What Happens to Food After It Leaves the Stomach?

The mixture of partially digested food drenched in acidic stomach juice is slowly sent into the small intestine. This portion of our digestive tract is the location of the majority of digestive enzyme activity and the absorption of nutrients. The wall of the small intestine presents a very sophisticated pattern of folds and projections. This design allows the small intestine to have an absorptive surface approximating the size of a tennis court. This allows for very efficient absorption.
 

When the food mixture is spurted into the small intestine from the stomach, it hardly resembles what we ate. Yet most of the nutrients still need further digestion to reach their absorbable state. First, bicarbonate produced by the pancreas enters the small intestine and neutralizes the acidic food mixture draining from our stomach. Then digestive enzymes that are also produced by our pancreas and bile from the gallbladder and liver make their way to the small intestine as well. These factors, along with digestive enzymes produced by the cells that line the small intestine, will complete digestion.

What Is the Stomach and What Does It Do?

The stomach, typically a bit less than a foot in length, functions as a reservoir for swallowed food. The volume of our stomach depends on the quantity of food therein. An empty stomach may have a volume of only 1 to 3 ounces (approximately 50 to 75 milliliters) whereas a full stomach can expand to volumes of 2 to 3 quarts (approximately 2 to 3 liters).
 

The stomach is a very muscular organ. It churns food and mixes it with stomach juice. Stomach juice contains hydrochloric acid (HCl), which renders the stomach a very acidic environment (pH 1.5 to 2.5). A proteindigesting enzyme is also found in stomach juices. The presence of this enzyme, along with the acidic environment, will begin protein digestion. On the average, our stomach may produce about 2 to 3 quarts (approximately 2 to 3 liters) of stomach juice daily. Beyond protein digestion, the acidic stomach juice also kills most bacteria in foods.
 

Our stomach is sealed at both ends by tight muscular enclosures called sphincter muscles. This prevents acidic juices from entering the esophagus at one end and also allows separation between the stomach and small intestine at the other end. If stomach juice is able to reflux into our esophagus it can produce a burning sensation commonly referred to as heartburn. This is why chronic heartburn is routinely treated with antacids, as they attempt to neutralize the acid in the stomach. Other drugs may be used that attempt to decrease acid production by the stomach