What do you mean by ingested food? Exploring the First Step of Digestion
                                
                                
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                                    5 min read                                
                            
                                According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, the digestive system is a 30-foot-long series of organs designed to process the foods we consume. The initial and fundamental action that sets this entire complex process in motion is ingestion, the act of taking food into the body via the mouth.