Concept:The stomach is the part of the body where gastric glands and hydrochloric acid carry out food digestion.
Explanation:The stomach is a J-shaped muscular organ where chemical digestion begins.
Gastric glands are present in the inner lining of the stomach wall.
These glands secrete gastric juice, which contains hydrochloric acid (
HCl), pepsinogen, and mucus.
Hydrochloric acid creates an acidic medium (
pH≈1.8) needed to activate the enzyme pepsin.
Pepsin then breaks down proteins into peptides.
Hydrochloric acid also kills harmful bacteria that enter the body with food.
Mucus protects the stomach lining from the corrosive action of
HCl.
The small intestine does the final digestion and absorption of nutrients, but has no gastric glands.
The large intestine mainly absorbs water and minerals.
The pancreas releases pancreatic juice into the small intestine, but digestion does not occur inside the pancreas itself.
Answer:Digestion by gastric glands and hydrochloric acid takes place in the stomach.
So, the correct option is B. Stomach.