Bile facts for kids
Bile, also known as gall, is a special green-yellow liquid. Your liver makes it. Most animals with backbones, like humans, produce bile. It's often stored in a small organ called the gallbladder. Bile plays a super important role in helping your body digest food, especially fats!
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What is Bile and What Does It Do?
Bile is a fluid made by your liver. It's a bit like a digestive helper. Its main job is to break down fats from the food you eat. This makes it easier for your body to absorb important nutrients.
How Bile Helps Digestion
When you eat fatty foods, bile is released. It acts like a detergent. Bile breaks large fat blobs into tiny droplets. This process is called emulsification. These smaller fat droplets are easier for your body to digest. Without bile, digesting fats would be very hard.
What is Bile Made Of?
Bile is a mix of several things. Each part helps it do its job.
- Water: Bile is mostly water.
- Cholesterol: This is a type of fat.
- Bile pigments: These give bile its green-yellow color. They come from old red blood cells.
- Bile salts: These are the main helpers for breaking down fats.
Where Does the Name "Gall" Come From?
The word gall comes from an old Greek word, cholè. This word means green or yellow. You might notice that bile is often green or yellow! Other words like cholesterol and cholera also have roots in this Greek word.
Bile and Your Body
Bile is stored in your gallbladder. It also travels through tubes called bile ducts. These ducts carry bile from your liver to your small intestine. Sometimes, after a liver transplant, bile might come out of the body for a short time. This is part of the healing process.
Images for kids
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Recycling of the bile
See also
In Spanish: Bilis para niños
