The digestive system's main function is to break down the food we eat into smaller parts, so our body can absorb and use the nutrients for energy, growth, and repair.
When we eat, food travels through the mouth, where it’s chewed and mixed with saliva. This helps break it into smaller pieces. The food then moves to the stomach, where it’s mixed with stomach acids and enzymes that break it down even further.
From the stomach, the partially digested food moves into the small intestine. Here, digestive juices from the pancreas and liver help break down the food even more. Tiny structures in the small intestine, called villi, absorb the nutrients—like vitamins, minerals, and proteins—into the bloodstream. These nutrients are then carried to different parts of the body to be used.
The leftover food, which cannot be digested, moves to the large intestine, where water is absorbed, and the remaining waste is eventually excreted.
So, the digestive system works like a machine that turns food into the fuel and building blocks our body needs, while also getting rid of what we don’t need.