What is a bolus?

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The concept being tested is what a bolus is in the digestive process. A bolus is the soft, rounded ball of chewed food that saliva forms in the mouth, making the material easy to swallow. It’s the mass that is moved down the esophagus by coordinated peristaltic contractions toward the stomach, where it becomes chyme after mixing with gastric juices. It’s not chyme itself, which is the semiliquid mass after the stomach has acted on the food. It’s also not a gas bubble or fecal pellet—the latter are waste products formed later in the digestive tract. So, the best description is a soft rounded ball of digestive contents formed during chewing and ready to be swallowed.