Gastrointestinal tract

Gastrointestinal tract is a part of the human digestive system. It also includes glands, which produce secretions necessary for the full flow of the process of digestion.

Gastrointestinal tract is a very long (up to 10 m) tube, which in many places is twisted in the form of loops. It begins with a mouth opening, and ends with an anus. The parts that make up the gastrointestinal tract smoothly pass into each other. This stomach, mouth, esophagus, pharynx, small intestine, thick and straight.

The process of crushing food and its chemical change begins in the mouth. It is here that she becomes soaked with saliva, chews.

Further, the chopped food enters the throat - an irregularly shaped tube that narrows downward, and at the end of the front part is slightly flattened. By the way, the process of breathing takes place with the help of the pharynx, in connection with which it also applies to the respiratory system.

The swallowed lump of food enters the esophagus - a narrow, more than twenty-centimeter tube. It connects the stomach and pharynx between each other. Peristalsis of the esophagus helps the food lump move on. As a result of active muscle contraction, he is in five seconds later in the stomach - the wide part of the digestive canal. In an adult, this organ has a volume of 1.5 liters to 2.5 liters, and in men it is more than that of women. An empty stomach is not stretched, it is in a state of contraction. The food lump, caught in its upper part, spreads the walls of the organ and peristaltic, progressive movements moves to the lower part. During this transition, it is saturated with gastric juice, which is secreted by the glands of the stomach even before meals (reflexively) and from direct contact with it. Each new portion pushes ahead the previous one. The food lump is in the stomach for three to ten hours, this time is enough that it is soaked with the juice secreted by the glands of this organ.

Then through the sphincter, which periodically opens, it enters the small intestine, which is the longest part of the digestive canal, up to six meters. It consists of a lean, duodenum and ileum. Here, processing of the food lump with enzymes ends, nutrients are absorbed, and proteins, carbohydrates and fats are split. Thanks to the movements of the muscles of the small intestine, it mixes and progresses.

In the large intestine, the remaining substances, water, continue to be absorbed. In it, masses of feces are formed that enter the rectum and exit through the anal canal. It contains a plexus of veins, in the region of which there is such a common disease of the gastrointestinal tract as hemorrhoids.

In general, the causes of the diseases of the digestive system are very diverse. Their distribution is directly dependent on social conditions, the place of residence, the age of the patient, his sex, and the features of nutrition that have developed historically.

One of the main reasons is the modern rhythm of life. It is noticed that the inhabitants of the city suffer more often with neuroses of the stomach and intestines. Also, they are more exposed to those people whose professions are associated with emotional stress.

The second factor affecting the development of diseases in which the gastrointestinal tract suffers is a violation of the regime and quality of nutrition.

In addition, inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract is provoked by helminthiases and infectious diseases (hepatitis, dysentery, food toxic infections).

Whatever the reason, adequate treatment should be done by a professional doctor. Since self-medication often leads not to an improvement in the situation, but to its aggravation. After a long reception of medicines (including home-made) without the supervision of a doctor, acute inflammation of the stomach or large intestine can go into a chronic stage. Great risk of developing a stomach ulcer or lesions of the digestive tract by fungi (for example, after prolonged use of antibiotics).