Entry 3:The Stomach

I have learnt much more about the stomach today! At the beginning of today's research, I thought the stomach was just a muscular bag! However, now I do know the stomach is more than that. The stomach is an organ of digestion.The main function of the stomach is to process and transport food. After feeding, the contractile activity of the stomach helps to mix, grind and eventually evacuate small portions of chyme into the small bowel, while the rest of the chyme is mixed and ground. It has a saclike shape and is located between the esophagus and the intestines. Almost every animal has a stomach.The stomach muscles churn and mix the food with acids and enzymes, breaking it into much smaller, digestible pieces. An acidic environment is needed for the digestion that takes place in the stomach. Glands in the stomach lining produce about 3 quarts (2.8 liters) of these digestive juices each day. The lining of the stomach contains glands, which make and release (secrete) the stomach juices. The stomach juices contain an acid and a digestive enzyme called pepsin. These begin to flow as soon as we see or smell food, well before food even enters the stomach. The enzyme starts to break down (digest) proteins in the food so that the body can absorb them. The acid is necessary for the enzyme to work properly. It also helps to kill bacteria that might be in the food and so helps to protect against food poisoning.
There are other glands in the stomach lining that make thick mucus. This mucus helps to protect the stomach lining from being damaged by the acid and protein-digesting enzyme in the stomach juices. After about two hours in the stomach, the semi-liquid, partly digested food moves into the duodenum where it continues to be digested. The digested food then moves through the small intestine (small bowel) where the digested nutrients are absorbed into the body. The waste that is left behind then moves through to the large bowel where water is absorbed so that the waste matter begins to solidify into the faeces or stool.

Information obatained from: 1)http://kidshealth.org/parent/general/body_basics/digestive.html
2)http://www.mamashealth.com/organs/stomach.asp
3)http://www.enel.ucalgary.ca/People/Mintchev/stomach.htm
4)http://www.cancerhelp.org.uk/help/default.asp?page=3905