Movement & Digestion of Food
The food is initially chewed and masticated by the mouth before it is swallowed and pushed into the stomach through the oesophagus.
The food in the stomach is partially digested by stomach acid and enzymes (special chemicals that act on food to break it down to simpler material that the body can use).
"Free acid is…essential in digestive action [but is] however not the only active element…. Since [another substance] active in very small amounts carries on the digestion of the most important animal nutrients, one might with justice apply to it the name pepsin". Theodor Schwann, 1836
The stomach muscle then pushes this partially digested acidic content into the small intestine for further digestion.
