digestion
Meaning of digestion: Digestion mechanically and chemically converts food into absorbable nutrients through the coordinated action of the mouth, stomach, intestines, and accessory digestive organs.
Definition of digestion
Digestion is the process by which food is broken down into smaller components the body can absorb and use for energy, growth, and tissue repair. It combines mechanical breakdown, such as chewing and the churning action of the stomach, with chemical breakdown carried out by acid and digestive enzymes.
Digestion begins in the mouth, where chewing and saliva start to break food apart, continues in the stomach, where acid and enzymes further break it down, and largely finishes in the small intestine, where enzymes from the pancreas and bile from the liver and gallbladder complete the breakdown of fats, proteins, and carbohydrates so nutrients can be absorbed.
Material that is not digested or absorbed passes into the large intestine, where water is reclaimed before the remaining waste is eliminated. Various conditions, including infection, inflammation, and problems affecting the pancreas or gallbladder, can disrupt digestion at different points along this process.
Used in a sentence
The patient's symptoms prompted evaluation of digestion and absorption along the gastrointestinal tract.
Good to know
Disruption of digestion can arise at several distinct points along the digestive tract, so symptoms such as bloating or poor nutrient absorption do not by themselves indicate which part of the process is affected.
Word origin
Where “digestion” comes from
Formed from Latin digerere, meaning to separate or dissolve, from dis-, meaning apart, and gerere, meaning to carry.