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Human Digestive System

This paper is a brief description of the human digestive system, the anatomical system which processes food for fueling the body, as a preliminary statement of the subject mater for a documentary film to be produced for PBS. The intent is to develop a film that takes full advantage of current production techniques in a creative way to convey information regarding the digestive system in a way that is entertaining as well as instructive and that makes the information not only interesting but memorable.

In the digestive system, food is taken in through the mouth, broken down into small particles, and passed through the esophagus into the stomach. Stomach acids then digest a small portion of the proteins and a somewhat larger portion of the starches, passing the food into the small intestine, where the majority of the digestive process takes place. The eventual elimination of waste products drawn from the food is carried out through the lower, or large, intestine, the kidneys, and the excretory organs; this process results from the work of the digestive system but is not technically a part of it. Digestion is essential to maintaining good health; the substances processed by the digestive system must also contain sufficient nutrients to provide sufficient fuel. Quantity is not enough.

Raymond L. Powis notes that, before scientists had determined the nature and workings of the digestive system, "its role in human affairs was subject to all sorts of interpretation" (171), from careful attention to prevent spread of disease through the anus by the ancient Egyptians to close observation of the bowels during the 17th and 18th centuries.

The entire digestive system flows through the alimentary canal, "one part of the body's 'inside' [that] is really 'outside'" (Furtado 79). Digestion begins in the mouth, where saliva, containing some digestive enzymes, aids the teeth in beginning to break down the food into manageable pieces. ...

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Human Digestive System. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 19:22, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1682810.html