What is the difference between bolus and chyme?

You may have never heard of the words bolus or chyme before, but they are both actions that you have certainly performed in your life. Bolus refers to food that is in your mouth that has been mashed. From there, the food will reach the stomach. Then, the stomach will digest it. When this food is digested, then it is called chyme.

Along with the actions, another difference between them is the level of alkaline as they are. Between them, two bolus is more alkaline. With chyme, it is less alkaline. This is because the bolus is interacting with the saliva of a person.

The bolus is a mixture of food formed like a ball in the mouth while the chyme is a liquified semi-solid mixture of food formed in the stomach, which is the key difference between bolus and chyme. For digestion, ingested food is formed into these mixtures. The bolus is created in the mouth with the mixing of various fluids, and the chyme is produced in the stomach that is mixed with hydrochloric acid.

The pH of the bolus is alkaline, the pH of the chyme is acidic. The bolus can be described as a mixture of food constructed into the shape of a ball in the buccal cavity mixed with saliva and enzymes. The partially digested food includes carbohydrates and proteins.

Some people may have never heard of these terms before and are now very interested to know more. When you say bolus, this is what you call the type of food that you have already mashed in your mouth. The moment that it reaches your stomach and your stomach starts to digest it, that is the time when you would call it chyme.

Another difference between the two is how alkaline they are. The bolus is going to be more alkaline as compared to chyme mainly because of people’s saliva. Teeth and saliva will have the tendency to form into saliva after a certain period of time.