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Photo Gallery: Digestive System

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Made up of 30 feet (9 meters) of pipes and tubes and more than half a dozen organs, the digestive system is responsible for converting the half ton of food the average human eats each year into fuel. The digestive process begins before food even enters the mouth. As this woman chooses apples at the supermarket, she is triggering the production of saliva in her mouth. Photograph by Holger Winkler