Thick arm is the last. a half meters of the intestine, and it has a diameter about. 5 cm. It is structured somewhat differently from the small intestine, as it has another function.

How tyndtarmens main function is to absorb nutrients from food, the colon absorb water and salts. The contents of the colon is anything that has not been digested and incorporated into the small intestine. In the last part of the colon and kept shaped stools.

Bottom right side of the abdomen is the small intestine than in the first part of the colon, calledcoecum(pronounced "søekum"). Coecum is the biggest part of the colon, whichblind armsit. Dead-end arm is a small worm-shaped pendant, which has no function in digestion. It contains lymphoid tissue, so perhaps it has an impact on the immune system. You can easily live without blindly arm if, for example. have had it removed in connection with appendicitis.

From coecum continues colon up the right side of the abdomen, after which it runs across the stomach and then down the left side. Thick arm runs down the basin in an S-shaped meander, calledsigmoideum. Then ends of the colonRectaland anal canal, which is the same as using the intestine.

Thick Armen does not have the same folds and udposninger as the small intestine, since it is not intended to incorporate as much. However, it has great udposninger on the surface, which is calledhaustra. These have arisen because the underlying muscle in colon along its length so that the colonwrinkletogether. There is also a circular muscle layer of the colon. Grand muscles to ensure that what remains of a meal, pushed further into the gut with a wave motion. This movement is also known asperistalsis.

Colon mucosa produces a slimlag, which makes it easier for the content of the gut to move, and also protects the mucous membranes from wear. In the last part of the colon there, as part of the normal flora, some bacteria, which partially destroys dietary fiber. Dietary fiber is a kind of partial indigestible carbohydrates from plants. If the content of dietary fiber in the diet is high, there will be many bacteria to degrade them. These bacteria are good because they keep other harmful bacteriological

As the contents of the colon moves through the colon, it becomes more and more viscous, and finally, only the back that comes out as bowel movements. Feces consists of the parts of the food that has not been recorded on the road through the gut and water, salts, mucus, bacteria and cells from the intestine, which have fallen. Stool color is due to flow of bile into the small intestine, and the smell occurs because of bacteria in the colon.