Professional Documents
Culture Documents
By
Hira Asif
Content
• 5.4 Human alimentary canal
• 5.5 Chemical digestion
• 5.6 Absorption and assimilation
(i) identify the main regions of the alimentary canal and the associated organs: mouth
(buccal) cavity, salivary
glands, oesophagus, stomach, duodenum, pancreas, gall bladder, liver, ileum, colon,
rectum and anus
(j) describe the main functions of these parts in relation to ingestion, digestion,
absorption, assimilation and egestion of food,
(k) identify the different types of human teeth and describe their structure and functions
(l) state the causes of dental decay and describe the proper care of teeth
(m) describe peristalsis
(n) explain why most foods must be digested
(o) describe:
• digestion in the alimentary canal
• the functions of a typical amylase, protease and lipase, listing the substrates and end-
products
(p) describe the structure of a villus, including the roles of capillaries and lacteals
(q) describe the significance of villi in increasing the internal surface area
(r) state the function of the hepatic portal vein as the route taken
by most of the food absorbed from the
small intestine
(s) state:
• that large molecules are synthesised from smaller basic units:
glycogen from glucose
proteins from amino acids
lipids (fats and oils) from glycerol and fatty acids
• the role of the liver in the metabolism of glucose and amino
acids
• the role of fat as a storage substance
• that the formation of urea and the breakdown of alcohol occur
in the liver.
Nutrition
• Nutrition is the intake of food and the
processes that convert food substances into
living matter.
• Comprises of the following
o FEEDING: the intake of food into the body
o DIGESTION: the process whereby large food
molecules are broken down into soluble and
diffusible molecules that can be absorbed into the
body cells.
o ABSORPTION: the process whereby digested
food materials are taken into the body cells.
o ASSIMILATION: the process whereby some of
the absorbed food materials are converted into
new protoplasm or used to provide energy
Types of Nutrition in
Organisms
• Autotrophic: most autotrophic organism
make their own food by photosynthesis. They
use carbon dioxide, water, and the sun’s
energy to accomplish this.
• Heterotrophic: where the organism obtains
food from the environment. Heterotrophs can
be further categorized as being parasitic if
they obtain nutrition from a live host or
saprophytic if they obtain theirnutrition from
dead organisms.
o Saprophytes:
Herbivores: consume plant matter
Carnivores: consume animal matter
Omnivores: obtain their nutrition from both.
Physical & Chemical
Digestion
• Physical digestion:
o Mechanical breakdown of food into small particles
o Increases the surface area to volume ratio of the ingested
food so that digestive enzymes can act on the food more
efficiently.
o Occurs in the mouth, when you chew food using your teeth
and in the stomach, where churning of the stomach walls
breaks up the food particles and mixes them with digestive
enzymes.
• Chemical digestion:
o Enzymatic hydrolysis (recall Chap 4) of large food molecules
into small soluble molecules which can be absorbed.
o Achieved by the digestive enzymes found in the mouth,