Nutrition In Humans

Food Groups Table

Food type Function Sources

Bread, cereals, pasta, rice,

Carbohydrate Source of energy
potatoes

Meat, fish, eggs, pulses,

Protein Growth and repair
nuts

Lipid Insulation and energy storage Butter, oil, nuts

Provides bulk (roughage) for the

Dietary fibre Vegetables, whole grains
intestine to push food through it

Needed in small quantities to maintain

Vitamins Fruits and vegetables
health

Needed in small quantities to maintain Fruits and vegetables,

Minerals
health meats, dairy products

Needed for chemical reactions to take Water, juice, milk, fruits and
Water
place in cells vegetables

Vitamin and Mineral Sources and Functions Table

Vitamin /
Function Sources
Mineral

Forms an essential part of collagen

Citrus fruits, strawberries,
Vitamin C protein, which makes up skin, hair, gums,
green vegetables
and bones. Deficiency causes scurvy.

Oily fish, eggs, liver, dairy

Helps the body absorb calcium and so
Vitamin D products. Also made
required for strong bones and teeth.
naturally by cells in sunlight.
Nutrition In Humans

Needed for strong teeth and bones and

is involved in the clotting of blood.
Calcium Milk, cheese, eggs
Deficiency can lead to osteoporosis later
in life.

Needed to make haemoglobin, the

Red meat, liver, leafy green
Iron pigment in red blood cells that transports
vegetables like spinach
oxygen.

Varying Dietary Needs of Individuals Table

Factor Dietary needs Age

Growth A higher proportion of protein Children

More energy is required for movement as muscles

Activity levels All ages
are contracting more and respiring faster

Extra energy and calcium are needed to support the

Pregnant
Pregnancy growth of the developing fetus and the larger mass
women
of the mother

Extra energy and calcium still needed to make Breastfeeding

Breastfeeding
high-quality breast milk women

Scurvy: is the name for a severe vitamin C deficiency, It is caused by a lack of vitamin
C in the diet for over 3 months
● Its symptoms include: BLEEDING GUMS , Anaemia, Exhaustion, pontaneous
bleeding, Pain in the limbs, Swelling, Gum ulcerations,Tooth loss

Rickets: Rickets is a condition in children characterised by poor bone development

● Symptoms include: BOWED LEGS, Bone pain, Lack of bone growth, Soft, weak
bones (sometimes causing deformities)
● Rickets is caused by a severe lack of vitamin D or a lack of calcium in the diet
○ Vitamin D is required for the absorption of calcium into the body
■ Calcium is a key component of bones and teeth
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Anaemia: is caused by a lack of iron in the diet

● Iron is an important component of the blood pigment haemoglobin

○ Haemoglobin carries oxygen to all cells and tissues inside red blood cells
● A lack of iron in the diet can cause a decrease in the number of red blood cells
circulating in the blood
● Symptoms: PALE SKIN, breathlessness , exhaustion fatigue
● Anaemia can also cause fatigue and exhaustion because there is not enough
haemoglobin to carry oxygen to respiring cells all over the body

Balanced diet: A diet that consists of all of the food groups in the correct proportions

● A diet can be unbalanced by having too little of a food group (called a deficiency)
or by having too much (a surplus)

Digestive track:
Digestion: Large chunks of food have to be broken down into small, soluble molecules
that can diffuse into the blood via the wall of the small intestine

Main regions of digestive system : mouth, salivary glands, oesophagus, stomach,

small intestine (duodenum and ileum), pancreas, liver, gall bladder and large intestine
(colon, rectum and anus

why most foods must be digested before they can be absorbed? As cell membrane
is partially permeable and large food molecules can not pass through it.

Physical digestion: is the the breakdown of food into smaller pieces without chemical
change to the food molecules

Chemical digestion: is the breakdown of large molecules into small molecule

physical digestion increases the surface area of food for the action of enzymes in
chemical digestion, It is mainly carried out by the chewing action of the teeth, the
churning action of the stomach and the emulsification of fats by bile in the duodenum

Types of human teeth: incisors, canines, premolars and molars

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● Teeth are held firmly in the bone of the jaw

○ They are used for chewing to increase the surface area of the food so that
it can be exposed to saliva and other digestive juices and broken down
more quickly
● The differing shapes and sizes of teeth enable them to perform slightly different
functions:
○ Incisors - chisel-shaped for
biting and cutting
○ Canines - pointed for tearing,
holding and biting
○ Premolars and molars -
larger, flat surfaces with ridges at the edges
for chewing and grinding up food

Cement: is a connective tissue which glues bone to the gum

Stages of food breakdown:

● Ingestion - the taking of substances, e.g. food and drink, into the body through
the mouth
● Mechanical digestion - the breakdown of food into smaller pieces without
chemical change to the food molecules
● Chemical digestion - the breakdown of large, insoluble molecules into small,
soluble molecules
● Absorption - the movement of small food molecules and ions through the wall of
the intestine into the blood
● Assimilation - the movement of digested food molecules into the cells of the
body where they are used, becoming part of the cells
● Egestion - the passing out of food that has not been digested or absorbed, as
faeces, through the anus
Nutrition In Humans

Structure Function

Mouth / Ingestion, Physical digestion: teeth chew food to break it into

salivary smaller pieces and increase its surface area to volume ratio.
glands Chemical digestion: amylase enzymes in saliva start digesting
starch into maltose. The food is shaped into a bolus (ball) by the
tongue and lubricated in saliva so it can be swallowed easily.

Oesophagus The tube that connects the mouth to the stomach where the food
bolus goes after being swallowed. Wave-like contractions will take
place to push the food bolus down without relying on gravity.

Stomach Physical digestion. Food is mechanically digested by churning

actions while protease enzymes start to chemically digest proteins.
Hydrochloric acid is present to kill bacteria in food and provide
the optimum pH for protease enzymes to work.

Small The first section is called the duodenum and is where the food
intestine coming out of the stomach finishes being digested by enzymes
produced here and also secreted from the pancreas. pH of the small
intestine is slightly alkaline - around pH 8-9. The second section is
called the ileum and is where the absorption of digested food
molecules takes place. The ileum is long and lined with villi to
increase the surface area over which absorption can take place.

Large Water is absorbed from the remaining material in the colon to

intestine produce faeces. Faeces is stored in the rectum and removed
through the anus.

Pancreas Produces all three types of digestive enzymes: amylase, protease

and lipase. Secretes enzymes in an alkaline fluid into the duodenum
for digestion to raise the pH of fluid coming out of the stomach.
Produces bile to emulsify fats (break large droplets into smaller
droplets), an example of mechanical digestion.

Liver Amino acids that are not used to make proteins are broken down
here (deamination), producing urea. Stores bile to release into the
duodenum as required.

Gall bladder Stores bile to release into the duodenum as required.

Nutrition In Humans

(a) mouth – ingestion, physical digestion, chemical digestion of starch by amylase

(b) salivary glands – secretion of saliva containing amylase
(c) stomach – physical digestion, chemical digestion of protein by protease, presence
of hydrochloric acid in gastric secretions
(d) small intestine (duodenum and ileum) – chemical digestion of starch by amylase,
maltose by maltase, protein by protease and lipids by lipase
(e) liver – production of bile and storage of glycogen
(f) gall bladder – storage of bile
(g) pancreas – alkaline secretion containing amylase, protease and lipase
(h) ileum and colon – absorption
(i) rectum and anus – egestion

Enzymes

Amylase:
Breakdown starch to maltose
produced in the mouth and the pancreas (secreted into the duodenum)

Maltase: breakdown maltose to glucose, in small intestine

Protease: breakdown protein to aminoacids, in stomach and small intestine

● Pepsin is produced in the stomach and breaks down protein in acidic conditions
● Trypsin is produced in the pancreas and secreted into the duodenum where it
breaks down protein in alkaline conditions

Lipase: break down lipids to fatty acid and glycerol

Role of bile: emulsifying fats to increase the surface area for the chemical digestion of
fat to fatty acids and glycerol by lipase
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Hydrochloric Acid
● The stomach produces several fluids which together are known as gastric juice
● One of the fluids produced is hydrochloric acid
● This kills bacteria in food and gives a low pH for enzymes to work in the stomach
● Cells in the stomach lining are specially adapted to withstand the acidic
conditions

How is a low pH helpful in the stomach?

● The low pH kills bacteria in food that we have ingested as it denatures the
enzymes in their cells, meaning they cannot carry out any cell reactions to
maintain life
● Pepsin, produced in the stomach, is an example of an enzyme which has a very
low optimum pH - around pH 2
● The hydrochloric acid produced in the stomach ensures that conditions in the
stomach remain within the optimum range for pepsin to work at its fastest rate

Emulsification of Fats & Oils

● Cells in the liver produce bile which is then stored in the gall bladder

Bile has two main roles:

● It is alkaline to neutralise the hydrochloric acid which comes from the stomach
● The enzymes in the small intestine have a higher (more alkaline) optimum pH
than those in the stomach
● It breaks down large drops of fat into smaller ones
○ This is known as emulsification
○ The larger surface area allows lipase to chemically break down the lipid
into glycerol and fatty acids faster

This is an example of mechanical digestion, not chemical digestion – breaking

something into smaller pieces does not break bonds or change the chemical structure of
the molecules which make it up, which is the definition of chemical digestion.

Peristalsis: waves of contractions of longitudinal and circular muscles which move

food through the digestive system
Peristalsis is controlled by circular and longitudinal muscles
○ Circular muscles contract to reduce the diameter of the lumen of the
oesophagus or small intestine
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○ Longitudinal muscles contract to reduce the length of that section of the

oesophagus or the small intestine
○ Mucus is produced to continually lubricate the food mass and reduce
friction
○ Dietary fibre provides the roughage required for the muscles to push
against during peristalsis
○

Absorption:
small intestine is the region where nutrients are absorbed

absorption = (by diffusion, osmosis and active transport) is the movement of nutrients
from the intestines into cells lining the digestive system and then into the blood

assimilation= is the uptake and use by cells of nutrients from the blood

water is absorbed from the lumen of the small intestine and the colon, but that
most absorption of water happens in the small intestine
Nutrition In Humans

Adaptations of the Small Intestine

● The ileum is adapted for absorption because it is very long and has a highly
folded surface with millions of villi (tiny, finger-like projections)
● Each cell that forms part of a villus has folds in its cell membrane, called microvilli
● These adaptations massively increase the surface area of the ileum, allowing
absorption to take place faster and more efficiently

● Microvilli on the surface of the villus further increase surface area for faster
absorption of nutrients
● The wall of the villus is one cell thick meaning that there is only a short distance
for absorption to happen by diffusion and active transport
● Well supplied with a network of blood capillaries that transport glucose and
amino acids away from the small intestine in the blood
● The Lacteal runs through the centre of the villus to transport fatty acids and
glycerol away from the small intestine in the lymph

Exam Tip
The way in which the structure of a villus is related to its function comes up frequently in
exam questions so it is worth ensuring you have learned these adaptations.

Don't confuse villi and microvilli. A villus is a structure made up of many thousands of
cells. Microvilli are the foldings of the membranes of individual cells and can only be
seen under a microscope. Both combine to increase the overall surface area for
absorption.

hepatic portal vein as the route taken to the liver by most of the molecules and ions
absorbed from the ileum