> Which type of acid does the human stomach use to digest food?And the answer: hydrochloric. Photo credit: ISTOCK.COM/YODIYIMOutside of the human body, hydrochloric acid isa corrosive compound, combining hydrogen with chlorine. Inside the body, it'spart of the gastric juice that kills bacteria and helps break down food in yourstomach.While you may not be aware of it, your digestive system is working to supportyour body all the time. This means it is constantly creating the acids andextracting the nutrients your body needs to survive, such as saliva and otherenzymes. Ultimately, this means your body churns out about 2 pints of salivaevery day!Meanwhile, the systems in your body work together to make digestion happen. Thegut-brain axis is the close bond that exists between the digestive system andyour brain. Emotions (including stress) can affect how your body digests food.After this axis does its job by communicating hunger, food can then betransported to the stomach through the esophagus, which uses peristalsis.Peristalsis performs like a wave, using muscles to push food down the correcttract. Once in the stomach, enzymes are produced to separate food into the differentnutrients that it needs. It will be broken down into these nutrients beforemoving the waste to the small intestine. Interestingly, the small intestineisn't so small at all— it's about 22-23 feet long! The large intestine, on theother hand, is only about 5 feet long. Did you know?Your stomach growling is called borborygmic, and happens all the time. It's muchlouder when your stomach is empty because there is no food to muffle it!