Most of the products of digestion are absorbed in the

  • A. stomach
  • B. large intestine
  • C. small intestine
  • D. oesophagus

Explanation

The small intestine is long, folded and covered in villi and microvilli, so its absorptive surface is measured in hundreds of square metres, and by the time chyme reaches it digestion is essentially complete. The stomach absorbs only alcohol and a few drugs, and the large intestine takes up water and mineral ions rather than nutrients. Damage to the villi, as in coeliac disease, causes malnutrition even on a good diet.

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