ANATOMY

Detailed explanation-1: -Gastric juice is made up of digestive enzymes, hydrochloric acid and other substances that are important for absorbing nutrients – about 3 to 4 liters of gastric juice are produced per day. The hydrochloric acid in the gastric juice breaks down the food and the digestive enzymes split up the proteins.

Detailed explanation-2: -The stomach muscles churn and mix the food with digestive juices that have acids and enzymes.

Detailed explanation-3: -In the stomach, peristalsis churns swallowed food, mixing it with gastric juices. These mechanical and chemical actions further break down food into a substance called chyme.

Detailed explanation-4: -Waves of muscle contractions called peristalsis (pronounced: per-uh-STALL-sus) force food down through the esophagus to the stomach. A person normally isn’t aware of the movements of the esophagus, stomach, and intestine that take place as food passes through the digestive tract.

Detailed explanation-5: -Hydrochloric acid (HCl) in the stomach begins protein digestion by denaturing the protein, denaturation results in the loss of the protein’s function. HCl also converts inactive pepsinogen to its active form, pepsin. Pepsin begins breaking the peptide bonds between amino acids.