• Question: How of our body is acidic like the stomach?

    Asked by anthayward to Alex, Amy, Andy, Georgia, Ollie on 16 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Alex Munro

      Alex Munro answered on 11 Jun 2011:

      The gastric acid in our stomach is produced by special cells called parietal cells; these line the inside of our stomach and secrete hydrochloric acid (HCL). It’s a very clever reaction; the HCL is created from carbon dioxide and water! Molecules of carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O) are split to form bicarbonate (HCO3-) and hydrogen (H+). The hydrogen ion is then matched up with a chloride ion (CL-) to form HCL! The acid in our stomach is there to break down food, particularly complex protein structures so that other enzymes can then break them down further… Parietal cells are only found in the stomach

    • Photo: Andy MacLeod

      Andy MacLeod answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      The stomach is most acidic part of our body.

      Hello anthayward. Our digestive system helps us extract nutrients and energy from the food we eat. We eat lots of different things – proteins, fats and carbohydrates. Some of these are in the form of big molecules that need to be broken down before they can be absorbed by the intestines.

      This process actually starts in your mouth: chewing helps to break foods down, and saliva contains chemicals that start breaking down the startchy carbohydrates in things like pasta and potatoes, but the acid in your stomach continues this process (as well as killing any bacteria that might have got in there)

      It’s important that the acid in your stomach stays there: the intestines continue the digestion process, but the chemical environment of each stage is important. If the intestines had as much acid as the stomach, the chemicals there wouldn’t work properly. There are some other acids involved in other parts of digestion, but not as strong as the acid in your stomach.

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