Healthy Lifestyle: Pancreas, liver and gallbladder

Monday, October 16, 2006

In your duodenum, digestion continues, as chyme from the stomach mixes with a variety of digestive juices from your pancreas, liver and gallbladder:

Pancreas. The pancreas produces digestive enzymes that help break down proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. It also produces the hormones insulin and glucagon, which help regulate the level of sugar (glucose) in your blood.
Liver. The liver performs more than 500 functions, including storing nutrients, filtering and processing chemicals in food, and producing bile, a solution that helps digest fats and eliminate waste products.
Gallbladder. The gallbladder stores and concentrates bile. As fatty food enters the upper portion of your small intestine (the duodenum), the gallbladder contracts and releases bile into the small intestine through a duct.