Overview of the digestive system
Digestive system is defined as the group of organs working together in order to convert food into energy and other basic nutrients which are important for the body (Rizzo 2015). The overall interplay of the organs in the digestive system occurs in the alimentary canal (Rizzo 2015).
Structure of digestive system
The digestive system is the largest system in the body and all the organs and the glands which are the part of the digestive system constitute the alimentary alimentary canal.
The first component of digestive system is mouth, the point where the digestion starts. Mouth is popularly known as buccal or oral cavity. The salivary glands present in the mouth initiates digestion. There are three sets of salivary glands in the mouth. The salivary glands are commonly known as accessory organs the produce watery secretion known as saliva that moistens the food particles and initiates digestion (carbohydrate).
Teeth: It is the second component of digestive system which breaks the food into small ingestible component and thereby helping to sallow. there are 32 teeth in human body.
Tongue: Tongue located within the buccal cavity is another component of the digestive system which helps to detect taste.
Pharynx: The buccal cavity is followed by pharynx or throat, a funnel shape tube which is connected with the posterior end of the mouth. It passes the food to oesophagus through epiglottis and air to larynx.
Oesophagus: It connects pharynx to the upper gastrointestinal tract (stomach) and carriers chewed food along its length.
Stomach: It is the main component of the digestive system or the alimentary canal. It is a sack like structure located on the left hand side of the abdominal cavity, inferior to diaphragm. It helps in storage of food for proper digestion. Stomach also contains digestive juices and secretes hydrochloric acid which in turn promotes the digestion of food.
Small intestine: Stomach is followed via small intestine, a long tube which is 10 feet long and 1 inch in diameter. It is the lower part of the gastrointestinal tract. Small intestine has three parts, duodenum, jejunum and ileum. The small intestine especially the jejunum is folded into finger like projection known as villi which promotes absorption of food.
Large intestine: Small intestine is followed by large intestine. The large intestine has six parts starting from cecum, ascending colon, transverse colon, descending colon, sigmoid colon and rectum.
Liver and gall bladder: The main digestion is conducted by the digestive juices secreted by the liver and is located to right side of the stomach. Beside liver there is gall bladder, small pear-shaped organ which secretes bile to aid digestion.
Pancreas: The digestive gland located posterior side of the stomach and secretes and also helps to transport digestive juices into small intestine in order to complete chemical digestion of foods.
Function of digestive system
The main function of the digestive system and can highlighted as follows:
Ingestion of food,
Secretion of the digestive enzymes, biles and fluids
Mixing and movements of food and wastes through the body (small intestine and large intestine)
Breakdown and digestion of food into smaller pieces
Absorption of nutrients
Excretion of the undigested food
Ingestion
It is the first function of digestive system and is mainly carried out by the buccal cavity.
Secretion
During the course of the day, the alimentary canal or the digestive system of the human body secretes digestive fluids and juices, which includes saliva, mucus, digestive enzymes, biles and hydrochloric acid. All these secretion aids in digestion via acting as a lubricant or catalyst for the breakdown of food particles into smaller parts.
There are three principal processes behind mixing and movements and these include
Swallowing: Process used for transition of food from mouth through pharynx to the stomach
Peristalsis: The muscular wave produced by the gastro-intestinal tract for the movement of the partially digested food through the stomach and then through the intestine.
Segmentation: It occurs mainly in small intestine. During this process, digested and undigested food gets separated leading to the absorption of the digested food nutrients into the blood stream and passage of the undigested food into the colon.
Digestion
It is the main function of the digestive system and is aided by the digestive juices and the enzymes, which promotes the breakdown of large food particles into smaller digestive parts followed by breakdown of the small food particles into their constituents nutrients followed by the generation of energy in the form of ATP.
Absorption
Mainly occurs in the small intestine and in the stomach. Large intestine is also involved in absorption of water and vitamins from the food into the body fluid
Excretion
It is the Last and the final function of the digestive system which is popularly known as defecation. It means removal of indigestible substances from the body and occurs through colon followed by rectum.
Constipation is defined as slow movement of faeces that occurs through large intestine. It in often associated with the movement of large quantities of hard and dry faeces through descending colon that accumulates due to over-absorption of fluid.
Varies pathological defects of the large intestine also leads to the generation of constipation like tumours or ulcers which constrict the diameter of the intestine causing constipation.
Infants are frequently constipated however, part of their training during early years of life helps to prevent constipation.
Clinical experience shows that if an individual restricts defecation to occur when the defecation reflexes are generated then he or she might become the victim of constipation.
Overuse of laxative also leads to the generation of constipation as it hampers the natural bowel movements or the peristalsis movement
Constipation can also result from spasm in the sigmoid colon (Bae 2014)
Establishment of the regular bowel movement habits early during the life like defecating in the morning after bed or after the breakfast helps to reduce the chances of the development of constipation. This is because; at this time gastrocolic and duodenocolic reflexes are high and cause mass movements in the large intestine. Practising this habit early in life is important because developing constipation in later stages of life, apart from abnormal pathology is much less likely.
Constipation during pregnancy
Anxiety, minimal physical exercise, change in the hormonal secretion, consumption of iron are the main reason behind the increased chances of constipation among the pregnant women (Stukan et al. 2013). This is because all these changes which occur during pregnancy relaxes the smooth muscles of the intestine and thereby increasing then chance of constipation.
Overcoming constipation during pregnancy
In order to prevent constipation during pregnancy, few things that must be taken into consideration include
Consumption of high fibre diet: 25 to 30 grams intake of dietary fibre from vegetables, fruits, whole grains and bran
Consumption of adequate fluid: Drinking plenty of fluid like water, fruit juice along with the combination of high fibre diet helps in the proper elimination of waste from the body.
High fibre diet along with the consumption of water increases the water content of stool and thereby making the waste soft and large. This in turn promotes the easy movement of the stools through the intestine. Moreover, the insoluble fibre adds bulk to the faecal material which increases the passage of stool through colon (Haider and Bhutta 2017).
Routine exercise: Mild to moderate physical exercise for 20 to 30 minutes per day helps to reduce constipation via regularizing the bowel movements
Relation between the digestive system and cardiovascular system
The digestive system of the body intakes solid food particles and breaks it down into its constituents nutrients and this nutrients acts as the source of energy.
The circulatory system pumps blood to different parts of the body and through blood, the energy reaches to different parts of the body.
Example, the when the body needs energy, it generates hunger. In response to hunger, individual consumes food. The food is broken down into glucose and it absorbed into the blood stream through the finger like projections from the small intestine, villi. Once the glucose gets transported into the blood it is broke down into ATP and the circulatory system transport the energy to the different parts of the body.
Thus it can be said that proper co-ordination between the circulatory and the digestive system helps in proper absorption of the nutrients from the alimentary canal and subsequent transport of nutrients throughout the body (Gordan, Gwathmey and Xie 2015).
Effect of linkage of cardiovascular system and digestive system in pregnant women
The cardiovascular system also assists in performing digestion in pregnant women
Normal blood pressure promotes normal peristalsis movement
Change in the flow of the blood hampers the process of digestion and thereby creating abdominal discomfort among patient
Problem in digestion due to high blood pressure creates constipation and further increasing discomfort
Lack of proper co-ordination among the circulatory system and the digestive system creates lack of proper transport of nutrients and ATP in different parts of the body and thereby creating nausea.
References
Bae, S.H., 2014. Diets for constipation. Pediatric gastroenterology, hepatology & nutrition, 17(4), pp.203-208.
Gordan, R., Gwathmey, J.K. and Xie, L.H., 2015. Autonomic and endocrine control of cardiovascular function. World journal of cardiology, 7(4), p.204.
Haider, B.A. and Bhutta, Z.A., 2017. Multiple?micronutrient supplementation for women during pregnancy. The Cochrane Library.
Hashem Dabaghian, F., Taghavi Shirazi, M., Amini Behbahani, F. and Shojaee, A., 2015. Interventions of Iranian traditional medicine for constipation during pregnancy. Journal of Medicinal Plants, 1(53), pp.58-68.
Rizzo, D.C., 2015. Fundamentals of anatomy and physiology. Cengage Learning.
Stukan, M., Kruszewski, J.W., Dudziak, M., Kopiej?, A. and Preis, K., 2013. Intestinal obstruction during pregnancy. Ginekologia polska, 84(2), pp.137-141.
Svihus, B., 2014. Function of the digestive system. Journal of Applied Poultry Research, 23(2), pp.306-314.
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