ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Gastrointestinal physiology

Hello kiddo,

So you know how your body needs food to grow and have energy right? But did you ever wonder what happens to the food you eat after you swallow it? Well, that's where gastrointestinal physiology comes in - it's the study of how our body digests food and what happens to it inside our belly.

When you take a bite of your favorite food, your teeth start crushing it into small pieces which helps in swallowing. When you swallow the food it goes into your stomach, a big sack-like organ that mixes the food with stomach acid and enzymes which help break down the food into smaller pieces.

After some time, the stomach empties the food into the small intestine which is a long tube-like organ that absorbs all the nutrients from the food. Pancreatic juices from the pancreas and bile from the liver and gallbladder also mix with the food in the small intestine to further break down the food and make it easier to absorb.

The small intestine then passes the nutrients and leftovers to the large intestine also known as the colon which absorbs the remaining water and electrolytes from the food. The leftover waste material that is left is then pushed out of your body through your anus and becomes poop.

So, in short, gastrointestinal physiology is all about how our body processes food, absorbs nutrients from it, and eliminates waste. It is a very important process for our growth and development, and without it, we wouldn't be able to survive.