Hi! I’m Bob. I’m a hamburger, and all of my ingredients are about to be eaten and digested by someone! Let’s take a look at what happens to me as I pass through Henry’s body.

Mmm! As Henry takes the first bite of me, his teeth and saliva both play a role in beginning to digest me! His teeth physically mash me up into a ball of mush called a bolus, and his saliva has enzymes that start to digest the starches in me. Henry’s tongue helps push me around to keep his teeth on me, and it helps him swallow me and take me to the next part of the digestive system.

Whee! I’m moving down Henry’s esophagus, and it’s a slippery ride! Not only does being coated in saliva help, but the esophagus’s muscle movements called peristalsis help push me down to my next destination!

I’ve just dropped into the stomach! Being in the stomach is kind of like being in a pool - it’s filled with gastric juices like hydrochloric acid, lipase, and pepsin that each help break different parts of me down. The hydrochloric acid helps break down all the proteins in my body, pepsin helps break those proteins into even smaller things called amino acids, and lipase helps break down all my fats! All of these acids and the stomach’s muscle movements turn me into a liquid called chyme.

m in the duodenum now, and I’m still getting wet here! In this organ, I’m showered by bile. While I’m in here, I get to see some next-door neighbors to the duodenum, like the liver and the pancreas. Both of these organs are awesome, because even though I don’t touch them they still help with digesting me! The liver is responsible for making the bile I’m being showered in and for purifying nutrients that come from the small intestine. The pancreas makes enzymes that help digest me and it helps control blood sugar and insulin levels in Henry’s body. This helps me move through the next stage of digestion easier.

As I move through the small intestine, peristalsis makes a return and helps push me through this long tube. I’m surrounded by digestive enzymes and juices that are breaking me down even further. The walls of the small intestine are surrounded by villi, which are tiny hair-like structures that also help digest me.

After the wet conditions of the small intestine, I then move to the large intestine, where I meet the remains of all the other food that Henry’s eaten recently. I found one bit of food that says he was eaten around 3 days ago! I feel noticeably dryer over the course of my stay in the large intestine, and at this point I don’t think there are any more nutrients left to be taken from me. Since all of my nutrients and moisture have been sucked up, I’ve been turned into waste. It’s a fairly long wait, so I’m almost caught off-guard when I realize my time is up here.

I move to the rectum and the anus very quickly, and I’m plunged into a watery bowl alongside the rest of the stool that’s been produced in Henry’s body. All of my nutrients are gone, and all that is left in my body is the waste that Henry’s body cannot use and doesn’t need. Almost as soon as I’m entering the toilet, I’m being flushed into the pipes, ending my digestive journey.

THE END