Chapter 7 Human nutrition

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 intestine 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 contains 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

pancreatic 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 enzymes 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 lipases 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 modest 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, resulting 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 nutrients 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