Video narration
What happens to the food you eat? Take one bite of your meal: as you chew, your teeth break it into smaller pieces, and saliva starts breaking it down too. When you swallow, it travels down a tube to your stomach, where it is mixed and broken down further. But the bite isn't just passing through. Digestion breaks it down so your body can take in nutrients-the useful parts that help you function, grow, and repair your body. Most are absorbed in the small intestine, a long passage where they enter your blood and travel through your body. What remains moves on. In the large intestine, water is absorbed from what's left, and the waste leaves your body. So what happens to your bite? Your bite becomes nutrients your body uses; water is absorbed, and what remains leaves as waste.