Understanding Human Organs: Intestines

The chyme enters the intestines through the sphincter muscles. The chyme first enters the small intestine where the nutrients are absorbed and then enters the large intestine.

Is The Small Intestine Actually Smaller Than The Large Intestine?

The length of the small intestine is roughly 9-16 feet whereas the large intestine is only 5 foot, so why do we still call the small intestine small, we call it on the basis of its diameter? The diameter of the small intestine is smaller when compared to the large intestine.

Where Are The Intestines Located?

Intestines are located in the abdominal cavity, the food or chyme enters the intestines through sphincter muscle. The intestines lie after the stomach in the gastrointestinal tract. And then transfer the excreta to rectum. 

Is Intestine The Longest Part Of Gastrointestinal Tract?

Intestine is the longest part of the gastrointestinal tract, but the question arises that how does such a long tube-like structure fit into our abdominal cavity? The tube is bent like a coil, and it is folded in a varied pattern to fit into the cavity.

What Makes The Small Intestine The Real Stomach?

The chyme is transferred from stomach, till stomach, salivary amylase and pepsin are added into the food, but the food is actually digested in the small intestine, the nutrients are absorbed by the body in the small intestine, through diffusion in the villi.

Why Does The Small Intestine Receive Bile Juice?

The chyme is acidic in nature, so to protect from further chemical reactions, food has to be alkaline, and that is done by the bile.

Bile juice also acts on fats, and emulsifies it(because fats are present as large globules), so that the fats are also digested/absorbed by the small intestine.

Does The Small Intestine Also Receive Secretions?

Yes, the small intestine also receives secretion from the liver, like trypsin and lipase, which help in digestion of protein and fat respectively.

What Does The Small Intestine Do? What Makes It The Most Important?

Intestinal juices are released into the small intestine that converts-

• proteins to amino acids
• complex carbohydrates into glucose 
• fats into fatty acids and glycerol

How The Food Is Digested Or Nutrients Are Absorbed?

The small intestine has various small hair-like structures like hair, which increase the surface area, and help in absorption of the nutrients, from which the nutrients enter the bloodstream.

The food is then passed to the large intestine.

What Function Does The Large Intestine Do?

Large intestine absorbs the water from this bolus received from the small intestine, so that we don’t lose water, and rough human excreta are formed.

And the bolus is then transported to rectum.

What Makes The Intestine So Important?

Intestines are the most important part because, without them even eating healthy and nutritious food would have been a waste; the nutrients would not be absorbed.

And without it, the rough excreta can also not be processed.

What Are The Intestines Made Up Of?

Intestines are the involuntary organs which are made of smooth muscles; hence a muscular tube like structure is formed.

Small intestine further has 3 parts which are duodenum, jejunum and ileum, which collectively perform the function of the small intestine that we have discussed above.

The small intestine is made up of cell columnar epithelium that has villi on it, which helps in absorption of nutrients.

And the large intestine is also made up of smooth muscles; it has an ascending and descending colon in it, which performs the function we discussed above.

What are the diseases that intestines are affected from?

Gastrointestinal infections are caused by a number of bacteria, viruses, and parasites. It has symptoms like fever, loss of appetite, and is easily treated within weeks.

But few major diseases of the intestine are life threatening and should not be taken carelessly.