Description of Normal Digestive Process

Normally, as food moves along the digestive tract, digestive juices and enzymes digest and absorb calories and nutrients.

After we chew and swallow our food, it moves down the oesophagus to the stomach, where a strong acid continues the digestive process. The stomach can hold about 3 pints of food at one time. When the stomach contents move to the duodenum - the first segment of the small intestine - bile (from the liver) and pancreatic juice speed up digestion.

Most of the iron and calcium in the foods we eat is absorbed in the duodenum.

The jejunum and ileum, the remaining two segments of the nearly 20 feet of small intestine, complete the absorption of almost all calories and nutrients.

Those food particles that cannot be digested in the small intestine are stored in the large intestine until eliminated.

Links to our Bariatric Surgery Guide

• Homepage for Bariatric Surgery Guide
• Rationale for Undertaking Bariatric Surgery
• Normal Digestive Process
• Treatment Goals for Bariatric Surgery
• Non Operative Weight Loss Treatments
• Patient Selection for Bariatric Surgery
• Bariatric Surgical Options
• Locations for Bariatric Surgery

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