Digestion

body · food · science

Big to tiny. Digestion breaks big chunks of food into super-tiny pieces small enough to soak into your blood and feed your body.

Two kinds. There's mechanical digestion (physically crushing food) and chemical digestion (using special chemicals to break it down).

Chewing counts. Mechanical digestion starts in your mouth when you chew, smashing food into smaller bits.

Helpful enzymes. In chemical digestion, tiny helpers called enzymes break food into pieces your body can actually use.

Into the blood. In your small intestine, the broken-down nutrients pass into your bloodstream to power your whole body.