Chapter: Nutrition and Digestion

Topic: Digestion In Human Being

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8.4 Ingestion, Digestion and Absorption of Food in Human Beings
• 8.4.1 explain the significance of ingestion, digestion, absorption, assimilation
,defecation/ egestion;
• 8.4.2 relate the following structures of alimentary canal with their functions:
• a. mouth,
• b. oesophagus,
• c. stomach,
• d. small intestine,
• e. large intestine or colon,
• f. rectum,
• g. anus;
• 8.4.3 explain the structure and digestive functions of organs and glands
associated with the alimentary canal (gut/ gastrointestinal tract), i.e., salivary
glands, liver, gall bladder and pancreas;
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Larger molecules like proteins, polysaccharides and lipids, which cannot cross
the membranes. There is a need of converting such large and non diffusible
molecules into smaller and diffusible molecules (that can cross the membranes).
This is achieved through the process of digestion.
After digestion, the diffusible molecules from the digestive system reach body
cells through blood. Our cells require oxygen, water, salts, amino acids, simple
sugars, fatty acids, and vitamins. These can cross cell membranes to enter cells.
 Here, they are assimilated (to get energy and to synthesize our own structures).
At the same time, the indigestible part of food is eliminated out of body through
the process of defecation.

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 HUMAN ALIMENTARY CANAL

The digestive system of human consists of a long tube that

extends from mouth to anus. This tube is called alimentary
canal.

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 WHAT IS DIGESTION?

Digestion is the mechanical and

chemical breakdown of food into
smaller components that are more
easily absorbed into a blood stream.

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 TYPES OF DIGESTION

MECHANICAL DIGESTION
It is type of digestion in which food is physically broken down into
smaller pieces.

CHEMICAL DIGESTION
Food is broken down into smaller molecule chemically. It involves
several enzymes that breaks large molecules into smaller one.

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 The mouth
 The act of taking food into the mouth is called ingestion. In the mouth, the food
is chewed and mixed with saliva.
The chewing breaks the food into pieces that can be swallowed, and it also
increases the surface area for the enzymes to work on later.
Saliva is a digestive juice produced by three pairs of glands whose ducts lead
into the mouth. It helps to lubricate the food and make the small pieces stick
together.
Saliva contains one enzyme, salivary amylase (sometimes called ptyalin), which
acts on cooked starch and begins to break it down into maltose.
 The ‘mouth’ is the aperture between the lips. The space inside, containing the
tongue and teeth, is called the buccal cavity. Beyond the buccal cavity is the
‘throat’ or pharynx.

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 ORAL CAVITY
•Selection of food by taste buds and
sense of smelling.
•It is for grinding/chopping called
mastication.
•Lubrication
•Partial digestion

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Oral cavity - Selection, grinding, partial digestion
Oral cavity is the space behind mouth and has many important functions in the
whole process of digestion.
 Food selection is one of them. When food enters oral cavity, it is tasted and felt.
If the taste of mutton suggests that it is old, we reject it. If teeth or tongue detect
some hard object, such as dirt, we also reject that bite. The senses of smell and
vision also help oral cavity in the selection of food.
The second function of oral cavity is the grinding of food by teeth. It is known
as chewing or mastication. This is useful because oesophagus can pass only
small pieces. Enzymes also cannot act on large pieces of food. They require
small pieces with large surface areas to attack.

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 PARTS OF ORAL CAVITY

•It is the first portion of alimentary canal that receive food. The roof of the oral
cavity is called palate. (soft and hard palate)
•It also contain tongue and 3 pairs of salivary glands
1. Under the tongue (sublingual)
2. Behind the jaws (submandibular)
3. In front of the ears (parotid gland)

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2. SALIVA: It contains an enzyme salivary amylase.
Saliva add water and mucous to food
3. Tongue: Roll the food in to small, slippery, spherical mass
called bolus.

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ROLE OF ORAL CAVITY IN DIGESTION
Teeth: grinding of food or physical
break down of food.
This process is known as chewing or mastication.

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The anticipation or presence of food stimulates three pairs of salivary glands to
deliver saliva through ducts to the oral cavity. In a typical day, your salivary
glands secrete more than a liter (1 L) of saliva.
Saliva contains several substances that are important in food processing. Mucus
(a mixture of water, salts, lysozyme that kill bacteria) protects the soft lining of
your mouth and lubricates food for easier swallowing.
Buffers ( substances or solution that resist change in PH, bicarbonate buffer
system, phosphate, acetate buffer) neutralize food acids, helping prevent tooth
decay.
Antibacterial agents kill many of the bacteria that enter your mouth with food.
Saliva also contains the digestive enzyme amylase, which begins the chemical
digestion of the starch , breaking it into the disaccharide maltose.

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 Teeth
Mechanical digestion begins here as teeth cut and grind food. Breaking food into
smaller bites makes it easier to swallow and exposes more food surface to
digestive enzymes.
 Starting at the front and moving back on one side, there are two bladelike
incisors. You use these for biting into your apple.
Behind the second incisor is a single pointed canine tooth. (Canine teeth are
much bigger in carnivores— think of the fangs of a wolf—which use them to kill
and rip apart prey.)
Next come two premolars and three molars, which grind and crush your food.
 The third molar, a “wisdom” tooth, does not appear in all people, and in some
people it pushes against the other teeth and must be removed.

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Also prominent in the oral cavity is the tongue, a muscular organ covered with
taste buds.
Besides enabling you to taste your meal, the tongue manipulates food and helps
shape it into a ball called a bolus.
The tongue pushes the bolus into the pharynx during the act of swallowing.

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 PHARYNX
•Pharynx is the passage to pass bolus from oral cavity to oesophagus.
•It has adaptation to prevent the entry of bolus particles in trachea. During
swallowing, larynx move upward and forces the epiglottis in to horizontal
position.

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 OESOPHAGUS

•Involuntary action.
•Consists of TWO muscles
circular and longitudinal
muscles.
•Wall of esophagus secrets
mucous so bolus can easily pass
to the stomach with out sticking.

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• The bolus is passed from
pharynx to esophagus. It is
guarded by a sphincter called
esophageal sphincter

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• 8.4.4 explain the mechanism of swallowing, emphasizing the roles of
the tongue, larynx, pharynx and epiglottis;

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Oral preparatory phase;
The tongue presses upwards and back against the roof of the mouth.
Oral transport phase;
The soft palate closes the nasal cavity at the back.
Pharyngeal phase;
The larynx cartilage around the top of the trachea is pulled upwards so that glottis
lies under the back of the tongue.
Esophageal phase;
The glottis is also partly closed by the contraction of a ring muscle.

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 Peristalsis

Step 1. circular muscles contract behind the food bolus, while longitudinal
muscles relax in this area to maintain narrowness and pressure.

Step 2. longitudinal muscles infront of bolus contract, which shortens and widens
the tract, making it easier for the bolus to move forward.

Step 3. As the bolus moves, the next section of circular muscles behind it
contracts, and longitudinal muscles in front relax, repeating the waves pattern.

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 PARISTALSIS

•Continuous relaxing and contraction of longitudinal and circular

muscles through the alimentary canal.

•Inner layer circular

•Outer layer longitudinal
•These two muscles are antagonist to each other
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Activity

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 Home Work

Draw the structure of digestive system in your

notebook and label its different parts.
Describe the structure and function of organs
of digestive system.

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Stomach

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Inner lining Of Stomach wall

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 STOMACH

•It is J- shaped structure located in the left side.

• It has two sphincter cardiac sphincter and pyloric
sphincter.
•main portion Cardiac and Pyloric portion.

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Having a stomach is the main reason you do not need to eat
constantly. Having folds and highly elastic wall, your stomach can
stretch to accommodate about 2 L (more than half a gallon) of food
and drink, usually enough to satisfy your needs for hours.
Some chemical digestion occurs in the stomach. The stomach secretes
a digestive fluid called gastric juice, which is made up of a protein-
digesting enzyme, mucus, and strong acid.
The pH of gastric juice is about 2, acidic enough to dissolve iron,
nails and to kill most bacteria and other microbes that are swallowed
with food.
One function of the acid is to break apart the cells in food and
denature (unravel) proteins.
The interior surface of the stomach wall is highly folded and is dotted
with pits leading to tubular gastric glands
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The gastric glands have three types of cells that secrete different components of
gastric juice.
Mucous cells secrete mucus, which lubricates and protects the cells lining the
stomach.
Parietal cells /oxyntic cells; secrete hydrogen and chloride ions, which combine
in the stomach to form hydrochloric acid (HCl).
Chief cells / zymogenic cell; secrete pepsinogen, an inactive form of the enzyme
pepsin. Pepsinogen secreted into the stomach. HCl converts some pepsinogen to
pepsin. Pepsin itself then helps activate more pepsinogen, starting a chain
reaction.
Endocrine cells ; secrete gastrin hormone into the blood.
This series of events is an example of positive feedback, in which the end
product of a process promotes the formation of more end product.

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Their activity is regulated by a combination of nerve signals and hormones.
When you see, smell, or taste food, a signal from your brain stimulates your
gastric glands. And as food arrives in your stomach, it stretches the stomach
walls and triggers the release of the hormone gastrin.
Gastrin circulates in the bloodstream, returning to the stomach, where it
stimulates additional secretion of gastric juice. As much as 3 L of gastric juice
may be secreted in a day.

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What does all this active pepsin do?
Pepsin begins the chemical digestion of proteins—those in your cheese snack,
for instance. It splits the polypeptide chains of proteins into smaller
polypeptides, which will be broken down further in the small intestine. Unlike
most enzymes, pepsin works best under acidic conditions.

What prevents gastric juice from digesting away the stomach lining?
 Secreting pepsin in the inactive form of pepsinogen helps protect the cells of the
gastric glands, and mucus helps protect the stomach lining from both pepsin and
acid. Regardless, the epithelium of the stomach is constantly eroded.
 But don’t worry—enough new cells are generated by mitosis to replace your
stomach lining every three days.
 Another protection for the stomach is that gastric glands do not secrete acidic
gastric juice constantly.
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What prevents too much gastric juice from being secreted?
 When the stomach contents become too acidic, the release of gastrin is
inhibited. Lower levels of gastrin in the blood cause gastric glands to secrete less
gastric juice.
About every 20 seconds, your stomach muscles contract, churning and mixing
the contents of your stomach. If you haven’t eaten for several hours, the
contractions may be strong: You may experience these contractions as hunger
pangs. When food is present, these contractions mix food with pepsin.
What entered the stomach as a recently swallowed apple, cracker, and cheese
snack soon becomes an acidic, nutrient-rich broth known as chyme. The
sphincter between the stomach and the small intestine regulates the downstream
passage of chyme, which leaves the stomach and enters the small intestine a
squirt at a time.
It usually takes 2–6 hours for the stomach to completely empty after a meal.
Stomach “growling” results when your stomach muscles contract after the
stomach has been emptied.
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• Cardiac sphincter is between stomach and esophagus
•Pyloric sphincter is between stomach and small intestines
•When food enter, gastric glands secret gastric juices which
is composed of hydrochloric acid, mucous and pepsinogen
and renin.

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• HCl kills microorganisms present in food. Also convert
pepsinogen which is inactive form into pepsin.
•Pepsin partially digests the protein portion of food into
polypeptides and shorter peptide chains.

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•Pepsin releases as inactive form which require HCl for activation.
The mucous of gastric juices forms a thick layer over the inner wall
of stomach and neutralizes the HCl there. It makes pepsinogen
difficult to be activated and to attack stomach walls.

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Complete the given table by giving
appropriate information.
Chemicals Function

HCL

Mucus

Pepsin

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Parts of digestive system

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 PANCREAS
•It is accessory organ (helps in digestion by secreting
different kinds of enzymes)
•The secreted enzymes are called pancreatic juices.
•It reaches to small intestine via pancreatic duct.
•Pancreatic duct open into the first part of small intestine
known as duodenum.
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 LIVER
It is accessory organ.
•It produces bile which is transported via bile duct and its
main function is to breakdown of large molecules of fats
and oils into smaller molecules, this process is
emulsification.
•Bile neutralizes chyme and provide alkaline medium
•pH alkaline due to bile
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 SMALL INTESTINE

PARTS OF SMALL INTESTINE:

[Link]
[Link]
[Link]

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Complete digestion and absorption occur in small intestine.
• DUODENUM:
•Bile enters through bile duct from liver and helps in digestion of lipids
through emulsification.

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Pancreatic juices: contain enzymes trypsin, pancreatic amylase and lipase.
•Intestinal juices: contain man y enzyme like erepsin.
•Human body don’t have cellulose that's why cellulose is degraded by bacteria E-
coli.

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•JEJUNUM
Large villi
Similar function to duodenum
• ILEUM
Complete absorption occur because of the presence of small numerous, finger like
projection called villi.

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The small intestine
A digestive juice from the pancreas (pancreatic juice) and bile from the liver are
poured into the duodenum to act on food there. The pancreas is a digestive gland
lying below the stomach . It makes a number of enzymes, which act on all
classes of food.
Protease breaks down proteins into amino acids.
Pancreatic amylase attacks starch and converts it to maltose.
Lipase digests fats (Pancreatic juice contains sodium hydrogen carbonate, which
partly neutralises the acidic liquid from the stomach. This is necessary because
the enzymes of the pancreas do not work well in acid conditions.
All the digestible material is thus changed to soluble compounds, which can pass
through the lining of the intestine and into the bloodstream. The final products of
digestion are:
 Food Final products starch glucose (a simple sugar) proteins into amino acids
fats (lipids) to fatty acids and glycerol
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Small intestine with a length of more than 6 m (20 feet), the small intestine is
the longest organ of the alimentary canal, but it is only about 2.5 cm wide (the
diameter of a quarter).
It is also the master organ for chemical digestion and for absorption of nutrients
into the bloodstream.
Sources of Digestive Enzymes and Bile
The first 25 cm (10 inches) or so of the small intestine forms the duodenum.
This is where chyme squirted from the stomach mixes with digestive juices from
the pancreas, liver, gallbladder, and gland cells in the intestinal wall.
The pancreas produces pancreatic juice, a mixture of digestive enzymes and an
alkaline solution that neutralizes the acidity of chyme as it enters the small
intestine. (As the pancreas also produces hormones that regulate blood glucose
levels.)
In addition to its many other functions the liver produces a chemical mixture
called bile. Nilma Akram AKHSS Gahkuch 55
Bile contains bile salts, which act as emulsifiers (detergents) that break fats into
small droplets, making the fats more susceptible to attack by digestive enzymes.
The gallbladder stores and concentrates bile until it is needed in the small
intestine.
In response to chyme, hormones produced by the duodenum stimulate the
release of bile from the liver and gallbladder, as well as digestive juices from the
pancrease.
Within the gallbladder, bile sometimes crystallizes to form gallstones, which can
cause pain by obstructing the gallbladder or its ducts. Often the only cure is
surgical removal of the gallbladder, which usually has no long-lasting effect on
digestion because the liver still produces and secretes bile.

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Large intestine - Absorption of water and defecation
After the digested products of our bite have been absorbed in blood, the
remaining mass enters large intestine.
It has 3 parts; caecum (or pouch that forms the T-junction with small intestine),
colon and rectum.
From colon, water is absorbed into blood. As water is absorbed, the solid
remains of food are called feaces.
 Faeces mainly consists of the undigested material.
 Large number of bacteria, sloughed off cells of alimentary canal, bile pigments
and water are also part of feaces.
Faeces are temporarily stored in rectum, which opens out through anus. Under
normal conditions when the rectum is filled up with faeces, it gives rise to a
reflex and anus is opened for defecation.
 This reflex is consciously inhibited in adults but in infants it is controlled
involuntarily. During growth, child learns to bring this reflex under voluntary
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 DIARRHOEA
Diarrhoea is a condition in which the sufferer has frequent watery, loose bowel
movements.
 This condition may be accompanied by abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting.
It occurs when required water is not absorbed in blood from colon. The main causes of
diarrhoea include lack of adequate safe water.
 Diarrhoea is also caused by viral or bacterial infections of large intestine. If sufficient
food and water is available, the patient of diarrhoea recovers in a few days.
However, for malnourished individuals diarrhoea can lead to severe dehydration and
can become life-threatening.
The treatment for diarrhoea involves consuming adequate amounts of water (to
replace the loss), preferably mixed with essential salts and some amount of nutrients.
Antibiotics may be required if diarrhoea is due to bacterial infection.
Preventions of diarrhoea include taking clean water and essential salts, eating regularly
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 CONSTIPATION
Constipation is a condition where a person experiences hard faeces that are
difficult to eliminate.
The main causes of constipation include excessive absorption of water through
colon, insufficient intake of dietary fibre, dehydration, use of medicines (e.g.
those containing iron, calcium, and aluminium) and tumours in rectum or anus.
Treatment of constipation is with a change in dietary and exercise habits. The
medicines called laxatives (e.g. paraffin) are used for treatment.
Constipation is usually easier to prevent than to treat. One should take the
required quantities of water and dietary fibres.

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 ULCER
Ulcer (peptic ulcer) is a sore in the inner wall of gut (in oesophagus, duodenum
or stomach).
In ulcer, the acidic gastric juice gradually breaks down the tissue of the inner
wall. Ulcer of stomach is called gastric ulcer.
The causes of ulcer include excess acid, infection, long term use of anti-
inflammatory medicines (including aspirin), smoking, drinking coffee and eating
spicy foods.
The signs and symptoms of ulcer include abdominal burning after meals or at
midnight. Severe ulcers may cause abdominal pain,’
 nausea, loss of appetite and weight loss.
Ulcer is treated with medicines, which neutralize the acidic affects of gastric
juice. Spicy, acidic foods and smoking should be avoided as preventive measures

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 STRUCTURE OF VILLI

•It increases the surface area for absorption.

•Villi increases surface area by;
They are present in foldings.
Each villus contain several micro villi (pores)
which help to increase the surface.
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•Each villus is richly supplied with blood capillaries
and a vessel of lymphatic system called lacteals.
• Simple sugar and amino acid are absorbed into
blood capillaries which are then transported to
liver via hepatic portal vein for detoxification

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•Fatty acid and glycerol are absorbed into the
lacteal of villus.
•Lacteals carries them to the main lymphatic
duct, from where they enter in bloodstream.

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 LARGE INTESTINE
•It has three parts.
[Link] (first part receive food from small
intestine)
[Link] (ascending, transverse and descending
colon)
[Link] (storage of faeces)
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 ENZYMES REGION OF ALIMENTARY REACTION
CANAL
Amylase Oral cavity (ptyalin) Starch maltose

Amylase Pancreas Starch maltose

Maltase Small intestine Maltose glucose

sucrase Small intestine Sucrose glucose + fructose

Lactase Small intestine Lactose glucose + galactose

Pepsin Stomach Protein polypeptides

Trypsin Pancreas Polypeptides peptides

Erepsin Small intestine Peptides amino acid

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 ROLE OF LARGE INTESTINE
•Final absorption of water, salts and ions occur and formation
of undigested food in form of faeces.
•When RBCs degraded several pigments are mixed with faeces
and give the colour to the faeces.
•In colon: absorbs water, manufacture vitamins, produces
mucous, formation and expels faeces.
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Part Secreted enzyme Function

salivary amylase

Pancreas

trypsin

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Identify part and write the function of given
part.

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Questions
• If you add pepsinogen to a test tube containing protein dissolved in
distilled water, not much protein will be digested. What inorganic
chemical could you add to the tube to accelerate protein digestion?
What effect will it have?

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 • The diagram shows a section through a villus.

Label Part X and part Y. What is a function of structure X

and of structure Y?
Write the two structural adaptation of villus related to its
function.
Activity 4: Describe the function of small intestine and large
intestine.
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The third and fourth function of oral cavity are lubrication and chemical
digestion of food. The chewing process stimulates the three pairs of salivary
glands (under tongue, behind jaws, and in front of ears) to release a juice called
saliva in oral cavity. Saliva adds water and mucous to food which act as lubricant
to ease the passage of food through oesophagus.
Saliva also contains an enzyme salivary amylase, which helps in the semi-
digestion of starch. During the processes of chewing, lubrication and semi-
digestion, the pieces of food are rolled up by the tongue into small, slippery,
spherical mass called bolus. We swallow bolus and push it in oesophagus
through pharynx.

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Swallowing
For food to enter the gullet (oesophagus), it has to pass over the windpipe.
 To ensure that food does not enter the windpipe and cause choking during
swallowing, the epiglottis (a flap of cartilage) guides the food into the gullet.
The beginning of the swallowing action is voluntary, but once the food reaches
the back of the mouth, swallowing becomes an automatic or refl ex action.
The food is forced into and down the gullet by peristalsis. This takes about 6
seconds with relatively solid food; the food is then admitted to the stomach.
Liquid travels more rapidly down the gullet.

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Digestion in the Small Intestine
The enzyme pancreatic amylase hydrolyzes polysaccharides into the
disaccharide maltose. The enzyme maltase then splits maltose into the
monosaccharide glucose. Maltase is one of a family of enzymes, each specific
for the hydrolysis of a different disaccharide.
For example, sucrase hydrolyzes table sugar (sucrose), and lactase digests
lactose, common in milk and cheese. Undigested lactose cannot be absorbed, so
it passes into the large intestine. There, prokaryotes consume the lactose,
releasing gases such as methane. This produces the uncomfortable symptoms
associated with lactose intolerance, such as painful bloating.
The small intestine also completes the digestion of proteins that was begun in
the stomach. The pancreas and the duodenum produce enzymes that completely
dismantle polypeptides into amino acids. The enzymes trypsin and chymotrypsin
break polypeptides into smaller polypeptides. Several types of enzymes called
peptidases then split off one amino acid at a time from these smaller
polypeptides. Nilma Akram AKHSS Gahkuch 94
Working together, this enzyme team digests proteins much faster than
any single enzyme could. Yet another team of enzymes, the nucleases,
hydrolyzes nucleic acids. Nucleases from the pancreas split DNA and
RNA (which are present in the cells of food sources) into their
component nucleotides. The nucleotides are then broken down into
nitrogenous bases, sugars, and phosphates by other enzymes.
Digestion of fats is a special problem because fats are insoluble in
water and tend to clump together in large globules. How is this
problem solved? First, bile salts separate and coat smaller fat droplets,
a process called emulsification. When there are many small droplets, a
larger surface area of fat is exposed to lipase, a pancreatic enzyme that
breaks fat molecules down into fatty acids and glycerol.
By the time the mixture of chyme and digestive juices has moved
through your duodenum, chemical digestion of your snack is just
about complete. The main function of the rest of the small intestine is
to absorb nutrients. Nilma Akram AKHSS Gahkuch 95
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In the lumen of the small intestine, bile salts break up large fat
globules into fat droplets, increasing exposure of triglycerides (fat
molecules) on the surface to hydrolysis (step 2).

During enzymatic hydrolysis, the enzyme lipase breaks the

exposed triglycerides down to fatty acids and
monoglycerides.

After diffusing into epithelial cells, monoglycerides and fatty

acids are re-formed into triglycerides. (Some glycerol and
fatty acids pass directly into capillaries.)

The triglycerides are incorporated into particles called

chylomicrons. Phospholipids and proteins on the surface
make chylomicrons water-soluble.

The triglycerides are incorporated into particles called

chylomicrons. Phospholipids and proteins on the surface
make chylomicrons water-soluble.
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