FACTS ABOUT YOUR DIGESTIVE SYSTEM

We eat about 500kg of food per year. 1.7 liters of saliva is produced each day.

An adults stomach can hold approximately 1.5 liters of material. 

STOMACH: secretes some enzymes and hydrochloric acid (HCL) to break down protein. Within 2-6 hours, all food is emptied into the small intestine. 

Digestive problems cost Americans $50 billion each year in both direct costs and absence from work. 

70-year-olds may produce as little as half the enzymes they produced when they were 20. 

Within the colon, a typical person harbors more than 400 distinct species of bacteria

The small intestine (pronounced in-test-in) is a long tube about 1 and a half to 2 inches around, and about 22 feet long.