Questions: My Stomach Digests Food

Question 1

What does your stomach do to the food you eat?

• A. It stores food forever
• B. It breaks food into tiny pieces your body can use
• C. It sends food straight to your muscles
• D. It turns food into bones

Answer: (B)

Your stomach breaks food down into much smaller pieces using strong muscles that squeeze and churn, plus special juices that dissolve the food chemically. This process makes the nutrients in food small enough for your body to absorb and use for energy, growth, and repair.

Question 2

Digestion starts in your stomach.

• T. True
• F. False

Answer: False

Digestion actually starts in your mouth. When you chew food, your teeth break it into smaller pieces, and saliva (spit) starts dissolving it. By the time food reaches your stomach, digestion has already begun. The stomach continues the work, and then the food moves on to other organs that finish the job.

Question 3

Describe the path food takes from your mouth to your stomach.

Model answer: You chew food with your teeth and mix it with saliva in your mouth. When you swallow, the food travels down a tube called the esophagus (a long tube connecting your mouth to your stomach). Then it reaches your stomach, where it gets squeezed and mixed with digestive juices.

Food follows a specific path. The mouth chews and begins digestion. The esophagus is a muscular tube that pushes food down to the stomach using wave-like squeezing motions. The stomach churns and chemically breaks down the food further. From there, it continues to the small intestine, where most nutrients are absorbed into the blood.