Interesting facts about the esophagus

 interesting facts about the esophagus that are incorrect

1) The esophagus is not a "tube" but rather an opening in your throat that allows food to enter your body. It has no "way out." If you are unable to swallow, then the food will simply pass through your system unabsorbed.

2) The esophagus does not have a "bottom." There is nothing there except air and stomach acid. This means that if you try to force something down it, you may damage or even kill yourself. You can only push so far before the esophagus closes up again.

3) There is another group inside your body that can actually "feel" what you are eating. This group, made up of sensory nerve endings, sends signals to your brain when something enters your mouth. The nerve endings aren't only for sensing what is in your mouth, but also how wet or dry it is and the general temperature of whatever you are chewing.

4) The esophagus can stretch to a length of over 40 feet in human babies and up to a length over 60 feet in lizards.

5) There are a few different ways of swallowing. There is the "fast" method in which the food is quickly swallowed and doesn't even enter the throat at all. This is mainly used for dangerous or hard to swallow foods like nuts, stones or even small parts of plants. Most mammals use this method.

6) The second method is the "slower" method in which the food is swallowed and then pushed into the throat by manipulating the muscles in your throat and mouth. This lets your jaws work for a little while and was mainly designed for chewing tough plant materials such as nuts and seeds. Most birds use this method.

7) The "mixing" method is similar to the slower method in that you swallow and push, but in this one, you first mix the food with saliva before swallowing it. This is mostly used for liquids, but it can also be used for solid foods. Many fish use this method.

8) There are muscles just in the oesophagus that can be voluntarily activated in order to help with swallowing. These muscles are strong enough to prevent choking even when weighed down by heavy stones.

9) The oesophagus is actually not a tube but an opening (such as the one present in your mouth) that leads into a tube (such as the rest of your digestive system). This opening is surrounded by a ring of muscle. If the opening of the tube (the oesophagus) becomes blocked, food can't leave and waste builds up until it bursts through the roof of your mouth. This is what happens in a blocked stomach, and it's very dangerous.

10) Stomach acid is made in your stomach and travels down to your food before taste buds even get a chance to react. The acid sets some foods (like meat) and other substances (like tomatoes) apart from others. Most food passes through the stomach without any problems, but the acid still serves as a sort of "first test" before most other digestive processes. It is only in the stomach that most of the nutrients from your food are broken down into their usable forms.

11) Chyme is the mixture of food that passes through the stomach and most of it ends up in your small intestine. Chyme has not been fully digested and is not yet ready to be absorbed by your body. The chyme that reaches your small intestine is still mixed with partially digested material and some semi-digested food remains.

12) After the chyme passes through the pyloric sphincter and enters the duodenum, it is partially absorbed into the lining of your small intestine. In general, 90 percent of the food you eat is broken down by the time it reaches your small intestine, though some types of food (such as raw fruit) are only broken down to a small degree.

13) The majority of nutrients are absorbed through the villi in your small intestine. This process involves the help of certain types of friendly bacteria that live in your small intestine, but some nutrients (such as fat and proteins) can be absorbed by other means.

14) The last part of the small intestine is actually not inside your body and instead hangs out in your abdomen. This is the cecum, and it is where your food is finally completely broken down. The cecum is attached to the beginning of the large intestine (the colon) so any remaining waste can exit your body.

15) The colon's main job is to absorb water and solid waste from the rest of the waste that your body doesn't need. Water is absorbed through the Fabric of your colon and solid waste is absorbed by maceration.

16) When maceration is complete, it must be eliminated. This means that the waste must pass through your large intestine. The large intestine is really just a tube that absorbs moisture from your waste.

17) Your large intestine is separated into two sections: the ascending and the descending colon. The ascending colon absorbs carbon and water from your waste while the descending colon absorbs nitrogen. Your large intestine is also known as the "rest of your toilet," but it serves a much bigger purpose than just eliminating waste.

18) The large intestine alone absorbs more than half of the water in your stool. That means that your small intestines absorb almost nothing, which is why they feel so dry when you eat large meals. This also means that you could survive on only a diet of crushed rock, sand, and water for months before even reaching the end of your large intestine.

19) Other than water and carbon, nothing harmful or useful is absorbed through the large intestine. This is important because if you were to remove your large intestine, you would die from the excessive carbon in your blood. (Yes, it is indeed possible to die of too much carbon. This actually happens in some cases of severe appendicitis. Your large intestine is also capable of absorbing some nitrogen, so excessive amounts would be excreted in your feces.)

20) Your colon's waste elimination process is also closely linked to your body's hormonal secretions. An important hormone called "a-factor" is secreted by the colon, and your body makes a-factor when it needs more of it. When you have a bowel movement, a-factor is secreted which causes the colon to contract. This action flushes waste through your body.

21) The ascending and descending colon both increase their frequency in response to the hormone a-factor. This increase causes them to move waste through your body at a faster rate. This increase in frequency is also not permanent and tends to naturally return to normal over time.

22) This whole process, from the body digesting food to waste being eliminated from the body, takes time. At the lowest end of the scale, it can take days for food to be digested and then eliminated. At the other end of the scale, there are instances of some people being able to eliminate solid waste in as little as an hour.

23) There is no set amount of time that solid waste elimination takes, as it is highly dependent on many factors. The most important factor is the person themselves. Everyone has their own unique process that they go through.


23 Interesting facts about the esophagus most are false.