Nutrition-Health-Science

The Digestive System

Mechanical digestion begins the process of digestion. Otherwise known as chewing, it "involves mixing, grinding, or crushing large pieces of food into small pieces" (Lab: Mechanical and chemical digestion, n.d, Chapter 38). In contrast, the process of chemical digestion occurs inside of the body within the digestive organs, "when digestive enzymes break down complex molecules, such as carbohydrates, into simple molecules, such as glucose" (Lab: Mechanical and chemical digestion, n.d, Chapter 38). When digesting a ham and cheese sandwich, first the teeth grind the sandwich mechanically. Then this is followed by the process of breaking down the food chemically within the body. While mechanical digestion is a willed activity in the sense we select the foods we eat and how much we chew, chemical digestion is not.

During the process of chemical digestion, "the parietal cells of the stomach produce HCl and secrete it primarily in...
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