Gastrointestinal - What Does Gastrointestinal Mean?

Gastrointestinal comes from two words: "gastro" which means stomach or related to the stomach and "intestinal", well seems obvious, which is the intestine or relating to the intestine.

You may have seen the term gastrointestinal tract, abbreviated as GIT, which is pertaining to the tube in your digestive tract which comprises of your stomach and your small and large intestine. However, in most health (medical, Anatomy, Physiology) books, the term is also used as an alternate name for the digestive tract. Your digestive tract is a long tube that starts from your mouth and ends in the anus.

Gastrointestinal tract and the Digestive System

For some people, they may think that the gastrintestinal tract is the same as the digestive system. To clarify this, the gastrointestinal tract is a part of an entire group of organs responsible for digesting and removing waste, which is the digestive system.
When talking about the digestive system, it include the

  • Digestive tract (Remember the long tube?)
  • Salivary glands that produce saliva
  • Liver
  • Pancreas

There you go, some information for those who are looking for the term "gastrointestinal".

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