Explain the digestion of a cheese sandwich from ingestion to egestion.

Introduction (100 words)

Define key concepts/terms included in the essay title indicate how to sequence material
A cheese sandwich contains different nutrients used by the human body: Cheese has protein, fat,
nucleic acid, and other nutrients such as???vitamins/minerals. Wholemeal bread has
carbohydrate, some protein and a very small amount of fat plus other nutrients such as??? . Butter
is mostly fat with a trace of carbohydrate and protein. The cheese sandwich needs to be digested
in order to turn the nutrients into a form that can be absorbed and assimilated by the body.
Digestion of the cheese sandwich takes place in the gastrointestinal tract. The main organs are the
mouth, pharynx, oesophagus, stomach, small intestine and large intestine, and they form a
continuous tube from the mouth to the anus. Accessory organs are teeth, tongue, salivary glands,
liver, gallbladder, and pancreas which aid mechanical and chemical digestion. Ingestion is the
taking of large pieces of food into the body via the mouth. Digestion mechanical and chemical
break down food. Different enzymes work on different bits of food Once broken down into
constituent units the nutrients in the cheese sandwich can be absorbed and assimilated by the
cells of the body.
Wholemeal bread nutrients: calcium. Magnesium, iron, vit B6, vit E, chromium, dietary fibre
Cheese: protein, fat, calcium, vit A, B2, B12
Butter: Fat-sat linoleic acid linoleic acid vits A, D, E, K, folate, choline
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/baked-products/4878/2
Body of text
Mouth
Ingestion
Mechanical digestion- mastication chewing, breaking up food (increases surface area)
Chemical digestion - Saliva mostly water with solutes containing ions and ezymes salivary
amylase (breaks down starch from bread into sugars), lingual lipase (digests fats in cheese and
butter). PH neutral
Formation of bolus
Pharynx
Bolus moves to stomach through act of deglutition
Voluntary swallowing
Involuntary pharyngeal stage as bolus pushed through pharynx,( epiglottis closes larynx) and
through upper oesophageal sphincter
Oesophagus
The oesophageal stage involuntary passage by peristalsis. Wave like contractions of muscularis
No digestion or absorption
Secretion of gastric juices from?? to kill bacteria.
Secretion of mucus from ???glands helping food move down to stomach more easily.
From oesophagus to anus same four basic layers lumen of gi tract surrounded by mucosa,
submucosa, muscularis, and serosa.
Lower oesophageal (cardiac) sphincter relaxes allowing bolus of food into stomach
Stomach
J shaped enlargement of GI tract with modifications and additional layers of involuntary muscle:
inner oblique, circular, outer longitudinal
Peristaltic movements (mixing waves) every 15-25 seconds maceratefood and mix with saliva
In mucosa of stomach gastric pits/ glands:
Oxyntic cells secrete Hcl.
Chief zymogen cells secrete pepsinogen (inactive?) activated by digest protein by breaking peptide
bonds.

Mucus secreting cells

Parietal cells
pH is lower, more acidic, so enzymes from mouth are denatured so no longer work
4 regions: cardia,fundus, body, pylorus
Chyme in stomach stimulates hormonal negative feedback regulates secretions, sensory neurones
& secretion of 2 hormones:
gastrin: gastric juice secretion, movement of waste along colon (gastrocolic reflex)
gastric secretin: secretion of a pancreatic juice weak in enzymes
Only a little absorption takes place here. Some water, ions fatty acids and drugs. Some of lipids
from butter and cheese. How does this happen??
Gastric emptying
Small intestine
histology & function - Less muscle. Mechanical and chemical digestion and 90% of absorption.
(J&I) Length in live body 3m
J &I Double muscle layer moves food through by peristalsis. Numerous glands secreting enzymes,
mucus and sodium hydrogen carbonate.
duodenum:neutralising acid pH of chyme. Chyme in small intestines stimulates 3 hormones
released from duodenal mucosa/blood:
pancreozymin: pancreatic enzyme secretion, bile release from gallbladder,
secretin: secretion of a pancreatic juice weak in enzymes, bile production by liver
enterocrinin: succus entericus secretion.
Pancreas,
pancreatic juice - enzymes for chemical digestion:
Carbohydrates: amylase digests starch into maltose
Protein: trypsinogen activated by enterokinaseto become trypsin, chymotrypsin, endopeptidases,
exopeptidases. Protein broken down into amino acids which ones for which items of foodendopeptidases: breaks down peptide bonds in the middle of peptides
exopeptidases: breakdown peptide bonds on terminal amino acids
aminopeptidases: break down amino acids with a free amino group
carboxypeptidases: break down amino acids with a free carboxyl group
Fats (lipids): Lipase digests droplets to fatty acids and monoglycerides. (glycerol?)
Nuclease: nucleic acids to nucleotides which ones in cheese?
Elastase digests elastin in connective tissue (does cheese sandwich have this or mention ham)
Islet of Langerhans secrete insulin which helps sugar travel round body ??
Liver
Secretes bile, bile stored in gallbladder, bile salts accelerate fat absorption by process of
emulsification.
Migrating Motility complexes type of peristalsis/ segmentations
Carbohydrates broken down, polysaccharides and disaccharides into monosaccharides. (glucose
monomers)
jejunum, digestion and absorption. Large folds of mucosa, villi and microvilli all increase surface
area. Each villus composed of many cells, has its own blood supply from a network of capillaries.
Microvilli formed by folding of plasma membrane of individual cells. Crypts of Lieberkhn
ileum digestion & Absorption, 1 cell thick, villi and microvilli increase surface area for absorption.

Rich blood supply capillaries absorb water and nutrients. (nutrients amino acids and
monosaccharides) carried to liver in venules (blood), which stores and releases them as required)
Ileum - Chemical digestion enzymes embedded in cell membranes of epithelial cells
maltase, lactase, sucrase, enterokinase, peptidases
Carbohydrates broken down, polysaccharides and disaccharides into monosaccharides. (glucose
monomers) by maltase, lactase, and sucrase. Absorption of glucose through gluT2 membrane
protein. Na+ glucose symporter, driven by high extracellular sodium.
Fats. Broken down, Bile salts combine with digested fats to form tiny droplets (micelles). Micelles
carry fatty acids and monoglycerides to epithelial layer for diffusion. Absorbed into lacteals,
whichcarry glycerol and fatty acids. Then reassembled. General movement of muscles squeezes
lymph and pushes fat to where it needs to go.
Protein enterokinase activates trypsinogen (to give trypsin) to continue digestion of proteins.
Peptidases break polypeptides into amino acids. Absorption??
Nucleic acidsvitamins and minerals: assorted means
When digesting food intestine uses lots of energy so needs oxygen in blood and cells have lots of
mitochondria.
Assimilation is the absorption of nutrients into the body after digestion in the small intestine and its
transformation in biological tissues and fluids. It occurs in every cell to help develop new cells.
(Copied wikipedia so find better definition)
Nutrients enter blood or lymph by diffusion/facilitated diffusion. Travel in hepatic portal vein
(venules) to liver
Glucose used for energy /production of ATP (cellular respiration) amount of energy from kcal
Protein cheese + grains have some protein, but deficient in some amino acids, butter tiny amount.
Amount of energy from kcal (glycogenesis) but best to use amino acids for cell growth and repair.
Fats energy from kcal and how used in cells- phospholipid membranes
Nucleic acids in cheese eg purines DNA & RNA
Chyme leaves small intestine through ileococal sphincter
Large intestine
final stage of digestion by bacteria, no folds or villi in mucosa,
Epithelium has mostly absorptive and mucus secreting goblet cells
Chyme here for 3-10 hours storage
4 regions
caecum, (appendix- function unknown)
colon reabsorbs water, minerals absorbed into blood, chyme becomes solid/semisolid
Churning and peristalsis pushes contents along to rectum, anal canal
Egestion of undigested food residues etc...from anus through anal sphincter.
Conclusion
Cheese sandwich constituent parts provide a variety of nutrients. The process of digestion is