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Human Nutrition
 June 25, 2019

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Diet

Balanced diet 

A balanced human diet contains all essential ingredients in the correct proportions

There are certain factors that affect diet such as:

Age – Children require more protein per kg of body weight than adults 
Gender – Males generally use more energy than females
Activity – Higher levels of physical activity will increase demand for nutrients 
Pregnancy – Higher demands for nutrients in order to supply fetus with energy for
development 
Breast feeding mother – Higher requirements for vitamin and water 

Malnutrition 

Malnutrition is the lack of a balanced diet such as deficiencies, excesses or imbalances in

a person’s intake of nutrients. 

Malnutrition can lead to consequences such as: 

 Obesity (excessive nutrients) 
Starvation (insufficient nutrients)
Coronary heart disease (excessive saturated fat and cholesterol)
Kwashiorkor (too much carbohydrates, too little protein)
Constipation (lack of fibre) 

Essential nutrients

Alimentary canal 

Useful definitions 

Ingestion – Taking in of substances e.g. food and drink into the body through the
mouth 
Egestion – Passing out of food (as feces) that has not been digested or absorbed via
the anus 
 Mechanical digestion – Break down of food into smaller pieces without chemical
change to food molecules 
Chemical digestion – Break down of large insoluble molecules into small, soluble
molecules
Absorption – Movement of chemically digested food molecules through the small in-
testine walls into the blood  
Assimilation – Movement of digested food molecules into the cells of the body where
they are used and become a part of the cells 

Structure and function 

Mouth

This is the location of ingestion. Mechanical digestion of food occurs as we chew on it with
our teeth. Chemical digestion occurs due to amylase enzymes in our saliva which break
down starch into maltose. 

Esophagus

Round clumps of food (boluses) are passed down the esophagus via peristalsis from the
mouth to the stomach.
Peristalsis is the contraction and relaxation of the esophagus wall muscles which creates
a wave-like motion that pushes the food down the canal. 

Stomach

Mechanical digestion occurs as the stomach walls squeeze the food to liquefy it. 

Gastric juices contain pepsin (a protease) which chemically digests proteins. It also con-
tains hydrochloric acid which kill bacteria, but also maintains an optimum acidic pH for
pepsin. 

Pancreas

The pancreas secretes pancreatic juice into the duodenum.

The juice contains a large variety of different enzymes involved in the chemical digestion of
food. 

Proteases break down proteins 

Lipases break down lipids
Amylases break down carbohydrates 

Most enzymes in the pancreatic juice have an optimum pH of around 7. The pH of pancre-
atic juice is slightly alkaline, and this is to neutralize the acidity of the food coming from
the stomach. 

Duodenum

This is the first part of the small intestine. It receives pancreatic juice which contains en-
zymes for the chemical digestion of food. 

Ileum

This is the second part of the small intestine. The inner walls have finger-like extensions
called villi which massively increases the surface area for nutrient absorption. 
Liver

The liver produces a substance called bile which is stored in the gal bladder. 

Bile has the function of emulsifying fat into droplets to increase the surface area for li-
pases to come and digest them. 

Bile is also basic which assists in neutralizing the acidity of the food coming from the
stomach. 

Colon

This is the second part of the large intestine. The main function of the colon is to reabsorb
water from undigested food and also bile salts to return back to the liver. 

Rectum

The rectum stores feces until it is egested 

Anus

Muscles control egestion of feces 

Cholera infection

Cholera bacteria releases toxins which causes chloride ions to be secreted into the small
intestine. This causes the osmotic movement of water into the gut, and leads to diarrhea. 

NOTE: Diarrhea is defined as the loss of watery feces 

Diarrhea can be treated using oral rehydration therapy. It involves drinking water with mod-
est amounts of sugar and salts, specifically sodium and potassium. 
Mechanical digestion

Types of human teeth

Mechanical digestion involves physically breaking food into smaller pieces, and our teeth
serve exactly that function! 

There are four types of teeth: 

Molar
Located at back of mouth 
4 or 5 cusps
2 or 3 roots 
Used for chewing and grinding food 
Used for chewing and grinding food 
Pre-molar 
Behind canines 
2 cusps 
1 or 2 roots
Used to tear and grind food 
Canine 
On either side of incisors 
More pointy than incisors 
Used to bite pieces of food 
Incisor 
In front of the mouth 
Chisel shaped 
Used to bite off food pieces 
Structure of human teeth
Dental decay

Dental decay is caused by bacteria which is present on the surface of our teeth.
The bacteria and food deposits form a layer called plaque. 
Bacteria in plaque feed on sugars which produce acid that dissolves the enamel, re-
sulting in a hole.
As the hole deepens it may eventually reach the nerves which result in pain i.e. tooth
ache. 

Proper dental care

 Avoid sugary food so that bacteria cannot make acid 
Regular cleaning to remove plaque 
Use floss to remove trapped food 
Visit the dentist regularly for treating early decay and removal of thick plaque 

Chemical digestion

Chemical digestion involves breaking down large, insoluble food into smaller soluble nutri-
ents that can be absorbed and used by the cells. 

Chemical digestion is carried out by enzymes. A lot about chemical digestion has already
been covered above in regards to the alimentary canal, and what enzymes are found where. 

Summary of enzymes that you should be aware of:

Remember, the acidic pH of the stomach is maintained by hydrochloric acid which also kills
bacteria via denaturing their enzymes.

The alkaline conditions of the small intestine is maintained by pancreatic juice and bile. The
bile also has the function of emulsifying fats into droplets to increase the surface area for
digestion
Absorption

After large food molecules get digested by enzymes, the small soluble nutrients diffuse into
the small intestine walls and then into the blood. 

Sometimes the concentration of nutrients i.e. glucose may be higher in the blood than in
the small intestine. In such cases diffusion cannot be relied upon. Instead, active transport
is used for absorption. 

Absorption is defined as the movement of small food molecules and ions through the wall
of the intestine into the blood. It can either be done through diffusion or active transport. 

The inner walls of the small intestine have finger-like structures called villi which greatly
increases the surface area of absorption. 

Structure of a villus 

Blood vessels/capillaries
 Absorbs glucose and amino acids by diffusion 
Lacteal 
Absorbs fatty acids and glycerol
Epithelial lining
One cell thick to increase diffusion rate 
Microvilli increase surface area even further