Medical research

Industrial societies losing healthy gut microbes, finds study

Everyone knows that fiber is healthy and an important part of our daily diet. But what is fiber, and why is it healthy? Fiber is cellulose, the stringy stuff that plants are made of. Leaves, stems, roots, stalks, and tree ...

Immunology

Study uncovers novel mechanisms behind food allergies

A recent Northwestern Medicine study has shed light on the mechanisms of a specific protein that is necessary for the production of IgA antibodies in the gut in response to food allergens, according to findings published ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

Chronic fatigue offers clues to long COVID

New research by La Trobe University has uncovered the intricate relationship between two debilitating conditions, myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and long COVID; offering insights into disease ...

Gastroenterology

Novel device for stomach complaints is successful in human trial

An endoscopic mapping device, developed over the course of a decade by scientists at the Auckland Bioengineering Institute, consists of an inflatable sphere covered in sensors, delivered down the esophagus and able to measure ...

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Gastrointestinal tract

The digestive tract is the system of organs within multicellular animals that takes in food, digests it to extract energy and nutrients, and expels the remaining matter. The major function of the gastrointestinal tract are ingestion, digestion, absorption, and defecation. The GI tract differs substantially from animal to animal. Some animals have multi-chambered stomachs, while some animals' stomachs contain a single box. In a human adult male, the GI tract is approximately 6.5 meters (20 feet) long and consists of the upper and lower GI tracts. The tract may also be divided into foregut, midgut, and hindgut, reflecting the embryological origin of each segment of the tract.

The remainder of this article focuses on human gastrointestinal anatomy; see digestion for the process in other organisms.

This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA