Most of us know that our stomachs are a big sack of acid -- hydrochloric acid, to be exact -- which dissolves our food for us. Cows have even tougher tummies, with sulfuric acid doing the hard work for them.
My question: Once the churning and burning is done, how does the stomach manage to send the used-up food material onwards while retaining the acid that dissolved it?
Friday, March 7, 2008
Weird thought of the day
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3 comments:
The acid is part of the mixture of liquefied food that moves on to the intestines where certain chemicals are added to neutralize the acid and then bile and enzymes from the pancreas take over the rest of the breakdown of the food. I recently learned all this because of a hiatus hernia I have - hence the doc explained the process. :)
Amazing, Janice -- the body is truly amazing! Thanks for resolving my question.
Wow! Janice beat me to it!
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