Nutrition In

Humans
By:
Khizar Hayat
& Ade Bhai
10-A
 Contents
 Nutrition - Introduction
 The Mammalian Digestive System
 Working Of The Digestive System
 Absorption Of Nutrients
 Transport Of Digested Foods And It’s Utilization
 Liver And It’s Functions
 Nutrition
 It is the process by which a living organism assimilates
food and uses it for various functions.
Holozoic Nutrition Is the mode of feeding by which
animal takes in complex organic matter .
Nutrition Consists Of :
1) Feeding or Ingestion
2)Digestion
3)Absorption
4)Assimilation
The Mammalian Digestive System
It is a well-developed
System
which consists of the
“Alimentary canal” or
“Gut” ,
And their associated
Glands
 The Mouth And The Buccal Cavity

Food enters the body through

the mouth , which then leads
into the buccal cavity.
 Teeth – Large pieces of food are broken
down into smaller pieces by the chewing
and grinding action of the teeth. This
helps the enzymes to work efficiently as
the surface area is increased.
 Salivary Glands – Saliva is secreted into
the mouth by these glands which flows
via tubes called ducts into the buccal Epiglottis

cavity.
 Tongue – It rolls the food , mixes it with Larynx

saliva. A bolus is formed which is

pushed backwards through pharynx
into the oesophagus.
 Dentition
Incisors: cutting (2)
Canines: tearing (1)
Premolars: chewing,
crushing (2)
Molars: grinding,
chewing, crushing (3)
2 + 1 + 2 + 3 = 8
8 x 4 = 32
improper cleaning: tooth
decay
 The Pharynx and Larynx
 Pharynx connects the buccal cavity to the oesophagus and the
Larynx.
 It also leads to the trachea.
 Larynx has a slit-like opening called the glottis.
 Both Food and air must past through the pharynx when they enter the
body. Usually, air passes into the trachea while food into the
oesophagus .
 But sometimes the food can get into the trachea. Therefore a flap-like
structure epiglottis is at the opening of trachea which stops food from
entering. If a person tries to breathe and swallow at the same time , the
food might enter the trachea resulting in persistent coughing.
 The Oesophagus and Gut
 Oesophagus is a narrow muscular tube which passes through the chest
cavity or the thorax and the Diaphragm to join the Stomach.
 Diaphragm is a sheet of muscle separating the thorax from the
abdomen.
 The Wall of oesophagus is made of two layers of muscles:
1) The Longitudinal Muscles – On the outside of the gut
2)The Circular Muscles – On the inside of the gut
 These two layers of muscles cause rhythmic, wave-like contractions of
the gut walls. This movement is known as Peristalsis. It enables food
to be mixed with the digestive juices or enzymes and it also moves the
food along the gut.
 The Stomach
 The stomach is a stretchable
muscular bag with thick and
well-developed muscular walls.
 Numerous pits on the stomach
lead to Gastric glands that
secrete gastric juice.
 A ring of muscle called the
Pyloric Sphincter is located at
the joint of stomach and small
intestine. It controls the
entrance of food into the small
intestine by contracting and
relaxing.
The circular muscles constricts the lumen,
whereas the longitudinal muscles shorten the
lumen.

Their movement is Antagonistic.

 The Small Intestine
 It consists of the U-shaped Duodenum, the Jejunum, and the coiled
Ileum.
 It is about six meters long. Its walls contain glands which secrete
Intestinal enzymes.
 Its walls are adapted to absorb digested food products and water.
 The Liver and Gall Bladder
 Bile is secreted by liver cells. It is an alkaline greenish-yellow liquid
containing bile salts and bile pigments.
 Bile salts helps in the emulsification of fats.
 Bile pigments are waste products which are removed with faeces.
 Gall Bladder temporarily stores bile. It is a greenish-yellow bag
attached to the liver.
 Contraction of gall bladder results in flow of bile into the duodenum
via Bile duct.
 The Pancreas
 The pancreatic duct connects the duodenum with pancreas.
 In the pancreas, Pancreatic juice is produced which contains digestive
enzymes.
 Hormones such as Insulin and Glucagon are secreted through
pancreas.
 Insulin and glucagon helps in controlling the concentration of glucose
in the blood.
 diagram
 The Large Intestine
 It is broader yet smaller than the small intestine. It is about 1.5 meters
long.
 It consists of:
1)Colon
2)Rectum
 The faeces are temporarily stored in the rectum. The contraction of
rectum results in expulsion of faeces through Anus.
 Colon mainly absorbs water and mineral salts from undigested food
materials, therefore, no digestion occurs in the large intestine.
 Working Of The Digestive System
Digestion
 It consists of two processes:
1)Physical digestion
2)Chemical digestion
 Physical digestion:
The mechanical break up of food into small particles. It occurs in the
mouth by chewing action and in the stomach by churning action. It
also increases the surface area to volume ratio of the undigested food.
 Chemical digestion:
It is the breaking down of large molecules in food into smaller, easily
diffusible molecules. For example, proteins into amino acids,etc.
 Mouth Processes
 Salivary glands are stimulated to secrete saliva by the food.
 Saliva is then mixed with food and Mucin in it helps to soften the food.
 Salivary Amylase is present in saliva which digests starch to maltose.
 The pH Of saliva is neutral, at which salivary amylase is active.
 Food is broken down into smaller pieces by chewing , so the surface
area to volume ratio increases for salivary amylase to work on.
 Bolus is formed by the tongue which is swallowed – passes down to the
oesophagus via Pharynx.
Diagram
 Stomach Processes
 The presence of food in the stomach stimulates the gastric glands to
secrete gastric juices.
 The stomach wall churns and breaks up the food through peristalsis.
This movement mixes the food with the gastric juices very well.
 Gastric juice is a dilute solution of hydrochloric acid(pH 2) and two
enzymes, Pepsin and Renin. This dilute hydrochloric acid:
1)Denatures salivary amylase, so its action stops;
2)Converts the inactive forms of enzymes, pepsinogen and
prorennin, in the gastric juice, to the active forms: Pepsin and Renin
respectively;
3)Provides a slightly acidic medium, which is suitable for the action of
these enzymes;
 4)Kills certain potentially harmful micro-organisms in food.
 Proteins are acted upon by proteases pepsin and rennin.
1)Pepsin digests proteins to polypeptides or peptones.
2)Rennin curdles milk protein by converting the soluble protein
caseinogen into insoluble casein.
 This partly digested food becomes liquefied, forming Chyme.
 Chyme passes into the duodenum in small amounts when the pyloric
sphincter relaxes.
 diagram
 Processes Of Small Intestine
Chyme entering the small intestine stimulates:
 the intestinal glands to secrete intestinal juice, which contain
enzymes enterokinase, erepsin(a peptidase), maltase, sucrase(or
invertase), lactase and intestinal lipase.
 the pancreas to secrete pancreatic juice which contains enzymes
pancreatic amylase, pancreatic lipase, and trypsinogen(an
inactive form of protease).All these enzymes passes through the
pancreatic duct into the duodenum.
 the gall bladder to release bile. It passes into the duodenum via bile
duct.
 Now, the food comes in contact with the pancreatic juice, bile and
intestinal juice. All these fluids are alkaline. The alkalis:
 Neutralize the chyme, which is acidic; and
 Provides an alkaline medium which is suitable for the pancreatic and
intestinal enzymes action.
 Digestion OF Different Foods
Carbohydrate digestion:
Starch is digested by amylases
 Starch digestion begins in mouth, but only a little starch is digested by
salivary amylase to maltose.
 there is no digestion of carbohydrates in the stomach.
 As the food enters the small intestine, starch is digested by pancreatic
amylase into maltose, which is then digested by maltase into glucose.
Lactose is converted to glucose and galactose by lactase. And sucrose is
digested by sucrase into glucose and fructose.
 So,the end-products of the digestion of carbohydrates are simple
sugars which can easily be absorbed.
Protein digestion:
They are digested by proteases.
 Their digestion begins in stomach, where pepsin digests proteins to
polypeptides.
 The undigested proteins enter the small intestine, where they are
digested by trypsin to polypeptides. Trypsin is produced as inactive
trypsinogen in the pancreatic juice. In the intestine, trypsinogen is
converted into active trypsin by intestinal enterokinase.
 The produced polypeptides are then further digested to amino acids by
the enzyme erepsin in the intestinal juice.
 Thus, the end-products of protein digestion are amino acids which can
be absorbed.
Fat digestion:
 Bile salts emulsify fats in the small intestine.
 The lower the surface tension of the fats, that is, they reduce the
attractive forces between the fat molecules, causing them to break into
tiny fat droplets, forming an emulsion.
 This is just a physical break-up. There has been no chemical digestion
of fats.
 This emulsification only increases the surface area to volume ratio of
the fats, therefore, speeding up their digestion by lipase.
 These emulsified fats are digested by lipases(pancreatic and
intestinal) to fatty acids and glycerol. The end-products of fat digestion
are thus fatty acids and glycerol, which can absorb easily.
 Absorption Of Nutrients
Small Intestine’s Role In Absorption
Adaptation to absorption
 Surface area is increased
1)Inner walls of small intestines have numerous folds
2)Villi on lower side lined with minute finger like projections
3)Microvilli on villi
 Thin walls/One-cell thick Membranes
 Long Intestine-6 Meters- Provides sufficient time for absorption.
 Many Cappilaries present in the villi.
How does intestines absorb?
 Glucose + Amino acids absorbed by diffusion into blood capillaries of
the villi. It is sometimes absorbed by active transport when there is a
lower concentration of digested food substances in small intestine’s
lumen than in blood capillaries.
 Glycerol and fatty acids diffuse into the epithelium where they combine
with each other to form fat globules and then enter the lacteals.
 Water and mineral salts absorbed in colon and small intestine. Most
water is absorbed by ileum.
 Transport Of Digested Foods And It’s
Utilization
Sugars
1)Transport : Tiny blood capillaries unite to form larger capillaries which
further join to form the hepatic portal vein which transports sugar to
the liver. In liver most of the sugar is converted to glycogen and stored
while some is transported to the other body parts for use.
2)Utilization : Oxidized and used by cells and tissues for energy. The
excess glucoese is later transported back to liver for storing as glycogen.
 Diagram of structure of sugars
Amino Acids
1)Transport : Tiny blood capillaries unite to form larger capillaries which
further join to form the hepatic portal vein which transports amino
acids to the liver and passes through liver to the whole body.
2) Utilization : Amino acids in cells are converted to new protoplasm for
growth and repair of body. Amino acids are also used to form enzymes and
hormones. Excess are deaminated in liver and secreted as urea.
 Diagram of structure of amino acids
 Liver And It’s Functions
Regulation of blood glucose
concentration
 The normal conc. Is 10-90mg in 100cm(cube).
 When the conc. Is higher than average. Islets of Langerhans in
pancreas secrete a hormone called insulin which is transported
through blood to liver. It stimulates the liver to convert excess glucose
into glycogen and store it. Thus the glucose level decreases and
becomes normal.
 When conc. Is lower than average. Islets of Langerhans secrete a
hormone glucagon which stimulates the liver to convert glycogen into
glucose thus the glucose level increases and becomes normal.
 Production of Bile
 The bile is produced by the liver.
 It is temporarily stored in gall bladder.
 It is an alkaline greenish-yellow liquid containing bile salts and bile
pigments
 It helps in digesting fats by emulsifying them.
 They are waste products thus are excreted with feaces.
 Diagram of gall bladder
 Iron Storage
 It is an important mineral which is neede to help the RBCs To deliver
oxygen to the body.
 It acts as an aid in energy production and cell diffusion.
 It Helps the immune and central nervous systems.
 It is formed when the hemoglobin from destruction of RBCs is brought
into the liver and is broken down.
 Protein Synthesis
Liver synthesizes proteins in plasma from amino acids in
the diet.
These Proteins include Albumins, Globulins.
The Proteins also include Fibrinogen which is essential for
clotting of blood.
Diagram
 Deamination Of Amino Acids
 Excess aminoacids are transported to liver.
 They are De-Grouped and converted to Urea. This is called the
Deamination Of protiens.
 The Urea is then Excreted in Urine.
 The remains of deaminated amino acids are converted to glucose in
liver. If excess glucose is produced, It is converted to glycogen.
 Diagram of structure of amino acids
 Detoxification
 The process of converting harmful substances into harmless
substances.
 For example alcohol is broken down in liver by the enzyme alcohol
dehydrogenase and becomes acetaldehyde. This is further broken
down so that it can be used in respiration.
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