Chapter 7: Human Nutrition.

7.1 Diet:
Diet: the food an animal eats every day.
Balanced diet: is a diet that contains all the required nutrition in
suitable proportions, and the right amount of energy.
ENERGY NEEDS:
FACTORS DIETARY NEEDS
Age The amount of energy that young people need
increase towards adulthood as this energy is
needed for growth.
Activity levels The more active, the more energy required for
movement as muscles are contracting more and
respiring faster.
Pregnancy During pregnancy, energy requirements increase
as energy is needed to support the growth of the
developing fetus.
Breastfeeding Energy requirements increase and extra calcium
still needed to make high quality breast milk.

Vitamins: a collection of organic substances needed in small

quantities in the body. Their overall function is to help control the
chemical reaction taking place in the body.
Minerals: contains certain elements essential for the proper
functioning of our bodies.
 VITAMINS:

Vitamin Why is it needed. Food that contains it. Deficiency disease.

D Necessary for Oil, butter, and egg Rickets (bones
bones to take up yolk. become soft and
calcium salts; for deformed).
making bones and
teeth.
C Needed for strong Citrus fruits, green Scurvy (pain in joints
gums; to make the vegetables and and muscles and
stretchy proteins blackcurrants. bleeding gums).
collagen and keep
tissues in good
repairs.

MINERALS:
Minerals why is it needed. Food the contains it. Deficiency disease.
Calcium Needed for Milk, cheese, and Rickets (brittle bones
clotting our blood fish. and teeth).
and hardening our
bones and teeth.
Iron For making Liver, red meat, egg Anemia (tiredness)
hemoglobin, the yolk and green
red pigment in vegetables.
blood which is
used to carry
blood.
NUTRIENTS:
FOOD TYPE FUNCTION SOURCES
Carbohydrates Source of energy. Bread, cereal, pasta, rice.
Protein Growth and repair. Meat, eggs, fish, nuts.
Lipid Insulation and energy Butter, oil, nuts.
storage.
Dietary Fibre Provides bulk Vegetables, whole grains
(roughage) for the
intestine to push
through it.
Vitamins Needed in small Fruits and vegetables.
quantities to
maintain health.
Minerals Needed in small Fruits, vegetables, meat,
quantities to dairy products.
maintain health.
Water Needed for chemical Water, juice, milk, fruits
reactions to take and vegetables.
place in the cells.

FIBRE:
• Is necessary for a healthy balanced diet, but the body can’t
absorb it.
• It helps to keep the alimentary canal working (peristalsis)
• It helps our digestive system to process food and absorb
nutrients.
• It helps prevent constipation.
• Fibre is found in vegetables, cereal, brown bread and rice.
Peristalsis: the rhythmical contraction and relaxation of the
esophageal muscles which pushes food down to the stomach.

7.2 The human digestive system

Digestive system: is a group of organs that work together to perform
a particular function.
The digestive system includes alimentary canal and the liver and
pancreas.
1- Ingestion: this is the process of taking in food substances
through the mouth.
2- Digestion: the breakdown of food.
-Physical digestion: the breakdown of food into smaller
molecules without making any chemical change to the
molecules in food.
-Chemical digestion: the breakdown of large molecules in
food into small molecules, so that they can be absorbed.

3- Absorption: this is the movement of nutrients from the

alimentary canal through the wall of the small intestine by
diffusion into the blood.
4- Assimilation: this is the uptake and use of nutrients by cells as
they become part of the body.
5- Egestion: this is the process where undigested food materials
are removed from the body as feaces.
Alimentary Canal:
- The alimentary canal is a long tube which runs from the mouth
to the anus.
 - Anus: the existence of the alimentary canal through which
feaces are removed.
- Sphincter muscle: rings of muscles that can contract to close
a tube.
- To help food slide easily through the alimentary canal it is
lubricated with mucus.
- Lubricated: made smooth and slippery to reduce friction.
- Mucus is made in the goblet cell.
- Goblet cell: cell found in the lining (epithelium) of the
respiratory passage and digestive system, which secretes
mucus.

The mouth:
- The teeth bite the food into smaller pieces to increase its
surface area.
- Salivary glands: groups of cells close to the mouth, which
secrete saliva into the salivary ducts.
- Saliva is a mixture of water, mucus, and enzyme amylase.
 - Water helps to dissolve substances in the food, allowing us to
taste them.
- Mucus helps the chewed food to bind together to form a small
ball and lubricates it so that it slides easily down the
esophagus.
- Amylases begin to digest food.
Esophagus: the tube leading from the mouth to the stomach.
Esophagus:
-There are two tubes leading down from the back of the mouth, one
is trachea, and the other is Esophagus, which takes food down the
stomach.
- Stomach: a wide part of the alimentary canal, in which food can
be stored for a while, and where the digestion of proteins begins.
- The ‘hole’ in the center of the esophagus, down which the food can
pass, is called a lumen.
The stomach:
- The muscles in the stomach contract and relax to mix the food
with enzyme and mucus.
- The stomach contains HCL which produces a low pH to kill
harmful micro-organisms in the stomach.
- This pH is the optimum pH for protease enzymes to make it
work.
- Food is mechanically digested by the action ‘churning’.
Small intestine:
- Small intestine: a long, narrow part of the alimentary canal,
consisting of the duodenum and ileum.
- The small intestine is located between the stomach and the
colon.
- Colon: the first part of the large intestine.
- The small intestine is 5m long.
- There are two parts of the large intestine:
1) Duodenum: the first part of the small intestine into which
the pancreas duct and bile duct empty fluids. It is near the
stomach.
2) Ileum: the second part of the small intestine; most
absorption take place here. It is near the colon.
- Pancreas: is a cream-colored gland, lying just underneath the
stomach.
- Pancreatic duct: the tube that carries pancreatic fluid from
the pancreas to the duodenum.
- Pancreatic juice contains many different enzymes, so
chemical digestion continues in the duodenum.
- The duodenum is where all digested nutrition is absorbed into
the blood.
- Water is also absorbed into the blood at this stage.
Large intestine:
- Large intestine: a relatively wide part of the alimentary canal,
consisting of the colon and rectum.
- It has two parts:
 1) Colon: is the first part of the large intestine, the colon
absorbs much of the water that remains in the food.
2) Rectum: the second part of the large intestine, where
faeces are produced and stored, these are then egested
from the body through the anus.
Pancreas and liver:
- The pancreas and liver are important organs in the digestive
system, but they are not part of the alimentary canal, so food
does not pass through them.
- Bile: an alkaline fluid produced by the liver which helps with
the fat digestion.
- Bile: is a yellowish green, alkaline, watery liquid, which helps
to neutralize the acidic mixture from the stomach.
- Gall bladder: a small organ that stored bile, before the bile is
released into the duodenum.
- Bile duct: the tube that carries bile from the gall bladder to the
duodenum and mix it with food.

7.3 Digestion
Teeth:
- Teeth can be used to bite off pieces of food. They then crush
the pieces into smaller pieces. This gives the food a large
surface area, which makes it easier for enzymes to work on the
food in the digestive system.
- It also helps any soluble molecules or irons in the food to
dissolve in the watery saliva in the mouth.

- Enamel: the very strong material that covers the surface of a

tooth.
- Bacteria feed on sweet food left on the teeth.
- These bacteria produce acids, which dissolve the enamel and
cause decay.
- Dentine: a living tissue that lies just beneath the enamel of a
tooth. It has channels in it which contain living cytoplasm.
- In the middle of the tooth, there are nerves and blood vessels.
The blood vessels supply the cytoplasm in the dentine with
nutrients and oxygen.
- Cement: the material that holds a tooth in the gum.
- Cement has fibres growing out of it.
- These attach the tooth to the bone in the jaw but allow it to
move slightly when biting or chewing.
- Incisors: chisel-shaped teeth at the front of the mouth, used
for biting pieces of food.
- Canines: pointing teeth at either side of the incisors, used in
similar way to incisors; in carnivores, they are used for killing
preys.
- Premolars: teeth with broad, ridged surfaces, found between
the canines and molars; they are used for grinding food to
increase its surface area.
- Molars: teeth similar to premolars but usually larger, with
broad, ridged surfaces, found towards the back of the mouth;
they are used for grinding food to increase its surface area.
Chemical digestion:

- The digestive enzyme in the human digestive system all works

best at a temperature of about 38˚C, which is our normal body
temperature.
- The protease that works in the stomach has an optimum pH of
2.
- The enzymes that work in the duodenum require a pH of just
above 7 to work at their fastest.

Enzymes in the human digestive system

- The amylase in the mouth and duodenum breaks starch
molecules down to a sugar called maltose.
- Maltose: a reducing sugar made of two glucose molecules
joined together.
- Each maltose molecule is made from two glucose molecules
linked together.
- Maltose molecules are too big to be absorbed.
- Maltase breaks the maltose molecules apart to produce
glucose molecules.
- Maltase is secreted by the cells lining the small intestine. This
lining tissue is called epithelium.
- Pepsin: a protease enzyme secreted in the stomach walls, in a
liquid called gastric juice; it has an optimum pH of 2.

- Gastric juice: a liquid secreted by the walls of the stomach; it

contains pepsin and hydrochloric acid.

- Trypsin: a protease enzyme secretes by the pancreas; it works

in the duodenum.

- Both trypsin and pepsin produce amino acids.

- Trypsin has an optimum pH just above 7. This means that the

acidic contents of the stomach must be neutralized, and this is
done by the alkaline substances in bile and pancreatic juice.

- Emulsifies: breaks down large drops of fat or oil into smaller

droplets, increasing their surface area and allowing them to
mix with watery liquids.
 7.4 Absorption and assimilation
Villi (singular: villus): very small finger-like projection that line the
inner surface of the small intestine, greatly increasing its surface
area.
Each villus is about 1mm long.
Microvilli: tiny fold on the surface of cell membrane of the
epithelium of the villi in the small intestine.
Through this membrane the glucose, amino acids, fatty acids,
glycerol, vitamins, mineral ions and water are absorbed.
Most of these substances pass into the blood capillary inside the
villus.
The blood capillary from all the villi links up to join a vein, called the
hepatic portal vein.
Hepatic portal vein: the blood vessels that carry blood from the
small intestine to the liver.
Lacteals: small vessels that absorb fatty acids and glycerol in the
small intestine; their contents are eventually emptied into the food.