Different animals have different digestive processes. Some have less muscular intestines, some have fattier stomachs. All of these strengths and weaknesses have played their own roles in evolution. Crocodiles have some of the most efficient systems, which is why they are one of the modern species which have close ancient counterparts. Chickens have small stomachs, and they lack acid around their intestines. This is why they have been a staple prey in the wild, and have evolved so much over the years.

Efficiency is key in the modern world. Everything that a human does relies on the efficiency of it. The digestive processes of humans are known to be the epitomes of an efficient process. This is one of the reasons why humans are so dominant to this day. If you are not feeding yourself healthy foods, then you are decreasing the efficiency of your digestive system. Choose healthy.