| MadSci Network: Anatomy |
Dear Florence Most people say that “food” is absorbed in the stomach. But this is not true – unless you want to include the small intestine (where the food goes next) as “part of” the stomach. The main purpose of the stomach is to DIGEST food by churning it in hydrochloric acid so strong it would burn your skin. The stomach wall is convoluted and coated with mucus to protect it digesting its own wall! The function of the stomach is to release chemicals into the food, not absorb them. The main chemicals required are gastrin, hdrochloric acid and pepsin. When food enters the stomach it acts as a buffer, lowering the acidity. This stimulates gastrin release from cells in the stomach wall. Gastrin stimulates the release of hydrochloric acid in the stomach. Pepsin is also released and helps to digest protein. Although the stomach absorbs very few substances, small amounts of certain lipid-soluble compounds can be taken up, including aspirin, other non-steroidal anti-infammatory drugs, and ethanol. Thanks for your question. References: Digestive System - Ingestion, Digestion in the stomach, Digestion ... Gastric juice: Digestive juice produced by the stomach wall that contains ... in the small intestine that increase the absorption area of the intestine. ... www.scienceclarified.com/Di-El/Digestive-System.html BME 5010, CHAPTER 17: THE DIGESTION AND ABSORPTION OF FOOD (PART II) ... lowering H+, stimulating gastrin release from cells in the stomach wall. ... ttb.eng.wayne.edu/~cavanau/bme5010/f2000/gi2.html Functional and metabolic changes in the digestive organs in ... The results are given in Table 1. They show that toxic-chemical degeneration of the stomach wall. leads to a marked decrease in the absorption of water (by ... www.springerlink.com/index/W747442M3K2L534Q.pdf http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/digestion/stomach/absorb.html
Try the links in the MadSci Library for more information on Anatomy.