Chewing chewing, the food (now called a bolus) is swallowed. It enters the esophagus and via peristalsis continues on to the stomach, where the next step of digestion occurs. Premastication is sometimes performed by human parents for infants who are unable to do so for themselves. The food is masticated in the mouth of the parent into a bolus and then transferred to the infant for consumption. (Some other animals also premasticate.) Cattle and some other animals, called ruminants, chew food more than once to extract more nutrients. After the first round of chewing, this food is called cud. Chewing is
Retroperistalsis of humans are weak compared with those of most other mammals. In cud-chewing animals, such as cows, reverse peristalsis can occur so that the food is brought back from the stomach to the mouth for rechewing. When the stomach is filled, peristaltic waves are diminished. The presence of fat in a meal can completely stop these movements for a short period until it is diluted with gastric juices or removed from the stomach. Peristaltic waves start as weak contractions at the beginning of the stomach and progressively become stronger as they near the distal stomach regions. The waves help to