THE FANTASTIC JOURNEY

JD Savage dares you to join your dinner on a rollercoaster ride from bite to bum. Buckle up for a wild ride - if you have the stomach for it!

- 

Your digestive system is a bit like a rollercoaster for your food. Every mouthful you take goes on an epic ride through your body, with twists and turns, and terrifying surprises. As your food travels on its digestive journey, it gets chopped, mashed, dissolved and broken down. Eventually, it reaches its grand finale and is turned into poo. Are you ready to embark on that trip from the first bite to the final flush?

The Muncher

Your ride begins with a chomping, grinding food processor - but not the kind you'd find in a kitchen with whirling blades, a fruit presser and a whisk. This is your mouth. Firstly, your teeth munch, crunch and mash food into small pieces. As this happens, the food mixes with enzymes in your saliva. Enzymes are chemicals that speed up bodily processes, especially digestion. Even before the food leaves your mouth, your enzymes are breaking down food and absorbing nutrients into your body. Nutrients is another word for the essential chemicals that every living thing needs to survive and grow. This is what digestion is all about - extracting as many useful bits from the food you eat, and absorbing them to fuel your body and keep it in top working condition.

The Chute

You swallow and your tongue shoots a soft bolus (a squishy ball of chewed-up food) to the back of your throat and into the entrance of your oesophagus (say es-OFF-a-guss). This is your "food pipe" - a muscular tube connecting your throat to your stomach.