Differences Between Small Intestine And Large Intestine
Human intestines are of two types, the large intestine and small intestine. The small intestine is part of the gastrointestinal tract. It is followed by stomach and large intestine. The alimentary canal is the digestive tract which starts with the mouth and ends with the anus. The digestive or alimentary tract is an elongated and continual tube like structure that begins in our mouth and reaches up to the rectal area. This tract is made up of the pharynx which is a part of the throat, mouth, stomach, esophagus which contains a tube carrying food to the stomach, the small intestines and large intestines and finally the rectum.
The smaller intestine is which lies between stomach and colon whose primary function is to digest the food that comes from our stomach. The large intestine is part of the digestive system where waste products from our food are turned into faeces.
The smaller intestine and its constituent parts like the duodenum which opens into the stomach about 25 cm long, jejunum and the ileum. Once the nutrients are absorbed by the body to be used up as food, the particles are moved on into the large intestine for being converted into waste matter. The large intestine and its parts are the the colon, cecum, canal and rectum. While the focus of the small intestine is to convert food particles into nutrients, the large intestine involves in multiple functions.
The vitamins B and K are generated in our large intestine by benign bacteria that are found there. Secondly, the organ helps in water retention, as well as absorption of irons and salts are done by vitamin B and K which are produced in the large intestine. The large intestine helps in bowel movement.
Summary:
1. The small intestine or gastro intestinal tract is a much smaller than the large intestine.
2. The small intestine extracts the nutrients from food particles, whereas large intestine is responsible for converting the food particles into faeces.