CULAS, R. NGYUEN, J.

, DIGESTION LAB

Digestion Lab

By
Remely Culas
Jasmine Nguyen
April 25, 2016
Physiology
Westminster High School
Instructor: Nguyen

CULAS, R. NGYUEN, J., DIGESTION LAB

Data Table

Type of chewed bread 30 seconds

60 seconds

90 seconds

Not

Bluish grayish

Light yellow

Light yellow

Barely

bluish

Light yellow

Yellow mustard

Really

blue

yellow

orange

Intensely

blue

yellow

orange

This data table was used to determine how long it would take for the glucose level to be
determined. We also had to take in the mind how long we left the saliva covered bread out after it
was chewed and also the temperature could have played an a part in the changing color of the
benedict solution. Things to keep in mind:
Glucose level

Blue = No glucose
White = Little Glucose
Green = Some glucose
Red/Orange = Lots of glucose

CULAS, R. NGYUEN, J., DIGESTION LAB

Purpose
The purpose of this lab is to explore the necessity for mechanical digestion before
chemical digestion. It also to determine glucose in bread when it is covered in saliva. We also
determine how time and temperature can affect how fast the benedict solution would determine
how much glucose is in the bread. Then we have to determine how our saliva and chewing
affects glucose levels and the changes in glucose level as seen in the chart above.

Research
Before we did the lab, we did research on Mechanical and Chemical digestion. These two
types of digestion vary in different ways such as what they do and where it happens. Mechanical
digestion is the physical breakdown of food and usually starts in the mouth. Chemical digestion
is the breaking down of food into simpler nutrients that can be used by cells and usually takes
place in the liver, stomach, small and large intestine. In Mechanical digestion, the food is first
chewed by the teeth which is called mastication. The small pieces of the food will make it ready
for chemical digestion. In Chemical digestion there are enzymes and water that are responsible
for breakdowns of fat, proteins, and carbohydrates that are in the food. These two digestion types
work together so they can secure that the food would safely travel down the esophagus and that
nutrients will be distributed to the cells that need it.

CULAS, R. NGYUEN, J., DIGESTION LAB

Method
So when doing the lab, we had to keep many variables constant, such as; The amount of
time we left the bread after it was chewed, the amount of benedict's solution we put in the tubes,
the temperature of the heating block, and the type of bread that was chewed. What we had done
was have one person put bread in their mouth and have it mix with saliva. They had different
types of chewing; Not chewed at all, barely, really, and insanely chewed. Then we left the bread
to sit in a cup for about 5 minutes each. After that we put the different chewed up bread in
separate tubes and added two drops of the benedict solution. We then took it to the heating blocks
and I took note of the temperature, which was about 99.8 degrees fahrenheit. So we did time
intervals of 30 seconds and after the 30 second mark, we would check the color of the bread that
was mixed with the benedict solution.

Conclusion
In this digestion lab, our main purpose was to chew bread at different levels and measure
the amount of glucose in it. The materials we used were bread, clear tubes, heating block, mouth,
and benedict solution. To measure the amount of glucose we added two drops of benedict
solution to the bread and heated it up for a certain amount of time. The color will change
depending on the glucose measures. Blue represents no glucose but as the bread changes to a

CULAS, R. NGYUEN, J., DIGESTION LAB

more orange-ish color, the amount of glucose is increased. Our bread had more glucose as the
intenseness of the bread was chewed and as more saliva was present.