The Enteric Nervous System - Your Body's "Second Brain"?

"A CHEMICAL WORKSHOP"

Food digestions requires a variety of very precise chemical mixture produced at the right times and delivered to the right locations.  Professor Gary Mawe aptly describes the digestive system as "a chemical workshop."  The sophistication  of this chemical operation is mind-boggling. For instance, the intestinal wall is lined with specialized cells that act as chemical detectors, or taste receptors, identifying chemicals present in the food you eat.  This data helps the ENS enlist the right digestive enzymes to break the food down into particles that the body can absorb. Also, the ENS plays a vital role in monitoring the acidity and other chemical properties of food particles and in adjusting the digestive enzymes accordingly. 

Think of the digestive tract as a factory line managed mostly by the ENS. Your  "second brain" moves food through the digestive system by directing the muscles along the wall of the digestive tract to contract.  The ENS varies the strength and frequency of these muscles contractions as needed to make the system function like line of conveyor belts. 

The ENS also supervises safety functions.  The food you swallow is likely to contain potentially harmful bacteria. It is no wonder that  about 70 to 80 percent of your body's lymphocyte cells-a vital component of your immune systems-are housed inside your belly!  If you ingest high levels of organisms, the ENS protects the body by triggering powerful contractions that expel most of the toxic matter through vomiting or diarrhea.

Next time: The Enteric Nervous System -Your Body's "Second Brain"? 

From the jw.org publications