There are various things in your digestive system that help in digestion. Bile juice is one of them. It is stored in the gallbladder. It is thick and sticky fluid of greenish yellow color which contains bile salts, bile pigments, electrolytes, cholesterol and other fats.
Liver produces bile and send it to store in the gallbladder through the right and left hepatic ducts that meet together to make common hepatic duct. This common hepatic duct then meets the cystic duct that connects the gallbladder to make the common bile duct. The common bile duct and the pancreatic duct meet together with duodenum through the sphincter of Oddi to unload their stuffing.
Your digestive system starts working when you eat something. When food reaches the duodenum area it induces a series of hormonal and nerve signals to contract gallbladder so that bile juice could be delivered to the duodenum.
Bile completes two important tasks:
- It is mainly responsible for the digestion and absorption of fats.
- It helps drain out excess cholesterol and hemoglobin from damaged RBC. These are treated as waste products which shouldn’t be present in your body.
Bile also completes the following tasks:
- Bile salts help in the absorption of fats, cholesterol and fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E & K.
- Bile salts induce the large intestine to release water so that food materials could travel smoothly through the gut.
- Bilirubin is the end product of red blood cells and produced in two different organs in the body – liver and bone marrow cells. It contributes stool a green-brown color.
- Bile helps in excretion of bile pigments and many drugs.
- Bile releases several types of proteins that help it finishes absorptive tasks.
Source: https://www.merckmanuals.com/home/digestive-disorders/biology-of-the-digestive-system/gallbladder-and-biliary-tract