What does digestion involve?

Digestion is fundamentally the process through which food is broken down into its constituent nutrients, enabling cellular absorption. This process involves both mechanical and chemical breakdown of food starting from ingestion. The mechanical aspect includes chewing and the physical movement of food through the digestive tract, while the chemical aspect involves enzymes and acids breaking down food into smaller molecules such as carbohydrates, proteins, and fats.

Once food is digested, the resulting nutrients can be absorbed into the bloodstream from the intestines and transported to cells throughout the body. This absorption is crucial for providing energy, building and repairing tissue, and supporting various bodily functions.

Other processes like metabolizing food into energy, storing food, or eliminating waste are related but distinct from digestion itself. Metabolism refers to the biochemical processes by which the body converts absorbed nutrients into energy, while storage pertains to how the body keeps excess nutrients for later use. Waste elimination, on the other hand, relates to the removal of unused or unneeded substances after digestion and absorption have occurred. Understanding these distinctions emphasizes that digestion's primary role is specifically to break down food for absorption at the cellular level.