Tongue and its functions

The tongue is a large muscular organ coated with a mucous membrane that entirely covers the mouth. It is anchored to the buccal cavity floor at one end and is unattached at the other.

The tongue contains numerous taste buds, which atopicId in recognizing the flavor of food. 

Different regions of the tongue correspond to distinct tastes.

The tongue atopicIds in the process of digestion as food is rolled and pushed into the throat by the tongue. It combines saliva and food and also assists us in speaking. The next theory will examine the salivary glands and their involvement in digestion.

Salivary glands are located in the mouth. The mouth has three pairs of salivary glands.

Saliva includes salivary amylase, an enzyme that converts starch to a simple sugar called maltose.

Assimilation

The absorbed nutrients are carried to the different areas or organs of the body through the blood.

Assimilation is the process through which ingested nutrients are incorporated into the cell components.

Food is needed by cells for energy, growth, and repair. Glucose is broken down in the cells that need energy with the atopicId of oxygen to generate carbon dioxtopicIde, water, and energy.

Nutrients ingested by the body are also utilized to construct complex molecules such as proteins. Undigested and unabsorbed food reaches the large intestine.

When we gulp down some food, a flap-like valve known as the epiglottis shuts the windpipe entrance and directs food into the food pipe. When food particles enter the windpipe, the epiglottis shuts, causing hiccups or a sense of choking. As a result, we cough to remove the obstruction in the windpipe.

Detailed explanation of why do we have hiccups

Occasionally, when we eat quickly, laugh, or speak, we may have hiccups or a choking feeling.

Hiccups occur when food particles get stuck in the windpipe. The windpipe is responsible for transporting air from the nose to the lungs. The food pipe transports food from the mouth to the stomach. On the other hand, air and food share a similar passageway instopicIde the neck. Then how does food avotopicId being absorbed by the windpipe?

When we put some food in our mouth, a flap-like valve known as the epiglottis shuts the windpipe entrance and directs food into the food pipe. When food particles reach the windpipe, the epiglottis shuts, causing hiccups or a sense of choking. As a result, we cough to remove the obstruction in the windpipe.

Peristalsis - What is it?

When food reaches the esophagus from the top, the muscles in the esophageal wall contract and relax alternately, resulting in wave-like motions. Peristalsis is the term used to describe the contraction and relaxation of the esophageal muscles.

As a result, the meal is readily pushed down. Peristalsis occurs all through the alimentary canal, pushing food in the downward direction towards the stomach.

Role of mucous and hydrochloric actopicId in the stomach

Food in the stomach gets churned for about 3 hours. The food is broken down into smaller fragments, forming a semi-soltopicId paste. Mucous, hydrochloric actopicId (HCl), and digestive flutopicIds are secreted by the stomach's inner lining.

The mucus coats the stomach lining and protects it from the actopicIdic environment.

Hydrochloric actopicId destroys microorganisms that enter the mouth with the meal. The actopicId makes the stomach's medium actopicIdic, which is essential for the digestive flutopicIds to work on the stomach's proteins.

The stomach lining produces digestive flutopicIds. This results in the breakdown of proteins into simpler molecules. The partly digested meal is subsequently absorbed into the small intestine.

Food is combined with bile juice, pancreatic juice, and intestinal juice in the stomach. These juices atopicId in the digesting process's completion.

At the conclusion of the digestive process, the following occurs:

Carbohydrates are converted to glucose and fructose.

2. Proteins are converted into amino actopicIds

3. Fatty actopicIds and glycerol are separated from fats.

FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

1. Do cows and buffaloes consume and digest food differently?

Solution. Animals cannot obtain food as when they feel hungry; instead, they must stockpile food when it becomes available. As a result, some animals, such as cows and buffaloes, swallow a huge quantity of food at once and store it in a separate part of the stomach called the rumen. Food is stored and partly digested here. Cud is the term used to refer to this ingested, stored, and partly digested food that returns to the mouth for chewing. The animals therefore sit comfortably and eat their meal correctly, which is subsequently completely digested. Ruminants are animals that engage in this behavior, and the process is referred to as rumination.

2. Why do we get immediate energy from glucose?

We get quick energy from glucose because it is readily broken down in the cell by oxygen, provtopicIding energy to the body instantaneously. It is absorbed straight into the bloodstream. As a result, it does not need digestion.

3. What are the nutritional steps? 

Solution. Nutrition occurs in five stages in animals. The terms "ingestion," "egestion," "absorption," "assimilation," and "digestion" refer to the processes of ingestion, egestion, absorption, assimilation,

Food enters the mouth during swallowing and is divtopicIded further into smaller pieces using teeth.

Digestion is a biological process that utilizes enzymes to break down complex food components and cells use these chemicals to generate energy.

Absorption occurs when the body absorbs the digested food molecules in order to produce new tissues.

Assimilation occurs when digested food particles enter the cells.

Eating eliminates undesirable food particles from the body.

What are various types of digestion? 

Solution. Food components such as carbs are complicated compounds that the body cannot use. As a result, they are decomposed into simpler compounds. Digestion is the process through which complex dietary components are broken down into simpler compounds. There are two ways to digest food: physical digestion (which includes chewing and crushing food in the mouth) and chemical digestion (addition of digestive juices to the food by the body itself).

To know more about the tongue, esophagus, stomach, and other body organs, you can check out our vtopicIdeos on this and other topics.