Chapter 6: Nutrition in

Humans

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 Learning Objectives
(a) describes the functions of main regions of the alimentary canal and the
associated organs: mouth, salivary glands, oesophagus, stomach, duodenum,
pancreas, gall-bladder, liver, ileum, colon, rectum, anus in relation to ingestion,
digestion, absorption, assimilation and egestion of food as appropriate
(b) Describe peristalsis in terms of rhythmic wave-like contractions of muscles to
mix and propel the contents of the alimentary canal
(c) Describe:
(i) digestion in the alimentary canal
(ii) the functions of a typical amylase, protease and lipase, listing the substrate
and end-products
(d) Describe the structure of a villus (including role of capillaries and lacteals) in
absorption
(fe State the function of the hepatic portal vein as the route taken by most of the
most absorbed from the small intestine
(f) state the role of the liver in:
(i) carbohydrate and fat metabolism
(ii) breakdown of red blood cells
(iii) metabolism of amino acids and the formation of urea
(iv) breakdown of alcohol, including the effects of excessive alcohol
consumption
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 6.1 Holozoic Nutrition
What is nutrition?
-Process of taking in food and converting it
into living matter
-The mode of feeding is known as holozoic
nutrition.

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 Five Digestion Processes
•
(IDAAE)
Ingestion: taking in of food into the body.

• Digestion: breaking down of food into simpler

substances

• Absorption: diffusion of food from small intestine

into the blood

• Assimilation: using digested nutrients to make

new material

• Egestion: removal of undigested waste material

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 Digestion
Mechanical / physical digestion physically
breaks down the food in the mouth (chewing).
Smaller pieces of food increase surface area
for digestion. It also takes place in the
stomach (churning of food by the muscular
stomach walls)
Chemical digestion uses enzymes to
chemically break down complex food
substances into their simplest form. e.g.
Starch amylase
maltose

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Chemical digestion:
• Starch (carbohydrate) digestion: in mouth and
small intestine.
• Protein digestion: in stomach and small
intestine
• Fat digestion: only in small intestine

Why must food be digested???

Large molecules of food are unable to pass
through cell membranes, thus must be broken
down into small molecules so that they can
diffuse through cell membranes into the blood
stream
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 6.2 & 6.3
The Mammalian Digestive System
and Digestion in Humans

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 Recall. . .
What are the main organs of the alimentary canal?

 Mouth
 Oesophagus
 Stomach
 Small intestine
 Large intestine
 Anus

Although not part of the alimentary canal, the liver,

gall bladder and pancreas are closely associated
with it. They play an important role in digestion by
secreting digestive enzymes.

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 Mouth (Ahhh....)
• Mouth ingests food
• Teeth masticates food into small pieces to
increase surface area for digestion
• Saliva (pH 7) moisten and soften food

Salivary amylase
• Starch maltose
• Tongue mixes food with saliva and rolls
food into a bolus before swallowing
• Saliva - water, mucus, salivary amylase

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10
Swallowing

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What Happens During Breathing
and Swallowing?
Normally, air passes into
the trachea (windpipe)
while food passes into
the oesophagus.
pharynx
During breathing, the
air
larynx is lowered and
the glottis is open. larynx
(voice-box)

oesophagu
glottis s

trachea
(windpipe)
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What Happens During Breathing
and Swallowing?

During swallowing, the

larynx is raised and the
pharynx
glottis is covered by the
epiglottis. This prevents food
food particles from particles

entering the trachea.

epiglottis
glottis oesophagu
s
larynx
(voice-box)
trachea
(windpipe)
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What Happens During Breathing
and Swallowing?

Occasionally, small
particles of food or water
may get into the larynx
or trachea.
food
particles

larynx
(voice-box)
trachea
(windpipe)

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What Happens During Breathing
and Swallowing?

This automatically induces

violent coughing to force
the food particles or water
out and to prevent food
choking. particles

larynx
(voice-box)
trachea
(windpipe)

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 Oesophagus
• Minimal digestion
• Carries food from mouth to stomach by
peristalsis
• Oesophagus has circular and longitudinal
muscles which are antagonistic.
• When circular muscles contract, longitudinal
muscles relax and vice-versa.

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 Peristalsis
Part of the gut wall
The two layers of muscles
cause rhythmic, wave-like
contractions of the gut walls.
Such movements are known as
peristalsis. circular
muscles
Peristalsis:
• enables food to be mixed
with the digestive juices; and
• moves the food along the
longitudinal
gut. muscles 17
 Wall here dilates
Direction of movement of food

Circular muscles relax

Wall here constricts.
Circular muslces Longitudinal muscles
contract; longitudinal contract
muscles relax
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 Peristalsis – Move the food down!
• When circular muscles
contract, longitudinal
muscles relax. Gut wall
constricts i.e. gut becomes
narrower and longer. Food
is squeezed or pushed
forward.

• Gravity and slippery

mucous lining helps push
food down too.
• http://arbl.cvmbs.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/digestio
n/basics/peristalsis.html
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 Stomach
• Stores food temporarily
• Stomach muscles churns and mixes food (also
by peristalsis) with gastric juice to form chyme.
• Gastric juice contains hydrochloric acid (HCl)
and enzymes like rennin and pepsin
– HCl is very acidic (pH2), thus it kills bacteria
and other microorganisms, as well as
stopping the action of salivary amylase
– Provides acidic medium for gastric enzymes
to work
• Only protein digestion here
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 HCl converts inactive pepsinogen and prorennin
to their active forms

1.Pepsinogen HCl pepsin

Proteins peptones
HCl
2.Prorennin rennin

soluable milk proteins insoluble milk

proteins pepsin

peptones 21
• The stomach is
“guarded” at the
entrance and exit
points by sphincter
muscles which
control the amount
of food entering
and leaving the
stomach.

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 Small Intestine
• Subdivided into duodenum, jejunum and ileum
• In the small intestine, chyme stimulates
1. Pancreas to secrete pancreatic juice
2. Gall bladder to secrete bile
3. Intestinal glands to secrete intestinal juice

• All three juices secreted are alkaline,

pH 8.5

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 2
•Pancreatic and bile 1
bile duct pancreatic juice
intestinal juice contain
many digestive pancreatic
enzymes. duct

•Bile does not contain

enzymes. Bile emulsifies
fats, increasing the
surface area for lipase
action
3
intestinal juice
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Duodenum
pancreatic amylase
• Starch maltose
proteases
• Protein polypeptides
• Fats lipase
fatty acids + glycerol
Ileum
• Maltose maltase
glucose
• Polypeptides protease amino acids
• Fats lipase
fatty acids + glycerol
• Lactose lactase glucose + galactose
• Sucrose sucrase glucose + fructose
Note that the small intestine is the main site of
digestion of food and absorption of nutrients.
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 Large Intestine (colon)

• Large inverted U
shaped tube.
• No digestion takes
place here
• Absorbs water and
minerals salts
• Stores the faeces
(dead cells, mucus,
germs, undigested
food) 28
 Is the colon the main region for water
absorption?
No! About 94% of the total amount of
water passing through the alimentary canal
is absorbed by the small intestine! The
large intestine absorbs most of the
remaining 6% of water.

Rectum – temporarily stores faeces

Anus – egests (= removal of undigested
matter) faeces

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Organs associated with the
alimentary canal
These organs do
not digest food but
aid in digestion
• Gall bladder
• Pancreas
• Liver

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 Gall bladder
• Temporarily stores bile (smelly green
substance) secreted by liver.
• Secretes bile in the presence of chyme.
• Bile breaks up large fat droplets into very
small fat droplets to increase surface area
for lipase action (Emulsification) Bile
emulsifies fats
• *Bile is not an enzyme, so it is not affected
by temperature

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 Pancreas
• Connects to small intestine by pancreatic
duct
• Produces pancreatic juice
• Secretes hormones like insulin (controls
blood glucose concentration) and glucagon
(controls carbohydrate metabolism)

Liver
• Produces bile, which is stored in the gall
bladder

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 Absorption
Adaptations of the small intestine
• Small intestine is very long (~5 m)
• Internal surface of the small intestine has
many folds.
• On these folds, there are many finger-like
projections called villi
• These 3 adaptations increase surface
area for absorption

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 villus

Epithelial
cell

Numerous folds
microvilli
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 One cell thick epithelium –
for efficient absorption of
Blood capillaries – food particles
transport sugars
and amino acids
away from the Lacteal – fatty acids
small and glycerol recombine
intestine in the epithelium to
form fat which then
enters the lacteal as
fine fat droplets

This continual transport of digested food substances

maintains the concentration gradient for the absorption
of digested food substances. 35
• The concentration of simple nutrients (e.g.
glucose, amino acids, fatty acids and glycerol) is
higher in the lumen of the small intestine then in
the blood capillaries that pass through the villi.

• Thus, nutrients diffuse across a region of high

concentration (lumen of the small intestine) to
the bloodstream, which has a lower
concentration. Note that absorption by active
transport is also possible.

• The blood capillaries in the small intestine unite

to form larger blood vessels, which unite to form
the hepatic portal vein, which transports the
nutrients to the liver.
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What happens to amino acids and glucose
after absorption?
Molecules pass into the epithelial cells

Through walls of capillaries in the villus and into bloodstream

The capillaries join up to form veins

Veins unite to form 1 large vein: Hepatic Portal Vein

Hepatic portal vein carries blood to liver

Liver stores or alters products of digestion

Products released from liver into general

blood circulation 37
38
 Glucose Amino Acids
• Glucose is used by all • Amino acids which enter
cells as a source of the cells are converted
energy. into new protoplasm that
• Excess glucose is used for growth and
returned to liver and repair.
stored as glycogen. • Amino acids used to
Insulin stimulates liver form enzymes and
to convert glucose into hormones.
glycogen. When the • Excess amino acids
body needs energy, deaminated by liver.
glycogen is converted
back to glucose.
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What happens to fatty acids and glycerol
after absorption?
Molecules pass into the epithelial cells

Recombine into fats again in the epithelial cells

Fats enter the lacteals

Lymph (fluid in lacteals) + fat = chyle

Lymphatic vessels discharge chyle into

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bloodstream
 Fats
• Blood carries fats to all parts of the body,
especially to the liver.
• When there is enough glucose, fats are not
broken down but are used to build
protoplam.
• When there is insufficient glucose, fats
are broken down to provide energy.
• Excess fats stored in adipose tissues.

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Villi – absorption by diffusion

Diffusion

From intestine To liver

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T
 Assimilation
• After travelling through the blood stream to
the rest of the body, cells can now make
use of
– glucose as source of energy
– amino acids to build new cytoplasm and tissue
cells
– fatty acids to build new cell membranes

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 Functions of the Liver
1. Regulation of blood glucose concentration
– 70-90mg of glucose / 100cm3 of blood (normal conditions)

2. Production of bile
– Liver produces bile which is stored in the gall bladder
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 Functions of the liver
3. Iron storage
– Red blood cells are destroyed in the spleen and
their haemoglobin is sent to the liver to be broken
down. The iron released is then stored in the liver.
Bile pigments are also formed from the breakdown
of haemoglobin.
4. Protein synthesis
– Liver synthesizes proteins found in blood plasma,
e.g. albumins, globulins, fibrinogen

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 Functions of the liver
5. Deamination of amino acids
– Excess amino acids are transported to the liver, where their
amino groups are removed and converted to urea.

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 Functions of the liver
6. Detoxification
– Liver cells contain alcohol dehydrogenase
to break down alcohol.
– Excessive alcohol is harmful. Alcohol
stimulates acid secretion in the stomach and
increases risk of gastric ulcers.
– Prolonged alcohol abuse may lead to liver
cirrhosis (destruction of liver cells), which
can lead to liver failure and death.
7. Heat production

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