Stomach small rounded mass of chewed up food) enters the stomach through the oesophagus via the lower oesophageal sphincter. The stomach releases proteases (protein-digesting enzymes such as pepsin) and hydrochloric acid, which kills or inhibits bacteria and provides the acidic pH of 2 for the proteases to work. Food is churned by the stomach through muscular contractions of the wall called peristalsis – reducing the volume of the bolus, before looping around the fundus and the body of stomach as the boluses are converted into chyme (partially digested food). Chyme slowly passes through the pyloric sphincter and into the duodenum of
Stomach disease now more appreciated is gastroparesis. Gastroparesis affects millions of individuals and is often never suspected and most patients have a delay in diagnosis. Basically in gastroparesis, the stomach motility disappears and food remains stagnant in the stomach. The most common cause of gastroparesis is diabetes but it can also occur from a blockage at the distal end of stomach, a cancer or a stroke. Symptoms of gastroparesis includes abdominal pain, fullness, bloating, nausea, vomiting after eating food, loss of appetite and feeling of fullness after eating small amounts of food. During digestion, food is stored in the liquid present in