Heterotrophic

Nutrition
HUMAN DIGESTION

This Photo by Unknown author is licensed under CC BY-SA.

HETEROTROPHIC NUTRITION
IN HUMANS

🠶 The form of Heterotrophic nutrition used by humans is referred to as Holozoic. That is,
they get energy by feeding on other organisms. These organisms (complex organic
materials) are broken into simple organic substances in the body.

🠶 Holozoic nutrition in humans takes place in five steps:

🠶 Ingestion: the process of taking food into the body

🠶 Digestion: the process of breaking down complex, insoluble, large molecules into small,
soluble, simple molecules.
HETEROTROPHIC NUTRITION
IN HUMANS

Types of digestion

🠶 Mechanical: The process which physically breaks food into smaller pieces but does not change the
chemical nature of food. It takes place in the mouth when chewing, in the stomach when the food is
churning, and in the small intestines when fat emulsification is going on.

🠶 Chemical: Chemical digestion is where enzymes are used to break down large insoluble polymers, like
starch, into soluble monomers, like glucose. Enzymes break down these molecules by the process of
hydrolysis. The chemical nature of the molecules are changed.

🠶 Absorption : the process by which the products of digestion (simple molecules) move into body
cells and into the blood.
HETEROTROPHIC NUTRITION
IN HUMANS

🠶 Assimilation: the process the body uses to take food molecules from the blood and uses it for

bodily functions such as growth, respiration, etc.

🠶 Egestion: the process by which the unused, undigested food molecules are removed from the

body.

🠶 In humans the system which handles nutrition is called the Digestive System. Its job to

convert food into a form that the body can use.

Digestion in Humans

🠶 The digestive system in humans consists the following:

🠶 Alimentary canal
🠶 The pancreas
🠶 The liver and gall bladder
🠶 The intestines
🠶 The small intestines: duodenum, jujenum, ileum
🠶 The large intestines: the colon and rectum
Digestion in Human

🠶 Alimentary Canal also known as Gastrointestinal Tract or Gut

🠶 This is a muscular tube, about 8 -9 metres, that runs from the mouth to anus. Each section of the

alimentary canal is adapted (specialized) to carry out its own unique function.

🠶 These parts of the alimentary canal are the mouth, esophagus, stomach, small intestines, large

intestines and anus.

Digestive System
The Mouth – Ingestion & Digestion
The Mouth- Ingestion & Digestion

🠶 Ingestion starts with the mouth. This is where food is taken into the body, by the hands.

🠶 Digestion occurs in two ways in the mouth, mechanical digestion and chemical
digestion.

🠶 Mechanical digestion is done by the teeth.

🠶 Mastication (chewing) is done by the teeth and tongue

🠶 The tongue turns and stirs the food while the teeth chew and break food into smaller
pieces.
The Mouth- Ingestion & Digestion

🠶 Mechanical digestion is very important because

🠶 breaking food into small pieces increases the surface area for enzymes in the mouth to

effectively work. i.e. more areas are exposed for enzymes to work on.

🠶 Food is also broken up to make it easier to pass through the alimentary canal.
The Mouth – Mechanical Digestion

🠶 There are four types of teeth in the human mouth

🠶 Incisors
🠶 Canines
🠶 Premolars
🠶 Molars
The Mouth – Mechanical Digestion

🠶 Teeth make food particles smaller for swallowing and movement of food through alimentary canal to

be easy

🠶 Their action increases the surface area of food so that saliva and gastric juices can get to all the food,

making chemical digestion faster.

🠶 Parts of the teeth are:

🠶 Enamel – covers crown, very hard outer surface. Protects teeth, preventing it from being damaged
The Mouth – Mechanical Digestion

🠶 Dentine – greater part of tooth, it is like bone but softer than enamel.

🠶 Pulp Cavity – the space where blood vessels and nerves are present. It forms dentine and helps to

protect teeth.

🠶 Blood vessels – take food and oxygen to cells, removes carbon dioxide from cells.

🠶 Nerves – help teeth to sense hot and cold.

🠶 Cement – bone-like structure that lines root, holds tooth in place.

The Mouth – Mechanical Digestion

🠶 The gum has fibers/periodontal ligaments that attach to the cement around the teeth and

old them in place

🠶 Crown – the part of the tooth that is above the gum. It is used for mastication

🠶 Neck – between the crown and the root, is in gum for support.

🠶 Root –the part of the teeth in the gum. It goes all the way to thebone socket, holds teeth in

place.
The Mouth –
Mechanical
Digestion
The Mouth –
Mechanical
Digestion

DIAGRAM SHOWING LONGITUDINAL SECTION OF A CANINE

 The Mouth – Mechanical Digestion

Type Position Shape Function Amount in Amount

children in adults

Incisor At the front of Chisel-shaped with sharp edges To cut food. Eight total Eight total
the jaw and has one root.
To bite off Four at Four at
pieces of food top jaw the top

Four on Four on
bottom the
jaw bottom
The Mouth – Mechanical Digestion

Type Position Shape Function Amount Amount

in in
children adults

Canines Next to the Cone/dagger-shaped and To grip food Four Four

incisors pointed and has one root. total total.
To tear off
pieces of food Two at Four at
top jaw the top
To pierce food
Two on Four on
bottom the
jaw bottom
The Mouth – Mechanical Digestion

Type Position Shape Function Amount Amount

in in
children adults

Premolars After the Flat surface with 2 bumps/cusps Flat broad Four at Four on
incisors, side Has two roots surface used to top jaw the
of jaw grind and bottom,
crush food Four on four at
bottom the top.
jaw
Eight
Eight total
total
The Mouth – Mechanical Digestion

Type Position Shape Function Amount in Amount

children in adult

Molars After the Flat surface with four or five Broad None Twelve
premolars, at bumps/ cusps. Has three roots surface total.
the back of used to
the jaw crush and Six at
grind food. the
bottom
and six
at the
top
The Mouth- Chemical Digestion

🠶 Chemical Digestion takes place while mastication is taking place.

The salivary glands in the mouth produce saliva.

🠶 The saliva contains water, mucus and the enzyme, salivary amylase.

The water and mucus moisten and soften the food while the amylase

begins to break down starch, present in the food, to maltose.

The Mouth- Chemical Digestion

🠶 After the food is chewed properly, it is rolled into a ball-like

structure called bolus and swallowed to move it into the esophagus.

🠶 The bolus is water, mucus and chewed food and enzymes.

🠶 There is a flap in at the back of the throat which covers the

trachea/windpipe while swallowing. This is the epiglottis.

Esophagus

🠶 The esophagus is the muscular tube that connects the throat

to the stomach.

🠶 It runs behind the trachea and the heart.

🠶 The esophagus moves food to the stomach by the process

peristalsis.
Esophagus

Peristalsis

🠶 Circular muscles behind the bolus contract pushing food forward

🠶 Longitudinal muscles relax while circular muscles contract and

vice versa

🠶 The muscles around and below the food relax to allow it pass

food contract and the relax to pass food along.

🠶 This repeats until the bolus gets to the stomach.

Digestive System
The Stomach - Digestion

🠶 At the bottom of the esophagus is a ring of muscles, sphincter muscles, that open it to
release food into the stomach.
🠶 The stomach is a muscular organ that lies to the upper left abdomen.
🠶 The stomach churns bolus the bolus.
🠶 As the bolus is churned the pits in the stomach walls secretes gastric juices which
contains:
🠶 Mucus
🠶 Hydrochloric acid (HCl)
🠶 Pepsin
🠶 In babies…Rennin.
The Stomach - Digestion

🠶 Mucus – protect the lining of the stomach from HCl

🠶 HCL – provides the acidic environment for pepsin & rennin to work and kills pathogens

🠶 Pepsin – begins protein digestion in stomach, proteins are broken down to peptides (short

amino acid chains)

🠶 Rennin – present in baby mammals. It clots the protein in the milk so it can be digested
PEPSIN
🠶 Gastric pits in the stomach wall
secrete digestive juices
🠶 Gastric pits in the stomach wall
secrete digestive juices

🠶 See image to the right, a close up

of a gastric pit
The Stomach - Digestion

🠶 Churning and digestion takes place for about 2 hours

🠶 the result is chyme, a more liquid state

🠶 the pyloric sphincter muscle at the bottom of the stomach open, releasing chyme into the

intestines.
Digestive System
The Small Intestines - Digestion

🠶 Chyme enters the Duodenum from the stomach

🠶 It is still acidic because of HCl in it

🠶 Liver cells make bile and store it in the gall bladder.

🠶 Gall bladder secretes bile, through bile duct, into the duodenum

🠶 Bile emulsifies fats by breaking them into smaller droplets, increasing surface area for enzymes to digest fats.

🠶 Bile also contains bile pigments, these are waste products but are removed from the body throught the

alimentary canal
The Small Intestines - Digestion

🠶 Pancreas secretes pancreatic juice which has sodium hydrogen carbonate (baking soda),

and the enzymes trypsin, lipase & pancreatic amylase

🠶 Sodium hydrogen carbonate neutralizes the HCl so the pancreatic enzymes can work in the

slightly alkaline environment, which is optimum for them.

🠶 Trypsin continues to break down peptide chains to smaller peptide

🠶 and if any proteins present, break those down to peptides

🠶 Lipase breask down fats to fatty acids and glycerol

🠶 Pancraetic amylase continues to break down starch to maltose

The Small Intestines - Digestion

🠶 Peristalsis keeps chyme moving from duodenum, throught jujenum into the lieum.

🠶 Along the way intestinal juices, containing enzymes, are secreted

🠶 The enzymes are maltase, sucrase, lactase and peptidase (erepsin)

🠶 Maltase – glucose molecules

🠶 Sucrase ---> glucose and fructose

🠶 Peptidase --> peptides to amino acids

🠶 Lactase --> lactose to glucose and galactose

The Small Intestines - Absorption

🠶 By the time chyme gets to the ileum all the complex molecules would be broken down to
simple forms

🠶 Absorption begins to take place in the Ileum and continues into the Large intestines.

🠶 Simple molecules are absrobed by diffusion, active transport, water is absorbed by

osmosis.

🠶 The small intestines have adaptations that allow them to absorb nutrients
The Small Intestines - Adaptations

🠶 The intestines are very long long, so this maximeses the amount of absorption that can take
place

🠶 The inner surface is covered in finger like projections called villi (one is a villus)

🠶 Villi further increase the surface area for absoption

🠶 Villi have capillaries that quickly carry the products of digestion away, so that molecules
can keep diffusing in

🠶 Capillaries absorb vitamins B and C, amino acids, some water and monosaccharides
Villi in Intestine
Wall
Villi in Intestine wall
Epithelial Cells
The Small Intestines - Adaptations

🠶 Villi have lacteal that quickly absorb and carry away fatty acids, glycerol vitamins A & D.

🠶 Villi walls have epithelial cells lining them.

🠶 Epethelium is only one cell thick, allowing products of digestion to pass through quickly, I.e.
short diffusion distance.

🠶 Epithelial cells have microvilli which extend to further increase the surface area for
absorption.
 Microvilli

Goblet cells in epithelium

secret mucus to aid food
movement.
Digestive System
The Large Intestines - Absorption

🠶 Peristalsis keeps food moving into the large intestines/colon

🠶 Water and mineral salts are absorbed here

🠶 As water is removed the food becomes more and more solid

🠶 By time it gets to the end of the rectum, only unwanted substances are left

🠶 At this point, it is faeces

The Large Intestines - Egestion

🠶 Feces contain bile pigments, undigested fiber, dead cells, mucus and dead pathogens.

🠶 It is stored here until anal sphinchter relaxes and releases it through anus

🠶 Removal of feces is egestion

Assimilation - Carbohydrates

🠶 The carbohydrates (glucose, fructose & galactose) and amino acids are taken to the liver
by the hepatic portal vein.

🠶 The galactose and fructose are converted to glucose and along with glucose they are sent
into circulation

🠶 Glucose is used by all cells for respiration

🠶 Any excess is converted to glycogen and stored in liver and muscle cells

🠶 Excess may also be converted to fat and stored in liver and adipose (fatty) tissue under skin and
surrounding organs.

🠶 Glucose converted to fat in liver and transported to adipose tissue by blood

Assimilation – Amino Acids

🠶 The amino acids are taken used by all body cells to make proteins which are for

🠶 growth and repair

🠶 To make hormones and enzymes

🠶 Excess is converted to fats or glycogen and stored

🠶 Excess may also be deaminated (broken down) in the liver and converted by to urea and excreted
in urine
Assimilation – Fatty Acids & Glycerol

🠶 The fatty acids are carried from the lacteal into the circulation, where they are taken to
cells to be used

🠶 To make cell membranes of newly formed cells and organelles

🠶 In respiration sometimes

🠶 If there is any excess, converted to fats and stored in adipose tissue under skin and around organs
The Liver

🠶 Plays a vital role in the control and use of biological molecules used by the body.
🠶 The liver is responsible for

🠶 Store glucose as glycogen for later use

🠶 Convert glycogen to glucose when it is needed

🠶 Removes excess cholesterol through the digestive system as part of the bile

🠶 Removes excess amino acids as urea

🠶 Produces bile that emulsifies fats

🠶 Stores vitamins and releases them when they are needed

The Liver

🠶 Plays a vital role in the control and use of biological molecules used by the body.
🠶 The liver is responsible for

🠶 Stores minerals, like potassium and iron, and release them when needed

🠶 Produces proteins

🠶 Absorbs, destroys and removes toxins from the body

🠶 Breaks down red blood cells when they are old

🠶 Generates heat for the rest of the body to get optimum temperatures.

🠶 Break down and removes toxic substances absorbed from the body