The digestive system in 3D
The digestive system is made up of the digestive tract running from mouth to anus (oesophagus, stomach, small and large intestine) and the liver, gallbladder and pancreas, which make digestive juices and send them into the tract. Food is broken down as it moves along the tract; nutrients and water are absorbed and what remains leaves as stool.
The path food takes
- Mouth
- Pharynx
- Oesophagus
- Stomach
- Duodenum
- Jejunum
- Ileum
- Caecum
- Ascending colon
- Transverse colon
- Descending colon
- Sigmoid colon
- Rectum
- Anus
Organs
- Stomach: The stomach is a pouch in the upper left of the abdomen, below the diaphragm. It mixes food arriving from the oesophagus with gastric juice and passes it on to the small intestine.
- Small intestine: The small intestine is the long tube between the stomach and the large intestine, running through the duodenum, jejunum and ileum. Most digestion and nutrient absorption happen here.
- Large intestine: The large intestine starts where the small intestine ends, wraps around the abdomen and leads to the rectum. Through the ascending, transverse and descending colon it absorbs water and forms stool.
- Liver: The liver, in the upper right of the abdomen under the ribs, is the largest internal organ. It processes and stores nutrients and makes bile, which collects in the gallbladder before passing into the small intestine.
- Pancreas: The pancreas lies crosswise deep in the abdomen, behind the stomach. It makes digestive enzymes for the duodenum and releases hormones such as insulin and glucagon.
Parts
- Oesophagus: The tube that carries swallowed food down to the stomach.
- Duodenum: The first part of the small intestine, right after the stomach, where pancreatic juice and bile enter.
- Jejunum: The middle stretch of the small intestine, busy absorbing nutrients.
- Ileum: The last part of the small intestine, joining the large intestine.
- Ascending colon: The large intestine rising up the right side of the abdomen.
- Transverse colon: The large intestine crossing the abdomen.
- Descending colon: The large intestine running down the left side.
- Rectum: The final part of the large intestine, leading to the anus.
- Gallbladder: A pouch under the liver that stores the bile the liver makes.
- Caudate lobe: A small lobe at the back of the liver.
- Vessels and bile ducts: Branches of the portal vein, hepatic artery and hepatic veins inside the liver, and the bile ducts.
Other systems
Read more
Related reading
- Coffee on an empty stomach after a broken night: what a study found about blood sugar
- Ultra-processed food and the gut microbiome: what the research shows, and what it doesn’t
- Chronic inflammation: a low fire that doesn’t go out
- Microplastics in the body: where they’ve been found, and what we still don’t know
Once the 3D model loads you can turn it and select each part.