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ANSWERS: 2
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Peristalsis help break up, mix, and move food through the GI tract. Its a distinctive pattern of smooth muscle contractions that propels foodstuffs distally through the esophagus and intestines.
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It rumbles and tumbles and helps the food go down. It is the muscular motion that assists food travel down all the wee tube things inside you. Muscles contract and relax, a bit like a whole line of dominoes falling down, which effectively helps the food travel along inside you. It moves in a series of waves. So, it does not really help in digestion, except that it helps the food get down the digestive tract and into the stomach where it can be digested. I had a spot of illness 2 years ago, when I was not able to eat any food or drink (apart from very small sips of water) for about a month, so I lost peristalsis - it just ceased to function at a normal rate, so for a while, everytime I tried to eat or drink the food just did not go down. It got stuck, and refused to go anywhere. Peristalsis also occurs further down - to help get rid of poop. Loss of peristalsis there can cause constipation, but again does not really have much to do with digestion, per se... I hope this was useful!
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