Water and Your Digestive System!

The Great Dissolver!

Water makes up 67% of the human body. It is the largest part of all living materials. Water is needed for the breakdown and movement of food in whole organisms and in each tiny cell. Most of the substances needed inside the body are carried in water.

Let's see how water helps things go through...

Fold a round, pleated coffee filter in half. Open it up and sprinkle about a teaspoon of soft drink mix among the fold, stopping cm from the edge of the line on each side.
Fold the filter in half, and then roll it to form a tube with the soft drink mix inside.
Clip the ends of the tube together, making a circle.
Place the paper circle in an empty glass and observe. What happened?
Now place the paper circle in a half cup of water and observe. What happened?

Most WATER is taken into your body through the large intestine. It is about 60 inches long, or around 5 feet. Food is taken into the body through the small intestine. It is about 23 FEET LONG! In the picture below, try drawing the path that food and water take through your body, starting with where it enters your mouth!

My Health My World Explorations for Children and Adults is a publication of the Division of School-Based Programs, Department of Family and Community Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine , and was made possible by a grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. For more information, contact Center for Educational Outreach, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX. Thanks to Baylor for allowing NIEHS to reproduce portions of those articles here on the NIEHS Kids' Pages!

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National Institute ofEnvironmental Health Sciences

Water and Your Digestive System!

The Great Dissolver!

National Institute of
Environmental Health Sciences