Digestion

Digestion:
 Process of making the food into a form that can be taken into the body.
 It takes places in digestive system (Alimentary canal, liver, pancreas)
 Digestion Process:
o Food - Comes from Tissues of Animal and Plants
o Tissues are broken down to Release nutrients.
o Long chain nutrients are broken down into smaller molecules that dissolve in water.

Breaking down of Food:

 Two process
o Physical
 Large pieces are broken down into small pieces in mouth.
o Chemical
 Chemical breakdown begins in the mouth and continues along the alimentary canal.

Physical Breaking down of food:

 Teeth play a major role. Breaks up Larger pieces into smaller pieces.
 Four kinds of teeth
o Incisors:
 Chisel-Shaped. Found in front of the mouth.
 Used for biting soft foods like fruits.
o Canines:
 Pointed teeth in flesh eating animals.
 Used for tearing tougher food like meat.
 For Humans, Canines are used as extra incisors.
o Premolar and Molar:
 Have raised parts called cusps with grooves between them.
 Form crushing and grinding surface in back of the mouth.

 First set- 20 teeth – Milk teeth. From 3 months to 3 years.
 Second set – 32 permanent teeth – From 6 to age 17.

Catalyst:
 A substance that speeds up a chemical reaction without being changed or used up in the reaction.

Enzymes:
 Made from proteins.
 They act as catalyst in the digestion – chemical process.
 Enzymes which digest carbohydrate is called carbohydrase.
 Enzyme that digests protein is called protease.
 Enzyme that digests fat is called lipase.

Enzyme production:
 Mouth:
o Salivary glands
o Carbohydrase
o Enzyme name – Salivary amylase
 Stomach
o Gastric glands
o Protease
o Enzyme name – Pepsin
o Hydrochloric acid also works as enzyme.
 Pancreas
o Protease, Carbohydrase, Lipase
o Enzyme enter the duodenum and mix with food and bile.

Chemical Breakdown of food:

 Large Molecules
o Carbohydrates, Fats and proteins are made from large molecules which contains smaller molecules that are
linked together.
o Don’t not dissolve in water
 o Cannot pass through the lining of the digestive system.
 Small Molecules
o Dissolve in water
o Pass through the walls of digestive system.
 Digestive enzymes speed up the breakdown of the large molecules into smaller ones.

Along the alimentary canal

Mouth:
 Saliva – Water in the Mouth – Produce 1½ litre in 24 hours.
 Saliva is made by three pairs of Salivary glands
o Sublingual
o Submaxillary
o Parotid
 Saliva contains mucin and enzyme called amylase.
o Mucin coats the food and makes it easy to swallow.
o Amylase begins the breakdown of starch molecules in the food to sugar molecules.

Gullet or Oesophagus:
 Tube connecting mouth to stomach.
 Chewed food is made into a pellet called BOLUS.
 Swallowing of food causes BOLUS to move through Gullet.
 Two Layers of muscle cells
o Outer Layer – Longitudinal muscle layer.
o Inner Layer – Circular Muscle Layer.
 Squeeze on the Food:
o The circular muscles contract, they squeeze on the food and push it along the tube.
o The longitudinal muscles then contract to stretch the circular muscles once again.
o The wave of muscular contraction is called peristalsis. The wave occurs in other parts also to push the food.

Stomach:
 Walls are lined with Glands, they produce hydrochloric acid and pepsin (protein digesting enzyme)
 Hydrochloric Acid
o Kills bacteria
o Provides acid condition required for pepsin to break protein
o Food is prevented from leaving the stomach by a valve.
o Food is broken down into a creamy liquid the valve opens.
o Stomach sends peristaltic waves 3 per minutes.

The Duodenum, Liver and Pancreas:

 Duodenum – Part of small intestine. It is connected to stomach.
 Two tubes open into it
o Tube from gall bladder – green liquid – called bile.
 Bile is made in liver.
 Contains chemicals that help break down fat into small droplets.
o Tube from Pancreas
 Produces juice containing enzymes that digest proteins, fat and carbohydrates.

Small intestine:
 Cells lining the wall of the small intestine make enzymes that complete the digestion of carbohydrates and proteins
o Proteins are broken down into amino acids.
o Carbohydrates are broken down into sugars.
o Fats are broken down into fatty acids and glycerol.
 All these small molecules are soluble and can pass through the wall of the small intestine.
 They are carried by the blood to all cells of the body.

Large Intestine and colon:

 Indigestible parts of the food, (such as cellulose), pass to large intestine.
 First part of large intestine is called caecum.
o Water and some dissolved vitamins are absorbed
 Remaining semi-solid substances form the faeces. This is stored in the last part of large intestine – called rectum
 Faeces are removed from the body through anus.