When a person smells food, the process of digestion begins. The stomach begins to fill
with _(1)_ acid, and the mouth produces _(2)_ in preparation for the upcoming meal. In the
mouth, digestion begins with the three salivary glands _(3)_, _(4)_, and _(5)_ produce saliva.
The food is chewed and swallowed is now called a bolus, through the _(6)_ and moves down
the esophagus by _(7)_. At the diaphragm, the esophagus joins the stomach through a
connection called the _(8)_.
Once inside the stomach, the bolus of food is able to expand the stomach because of the
wrinkly walls called _(9)_. The stomach liquefies the food into a solution known as chyme. This
liquid then exits the stomach through the _(10)_ sphincter, which only allows a small amount of
the fluid into the start of the small intestine, the _(11)_. Once the acidic chyme is sensed to be
in the small intestine, hormones released will regulate the secretion of bile from the _(12)_ and
pancreatic juices from the _(13)_. These new enzymes now enter the duodenum and neutralize
the chyme.
The middle section of the small intestine known as the _(14)_ is where absorption of
nutrients occurs with the increased surface area produced by _(15)_, the microscopic finger-like
projections from the internal surface of the intestinal tract. The final segment of the small intestine
is known as the _(16)_, where the chemical breakdown of food by enzymes is completed. Next,
material moves through the _(17)_ and into the first region of the large intestine at the _(18)_,
junction.
The main job of the large intestine is to compact the material and create fecal material
through compaction. The large intestine has four segments, _(19)_, _(20)_, _(21)_ and _(22)_.
After the fecal material travels to the end of the large intestine, it is stored in the sigmoid colon
before being released through the _(23)_ and the _(24)_.