Nutrition in Animals:

There are five steps concerned with holozoic nutrition.

Steps involved in holozoic nutrition:

Ingestion: The process of taking in the food is called ingestion.

Digestion: The process of breaking complex food substances into simple molecules is
called digestion. Simple molecules; thus obtained; can be absorbed by the body.
When the process of digestion occurs within the cell in the food vacuole it is called
intracellular digestion. E.g., protozoa, porifera, coelenterata and free living
platyhelminthes.
When the process of digestion occurs outside the cell in a cavity it is called
extracellular digestion. E.g., Coelenterates and phylum platyhelminthes to phylum
chordata.

Absorption: The process of absorption of digested food is called absorption.

Assimilation: The process of utilization of digested food; for energy and for growth and
repair is called assimilation.

Egestion: The process of removing undigested food from the body is called egestion.

Nutrition In Amoeba

Ingestion
Ingestion is the process of taking in the food into the body either by swallowing or absorbing it. Amoeba
pushes out the pseudopodia to encircle the food and engulfs it forming a food vacuole. This process is
known as phagocytosis.

Digestion
Digestion is the process of breaking the insoluble and large food molecules into soluble and minute
molecules. In amoeba, the food vacuoles are transported deeper into the cell and with the help of the
digestive enzymes, the large insoluble particles are broken down to the simplest molecules.

Absorption
In this process of absorption, the nutrients from the digested food material are absorbed into the cell’s
cytoplasm by leaving behind the undigested particles. This process is called diffusion. The excess food is
stored in the form of glycogen and lipids.

Assimilation
Assimilation is the process of obtaining energy from the absorbed food molecules. In amoeba, absorbed
food molecules are utilized for producing the energy required to carry out different life processes within
the cell.

Egestion
Egestion is the process of excretion of undigested food material. In amoeba, this process is carried out by
rupturing the cell membrane to remove the undigested food material from its body.

HUMAN DIGESTIVE SYSTEM

Digestion in vertebrates occurs in the digestive tract or alimentary canal.
The various parts involved in digestion can be broadly divided into two groups -
● Digestive tract or alimentary canal
● Accessory digestive glands

ALIMENTARY CANAL

● The alimentary canal is a long coiled tube having muscular wall & glandular epithelium
extending from mouth to anus.
● The organs comprising the alimentary canal includes mouth and pharynx (called
buccopharyngeal cavity), oesophagus, stomach and intestine.

MOUTH

● Mouth consists of vestibule and buccal or oral cavity.

● Vestibule is a space which is bounded externally by lips, cheeks and internally by the gums
and teeth.
● Buccal or oral cavity is bounded by palate above (dorsally), throat with tongue below and
jaws with teeth on the sides.
● Palate forms the roof of buccal cavity and is differentiated into anterior hard palate and
posterior soft palate.
● The tongue is a freely movable muscular organ attached to the floor of the oral cavity by the
frenulum.
● Tongue not only helps in ingestion, mastication and deglutition of food but also help in voice
production and tasting of food.
● The upper surface of the tongue has small projections called papillae, some of which bear
taste buds.
● Teeth are hard structures meant for tearing, cutting, crushing and holding food.
● Each tooth is embedded in a socket of jaw bone. This type of attachment is called
thecodont.
● Majority of mammals including human beings form two sets of teeth during their life, a set of
temporary milk or deciduous teeth replaced by a set of permanent or adult teeth. This type of
dentition is called diphyodont.
● Monophyodont means "having one set of teeth" for life, like the beluga whale, dolphin,
porpoise, narwhal and hamsters. Diphyodont means "having two sets of teeth" for life,
like mammals such as humans, who have a deciduous dentition (primary, milk, baby,
temporary) and a permanent dentition.

● An adult human has 32 permanent teeth which are of four different types (heterodont
dentition) - incisors (I), canine (C), premolars (PM) and molars (M).
● Arrangement of teeth in each half of the upper and lower jaw in the order I, C, PM, M is

represented by a dental formula which in human is .

Dental formula
 a. Temporary teeth in man =

b. Teeth at the age of 20 year =

c. Human beings (Adult)

● Morphologically, teeth can be distinguished as homodont or heterodont.
● Homodont : When all the teeth are structurally and functionally similar. E.g., Vertebrates
except metatherian and eutherian mammals.
● Heterodont : When the teeth are different in structure and functions. They are distinguished
into four types - incisors, canines, premolars and molars. E.g., Metatherian and
eutherian mammals.(The key difference between Prototheria Metatheria
 and Eutheria is that Prototheria refers to egg-laying mammals while Metatheria refers to marsupials
that give birth to partially developed young ones, and Eutheria refers to placental mammals that give
birth to well-developed young ones.)
○ Incisors (8) : These are the front, long, curved and possess sharp-edged teeth. They
are adapted for cutting or cropping and biting.
○ Canines (4) : There is one pointed or (dagger shaped) canine in each maxillary of
upper jaw and each dentary of lower jaw next to the incisors. They are meant for
piercing, tearing and offence and defence. These are poorly developed in man.
○ Premolars (8) : They are meant for crushing, grinding and chewing. They are also
called cheek teeth.
○ Molars (12) : They are also called cheek teeth. They are specialized for crushing and
grinding the food.
● Enamel represents the hardest substance of the body. It is completely acellular and
avascular and non regenerable. It helps in mastication of food.
● The element that hardens the tooth enamel is fluorine.

PHARYNX

● Pharynx — is the muscle-lined space that connects the nose and mouth to the larynx and
oesophagus (eating tube). Larynx — also known as the voice box, the larynx is a cylindrical
grouping of cartilages, muscles and soft tissue that contains the vocal cords.
● The oral cavity leads into a short pharynx which serves as a common passage for food and air.
● The oesophagus and the trachea (windpipe) open into the pharynx.
● A cartilaginous flap (called epiglottis) prevents the entry of food into the glottis – opening of the
windpipe – during swallowing.
OESOPHAGUS

● The oesophagus is a thin, long tube (25 cm) which extends posteriorly passing through the
neck, thorax and diaphragm and leads to a ‘J’ shaped bag like structure called stomach.
● A muscular sphincter (gastro-oesophageal) regulates the opening of the oesophagus into the
stomach.

STOMACH

● Stomach is the most distensible and widest organ of the alimentary canal.
● Empty stomach possesses folds called gastric rugae, which disappears when the
stomach is distended with food.
Loss of gastric rugae are one of the earliest sign of stomach cancer.
● The stomach, located in the upper left portion of the abdominal cavity, has three major parts –
a cardiac portion into which the oesophagus opens, a fundic region and a pyloric
portion, which opens into the first part of the small intestine.
● Cardiac part are so called because it is present near the heart. It is broad at upper part with
cardiac sphincter or lower esophageal sphincter which prevents regurgitation of food.
● Fundus is commonly filled with air and gases.
● Pyloric spincter guards the opening between stomach and duodenum and periodically allows
the movement of partially digested food which is in a semisolid paste called chyme from the
stomach into the duodenum.
INTESTINE

● Intestine is responsible for most of the digestion and absorption of food and usually
formation of dry faeces.
● It is divided into two parts – small intestine 6.25 m long and large intestine.
● Small intestine is distinguishable into three regions, a ‘U’ shaped duodenum(25 cm long), a
long coiled middle portion jejunum (2.5 m long) and a highly coiled ileum (3.5 m long).
● The opening of the stomach into the duodenum is guarded by the pyloric sphincter.
● Ileum opens into the large intestine.
● Duodenum has ampulla of vater (a cavity, or the dilated end of a vessel, shaped like a Roman
ampulla.) which receives both bile duct (from liver) and main pancreatic duct (from pancreas)
and whose opening is guarded by sphincter of oddi.
● Ileum is thinner than jejunum and less vascular. It is the longest part (3.5m) of the small
intestine.
● Small intestine is the major site of digestion and absorption of nutrients.
● Large intestine consists of caecum, colon and rectum.
● Caecum is a small blind sac which hosts some symbiotic microorganisms.
● A narrow finger-like tubular projection, the vermiform appendix which is a vestigial
organ, arises from the caecum. The caecum opens into the colon.
● The colon is divided into three parts – an ascending, a transverse and a descending part. The
descending part opens into the rectum which opens out through the anus.
● Colon is concerned with absorption of water of undigested food, salts, vitamins etc. Hence,
concerned with faeces formation.

● Colon bacteria also synthesized vit. B12 and K.

● Rectum has strong sphincter muscle in its wall. The sphincter keeps the canal as well as anus,
closed when not used for defecation.
● Anal canal connects rectum with anus and it is about 3 cm. long.
● Anus is the terminal inferior opening of alimentary canal, which is guarded by an internal
involuntary sphincter and an external voluntary sphincter.
● The chief function of large intestine is the absorption of water and elimination of solid
waste.
● The wall of alimentary canal from oesophagus to rectum possesses four layers namely
serosa, muscularis, sub-mucosa and mucosa.
● Serosa is the outermost layer and is made up of a thin mesothelium (epithelium of
visceral organs) with some connective tissues.
● Muscularis is formed by smooth muscles, usually arranged into an inner circular and an outer
longitudinal layer. An oblique muscle layer may be present in some regions.
● The submucosal layer is formed of loose connective tissues containing nerves, blood and lymph
vessels. In duodenum, glands are also present in sub-mucosa.
● The innermost layer lining the lumen of the alimentary canal is the mucosa. This layer forms
irregular folds (rugae) in the stomach and small finger-like foldings called villi in the small
intestine.The cells lining the villi produce numerous microscopic projections called microvilli
giving a brush border appearance. These modifications increase the surface area enormously.
Villi are supplied with a network of capillaries and a large lymph vessel called the lacteal.
Mucosal epithelium has goblet cells which secrete mucus that help in lubrication. Mucosa also
forms glands in the stomach (gastric glands) and crypts in between the bases of villi in the
intestine (crypts of Lieberkuhn). All the four layers show modifications in different parts of the
alimentary canal. Section of small intestinal mucosa showing villi.
 Layers of gastrointestinal tract

DIGESTIVE GLANDS

The digestive glands associated with the alimentary canal includes the salivary glands, gastric
glands, intestinal glands, the liver and the pancreas.

SALIVARY GLAND

● Saliva is mainly produced by three pairs of salivary glands - the parotids (cheek), the
submaxillary/submandibular (lower jaw) and the sublinguals (under the tongue). These
glands situated just outside the buccal cavity secrete salivary juice into the buccal cavity.
● The secretion of salivary glands is called saliva or salivary juice.
SALIVARY JUICE
● Amount : 1.0-1.5 litre/day
● Chemical nature : Slightly acidic
● pH : 6.3 - 6.8
● Chemical composition : Water (99.5%), mucous (acts as lubricant), salts (NaCl,

NaHCO3 etc.), enzymes (ptyalin/salivary amylase, lysozyme) etc.

FUNCTION OF SALIVARY JUICE

It makes the medium slightly acidic for the action of its enzyme, help in taste detection, deglutition,
speaking etc.

Starch Maltose + Isomaltose + Limit dextrin.

Bacteria (living) Bacteria killed.

GASTRIC GLANDS

● There are approximately 35 million of gastric glands present in the human stomach .
● The gastric gland (fundic gland) secretes acid and digestive enzymes.
● Secretion of gastric gland is called gastric juice.

GASTRIC JUICE
● Amount : 2-3 litres/day
● Chemical nature : Highly acidic
● pH : 1.0 - 3.5 (due to presence of HCl)
● Chemical composition : Water (99%), mucous, inorganic salts, intrinsic factor, HCl
(0.5%, conc.) and enzymes - prorennin, pepsinogen and lipase.
FUNCTION OF GASTRIC JUICE
● Inactivates the action of ptyalin.
● Makes the medium acidic for the action of gastric enzymes.
● HCl kills micro - organisms (prey etc.) if ingested.

Pepsinogen (inactive) Pepsin (active).

Prorennin (inactive) Rennin (active).

Proteins + Peptones Polypeptides + Oligopeptides.

Casein (soluble milk protein) Paracaseinate

(Thus phenomenon is called "curdling of milk").

Lipids Triglycerides + Monoglycerides.

INTESTINAL GLANDS

● Intestinal glands in mammals is a collective name for crypts of Lieberkuhn (secretes

alkaline enzymatic juice) and Brunner's glands (secretes mucus).
● Intestinal glands secrete intestinal juice or succus entericus.

INTESTINAL JUICE
● Amount : 1.5 - 2.0 l/day
● Chemical nature : Alkaline
● pH : 7.6-8.3
● Chemical composition : Water (99%), mucous, inorganic salts, enzymes (like,
enterokinase, intestinal lipase, maltase, sucrase etc.)

FUNCTION OF INTESTINAL JUICE

● Inhibits the action of gastric enzymes.
● Makes the medium alkaline for the action of enzymes.

Starch Maltose + Isomaltose + limit dextrin.

Maltose Glucose + Glucose.

Isomaltose Glucose + Glucose.

Lactose (milk sugar) Glucose + Galactose.

 Sucrose (cane sugar) Glucose + Fructose.

Polypeptides + Oligopeptides Amino acids. Trypsinogen

(inactive) Trysin (active)

Lipids Fatty acids + Glycerol + Monoglycerides.

Phospholipids Phosphorous + Fatty acids + Glycerol + Monoglycerides.

PANCREAS

● It is a single, endodermal, flat, leaf-like yellowish, heterocrine (mixed) gland, present between the
ascending and descending limb of duodenum and opens into the duodenum through the
pancreatic duct.
● Pancreas has two different kind of tissues–exocrine and endocrine.
● Exocrine is the major part (about 99%) of the pancreas. The exocrine tissue of the pancreas
consists of rounded lobules (acini) that secretes an alkaline pancreatic juice. The juice is
carried by the main pancreatic duct, into the duodenum through the hepatopancreatic ampulla
(ampulla of vater). An accessory pancreatic duct, may sometimes lead directly into the
duodenum.
● Endocrine tissue is the minor part (1% only) and also called as islets of Langerhans scattered in
the exocrine part. It consist of four various type of cells – α(A) cells, β(B) cells, δ(D) cells
and F or PP cells. α-cells secretes glucagon hormone, β-cells secretes insulin hormone and δ
cells secretes somatostatin. The PP or F-cells secrete pancreatic polypeptide hormone to control
somatostatin. The secretion passes directly into the blood.
● Pancreatic secretion is stimulated by cholecystokinin and secretin both.
● Complete digestive juice is pancreatic juice as it contains amylolytic, lipolytic and
proteolytic enzymes.

PANCREATIC JUICE
● Amount : 1-1.5 l/day
● Chemical nature : Alkaline
● pH : 7.1-8.2
● Chemical composition : Water (99%), enzymes and salts.

FUNCTIONS OF PANCREATIC ENZYMES

●

(The enterokinase is secreted from ileum.)

Trypsin is present throughout the animal kingdom whereas Pepsin is present only in Vertebrates.
(Trypsin can not cause curdling of milk but can coagulate blood proteins in sanguivorous
animals. It can also not digest collagen protein.)

(Chymotrypsinogen, like pepsin, can cause curdling of milk, but does it in alkaline medium)

(Carboxypolypeptidases cleave the polypeptide chain from the side of carboxylic group)

●
● Amylopsin (a-amylase)

● Steapsin (pancreatic lipase)

LIVER

● Liver is the largest digestive gland of the body, weighing about 1.2 to 1.5 kg in an adult
human.
● It is situated in the abdominal cavity, just below the diaphragm and has two lobes (small left
lobe and large right lobe).
● The hepatic lobules are the structural and functional units of the liver containing hepatic cells
arranged in the form of cords. Each lobule is covered by a thin connective tissue sheath called
the Glisson’s capsule.
● Kupffer cells of liver sinusoids acts as phagocytes which eat up the dead cells &
bacteria by phagocytosis.
● The bile secreted by the hepatic cells passes through the hepatic ducts and is stored and
concentrated in a thin muscular sac called the gallbladder.
● The process of bile secretion is called choleresis.
● Bile
○ Amount : 800-1000 ml daily. On the average about 700 ml.
○ Source : Secreted by hepatic cells
○ Storage site : Gallbladder
○ Colour : Greenish-blue
○ Chemical nature : Alkaline
○ pH : 7.6-8.6
○ Chemical Composition : It contains 92% water, 6% bile salts (NaCl, sodium
bicarbonate and sodium glycolate & sodium taurocholate), 0.3% bile pigments
 (bilirubin-yellow and biliverdin-green), 0.3 to 1.2% fatty acid, 0.3-0.9% cholesterol &
0.3% lecithin, but no enzymes.
● The duct of the gallbladder (cystic duct) along with the hepatic duct from the liver forms the
common bile duct.
● The bile duct and the pancreatic duct open together into the duodenum as the common
hepato-pancreatic duct which is guarded by a sphincter called the sphincter of Oddi.

DIGESTION OF FOOD

● Digestion is the process of breaking down of complex and insoluble inorganic substances
(carbohydrates, fats and proteins) into simpler and soluble substances like glucose, amino acids
and fatty acids so that they can easily be absorbed into the body.
● It can be done by mechanical or chemical means.
● Mechanical digestion comprises mastication or chewing, liquefaction of food by
digestive juices, swallowing and peristalsis.
● Chemical digestion includes the enzymatic action of food.
● The buccal cavity performs two major functions - mastication of food and facilitation of
swallowing.
● The teeth and the tongue with the help of saliva masticate and mix up the food thoroughly.
Mucus in saliva helps in lubricating and adhering the masticated food particles into a bolus
which is then conveyed into the pharynx and then into the oesophagus by swallowing or
deglutition. The bolus further passes down through the oesophagus by successive waves of
muscular contractions called peristalsis.
● The gastro-oesophageal sphincter controls the passage of food into the stomach. The
+ + – –
(Na , , Cl , 3 )saliva
secreted into the oral cavity contains electrolytes K HCO

and enzymes -

salivary amylase and lysozyme.

● The chemical process of digestion is initiated in the oral cavity by the hydrolytic action of the
carbohydrate splitting enzyme, salivary amylase. Lysozyme present in saliva acts as an
antibacterial agent that prevents infections.

● The mucosa of stomach has gastric glands. Gastric glands have three major types of cells
namely
○ mucus neck cells which secrete mucus;
○ peptic or chief cells which secrete the proenzyme pepsinogen; and
○ parietal or oxyntic cells which secrete HCl and intrinsic factor (factor essential

for absorption of vitamin B12).

● The stomach stores food for 4-5 hours. The food mixes thoroughly with the acidic gastric juice
from the stomach by the churning movements of its muscular wall and is called the
 chyme. The proenzyme pepsinogen, on exposure to hydrochloric acid gets converted into the
active enzyme pepsin, the proteolytic enzyme of the stomach. Pepsin converts proteins into
proteoses and peptones (peptides).
● The mucus and bicarbonates present in the gastric juice plays an important role in lubrication
and protection of the mucosal epithelium from highly concentrated hydrochloric acid. HCl
provides the acidic pH (pH 1.8) optimal for pepsins. Rennin is a proteolytic enzyme found in
gastric juice of infants which helps in the digestion of milk proteins. Small amounts of lipases
are also secreted by gastric glands.
● Various types of movements are generated by the muscularis layer of the small intestine. These
movements help in a thorough mixing up of the food with various secretions in the intestine and
thereby facilitate digestion.
● The bile, pancreatic juice and intestinal juice are the secretions released into the small
intestine. Pancreatic juice and bile are released through the hepato-pancreatic duct.
The pancreatic juice contains inactive enzymes – trypsinogen, chymotrypsinogen,
procarboxy-peptidases, amylases, lipases and nucleases.
Trypsinogen is activated by an enzyme, enterokinase (secreted by the intestinal mucosa) into
active trypsin, which in turn activates the other enzymes in the pancreatic juice. Bile helps in
emulsification of fats, i.e., breaking down of the fats into very small micelles. Bile also activates
lipases.
● The intestinal mucosal epithelium has goblet cells which secrete mucus. The secretions of the
brush border cells of the mucosa along with the secretions of the goblet cells constitute the
intestinal juice or succus entericus. This juice contains a variety of enzymes like
disaccharidases (e.g., maltase), dipeptidases, lipases, nucleosidases, etc. The mucus along with
the bicarbonates from the pancreas protects the intestinal mucosa from acid as well as provide an
alkaline medium (pH 7.8) for enzymatic activities. Submucosal glands (Brunner's glands) also
help in this.
● Proteins, proteoses and peptones (partially hydrolysed proteins) in the chyme reaching the
intestine are acted upon by the proteolytic enzymes of pancreatic juice as given below:

Carbohydrates in the chyme are hydrolysed by pancreatic amylase into disaccharides. Polysaccharides

(starch) Disaccharides
Fats are broken down by lipases with the help of bile into di - and monoglycerides.

Fats Diglycerides Monoglycerides

Nucleases in the pancreatic juice acts on nucleic acids to form nucleotides and nucleosides.

Nucleic acids Nucleotides Nucleosides

 The enzymes in the succus entericus act on the end products of the above reactions to form the
respective simple absorbable forms. These final steps in digestion occur very close to the
mucosal epithelial cells of the intestine.

Dipeptides Amino acids

Maltose Glucose + Glucose

Lactose Glucose + Galactose

Sucrose Glucose + Fructose

Nucleotides Nucleosides Sugars + Bases Di-

andMonoglycerides Fatty acids+Glycerol

The breakdown of biomacromolecules mentioned above occurs in the duodenum region of the
small intestine. The simple substances thus formed are absorbed in the jejunum and ileum regions
of the small intestine. The undigested and unabsorbed substances are passed on to the large
intestine.
● No significant digestive activity occurs in the large intestine.
The functions of large intestine are:
○ absorption of some water, minerals and certain drugs;
○ secretion of mucus which helps in adhering the waste (undigested) particles
together and lubricating it for an easy passage.
● The undigested, unabsorbed substances called faeces enters into the caecum of the large
intestine through ileo-caecal valve, which prevents the backflow of the faecal matter. It is
temporarily stored in the rectum until defecation.

ABSORPTION OF DIGESTED PRODUCTS

● Absorption is the process by which the nutrients are circulated throughout the body by blood
and lymph and supplied to all body cells according to their requirement.
● It is carried out by passive, active or facilitated transport mechanisms.
● Small amounts of monosaccharides like glucose, amino acids and some of electrolytes like
chloride ions are generally absorbed by simple diffusion. The passage of these substances into
the blood depends upon the concentration gradients. However, some of the substances like
+
fructose and some amino acids are absorbed with the help of the carrier ions like Na . This
mechanism is called the facilitated transport.

● Transport of water depends upon the osmotic gradient. Various nutrients like amino
+
acids, monosaccharides like glucose, galactose, electrolytes (like Na ) are absorbed

into the blood by active transport which occurs against the concentration gradient and hence
requires energy.
● Absorption of amino acids and protein : Under normal circumstances, dietary proteins are
almost completely digested to their constituent amino acids and that these end products of protein
digestion are then actively transported from the intestine into the portal blood. Surplus amino
acids are also withdrawn from portal blood by liver cells and deaminated into ammonia and keto
acids. The ammonia is converted to urea and released into blood for excretion by the kidneys,
while the keto acids are converted to glucose or pyruvic acid and utilized for energy-production
or for storage as glycogen and fat.
● The dietary fat is digested, by the action of the pancreatic lipase present in the intestine, partially
into glycerol and fatty acids and partially to split products such as monoacylglycerols.
Fatty acids and glycerol being insoluble, cannot be absorbed into the blood. They are first incorporated into
small droplets called micelles which move into the intestinal mucosa.
They are re-formed into very small protein coated fat globules called chylomicrons
which are transported into the lymph vessels (lacteals) in the villi.
By the lacteals, the fat is carried to the cisterna chyli (meaning 'the receiver of the chyle') and then
by the thoracic (lymph) duct to the left brachiocephalic vein, where it enters the blood. The
lymph reaching the thoracic duct from the intestines contains an excess of fat giving it a milky
appearance. It is called chyle. In this way, fatty acids and glycerol are eventually brought into the
bloodstream and so, by a circuitous route, to the liver. In the liver, they are reorganized and
recombined to form human fat.

● Water-soluble vitamins like members of B complex (except B12) and vitamin C readily diffuse
across the walls of the intestine into the blood. The fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K are
dissolved in micelles, which enter the mucosal cells of the intestine, by simple
diffusion. The absorption of these fat-soluble vitamins is markedly decreased in the
absence of bile.
● Absorption of substances takes place in different parts of the alimentary canal, like
stomach, small intestine and large intestine.
● Almost no absorption takes place in the mouth and esophagus.
● Maximum absorption occurs in the small intestine.

● The absorbed substances finally reach the tissues which utilize them for their activities. This
process is called assimilation.
● After assimilation, the various nutrients are divided into 4 categories according to their
requirements -
○ Energy producers : Carbohydrate, fats
○ Body builders : Proteins
○ Metabolic regulators : Vitamins and water minerals
○ Hereditary substances : Nucleic acid.
 ○ Calorific value of carbohydrate, fat and protein are 4.1 Kcal, 9.45 Kcal and 5.65 Kcal
respectively.
● The digestive wastes, solidified into coherent faeces in the rectum initiate a neural reflex causing
an urge or desire for its removal. The egestion of faeces to the outside through the anal opening
(defecation) is a voluntary process and is carried out by a mass peristaltic movement.

ROUGHAGE

Roughage are the dietary fibre derived from plants which is indigestible compound that the human body
cannot absorb. Roughage has two main components - soluble fibre and insoluble fibre. Soluble fibre
dissolves in water and it gets fermented in the colon into gases and physiologically active by products.
Insoluble fibre does not dissolve in water and is metabolically inert and provides bulking.

FUNCTION
● It helps in preventing constipation by increasing the volume of stool in our body.
● It helps in retaining water in the body.
● It helps in getting rid of undigested food.

NUTRITIONAL AND DIGESTIVE DISORDERS

● Jaundice : The liver is affected, skin and eyes turn yellow due to the deposit of bile
pigments.
● Vomiting is the ejection of stomach contents through the mouth. This reflex action is
controlled by the vomit centre located in the medulla. A feeling of nausea precedes vomiting.
● The abnormal frequency of bowel movement and increased liquidity of the faecal
discharge is known as diarrhoea. It reduces the absorption of food.
● Constipation is a condition in which the faeces are retained within the rectum as bowel
movements occur irregularly.
● Indigestion is a condition in which the food is not properly digested leading to a feeling of
fullness. The causes of indigestion are inadequate enzyme secretion, anxiety, food poisoning,
over eating, and spicy food.
● PEM is protein energy malnutrition. It is primarily due to inadequate intake of food,
particularly protein. It generally affects infants and children. Two very commonly occurring
disease due to protein malnutrition are Kwashiorkor and Marasmus.
● Kwashiorkor develops in children whose diets are deficient of protein. It is common in
infants between 1 to 3 years of age. Symptoms of Kwashiorkar are retarded growth of body
and brain, protruiding belly, oedema, bulging eyes and diarrhoea etc.
 ● Marasmus is due to deficiency of proteins and calories. It occurs in infants under 1 year of age.
Symptoms of marasmus are mental retardation, lean and weak body, dry, thin and wrinkled skin
etc.

The following table shows the digestive process in a simple format.

Digestive
juices/enzymes Food that is
Organ Movement added
broken down

Mouth Chewing Saliva Starch(Carbohydrate)

Oesophagus Peristalsis —- —-

Stomach acid and

Stomach Churning Digestive Enzymes Proteins

Carbohydrates, proteins,
Small Intestine Peristalsis Digestive Juices
starch
 Carbohydrates, Fats,
Pancreas —– Pancreatic juice
proteins

Liver —– Bile Fats

Bacteria act on the

Large Intestine Peristalsis —- remaining food
particles.

Digestion and Absorption of food