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The small intestine is a long, highly convoluted tube in the digestive system that absorbs about 90% of the nutrients from the food we eat. It is given the name âsmall intestineâ because it is only 1 inch in diameter, making it less than half the diameter of the large intestine.
Absorption and egestion. These are the processes that happen in the digestive system: ingestion (eating) â digestion (breaking down) â absorption â egestion. We've already looked at how foods are broken down by enzymes in digestion. Now we will look at how the products of digestion are absorbed into the body.