Who Knew? The Purpose of the Small Intestine

Wed, 02/8/12 – 2:08 | No Comment

Why aren't they hibernating?
What do aging, telomeres and torpor have in common? It may be that torpor slows the process of aging.
Aging is directly linked to telomere lengths. Telomeres, the caps on the end of …

Read the full story »

Articles

General Health

Headline

Hot Topics

Who Knew?

Home » Featured, Headline, Who Knew?

Who Knew? The Purpose of the Small Intestine

Submitted by admin on Monday, October 13 2008No Comment

Hello there! If you are new here, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on this topic.

Powered by WP Greet Box WordPress Plugin

The small intestine digests and absorbs the nutrients that are carried to it from the stomach. It averages about 21 feet and is divided into three sections: the duodenum, (about 10 inches), the jejunum (about 8 ft) and the ileum (about 12 feet). Because of the millions of finger-like projections and circular folds, digestion and absorption is maximized. In fact, the entire absorptive surface area of the small intestine, if spread out, would cover the size of a tennis court.