The difference between the small and large intestine

What are the differences between the Small Intestines (SI) and the Large intestines (LI).

The small intestine is where the food begins it’s journey of absorption thru the Duodenum a short section of the SI tract where chyme (kyme) first enters, chyme is the mixture of food and water that the stomach has churned up, mixing with bile from the gallbladder, liver and pancreas to help digest food.

From the duodenum the chyme enters the Jejunum and gets fast tracked to the Ileum.

The ileum is where most of the nutrients from your food is absorbed into the blood stream.

To get the most out of your food, your ileum is made up of three layers.

The mucosal folds, the villi and the micro villi, which combined gives your SI tract the same amount of coverage as a tennis court. This is an incredible amount of space for your food to travel thru and get the maximum absorption.

The Large Intestine

The large intestine is so much shorter in length than the small intestine, it is only 1.5 metres long or 5 feet where as the SI is 22 feet long.

The Cecum, this is a short pouch like structure that recieves the chyme and moves it into the colon.

The colon is divided into sections, the ascending colon, which sits on the right hand side of the body and goes up. The transverse colon, which is the horizontal section that goes from right to left and the descending colon, which goes down to the Sigmoid colon, which is an S shaped part of the colon before it goes into the Rectum then exiting out of the Anus.

The LI is where water and salts are reabsorbed into the body, there are many friendly bacteria (probiotics) that thrive in the LI that help to further break down any leftovers from the food, mostly the fiber and where many vitamins are produced by these bacteria.

Healthy gut bacteria is so important!

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