Unit 8 - Physiology of the human body
Assignment title- Nutrition and health
Learning aim- C: Explore the physiology of the digestive system and the use of corrective treatments
for dietary related diseases.
P5- Explain the role and location of organs involved in digestion
What is digestion?
Digestion is the complex process of turning the food you eat into nutrients, which the body uses for energy,
growth and cell repair needed to survive. The digestion process also involves creating waste to be eliminated.
The digestive tract (or gastrointestinal tract) is a long twisting tube that starts at the mouth and ends at the anus. It
is made up of a series of muscles that coordinate the movement of food and other cells that produce enzymes and
hormones to aid in the breakdown of food. Along the way are three other organs that are needed for digestion:
the liver, gallbladder, and the pancreas.2
The digestion system –
The digestive system is a series of hollow organs joined in a long, twisting tube from the mouth to the anus.
Inside this tube is a lining called the mucosa. In the mouth, stomach, and small intestine, the mucosa
contains tiny glands that produce juices to help digest food.
Two solid organs, the liver and the pancreas, produce digestive juices that reach the intestine through small
tubes. In addition, parts of other organ systems (for instance, nerves and blood) play a major role in the
digestive system.2
The function of the digestion system-
The function of the digestive system is digestion and absorption. Digestion is the breakdown of food into
small molecules, which are then absorbed into the body. The digestive system is divided into two major
parts:
The digestive tract (alimentary canal) is a continuous tube with two openings: the mouth and the
anus. It includes the mouth, pharynx, oesophagus, stomach, small intestine, and large intestine. Food
passing through the internal cavity, or lumen, of the digestive tract does not technically enter the
body until it is absorbed through the walls of the digestive tract and passes into blood or lymphatic
vessels.
Accessory organs include the teeth and tongue, salivary glands, liver, gallbladder, and pancreas.2
The treatment of food in the digestive system involves the following seven processes:
1. Ingestion is the process of eating.
2. Propulsion is the movement of food along the digestive tract. The major means of propulsion is
peristalsis, a series of alternating contractions and relaxations of smooth muscle that lines the walls
of the digestive organs and that forces food to move forward.
3. Secretion of digestive enzymes and other substances liquefies, adjusts the pH of, and chemically
breaks down the food.
4. Mechanical digestion is the process of physically breaking down food into smaller pieces. This
process begins with the chewing of food and continues with the muscular churning of the stomach.
Additional churning occurs in the small intestine through muscular constriction of the intestinal wall.
This process, called segmentation, is similar to peristalsis, except that the rhythmic timing of the
muscle constrictions forces the food backward and forward rather than forward only.
5. Chemical digestion is the process of chemically breaking down food into simpler molecules. The
process is carried out by enzymes in the stomach and small intestines.
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, 6. Absorption is the movement of molecules (by passive diffusion or active transport) from the
digestive tract to adjacent blood and lymphatic vessels. Absorption is the entrance of the digested
food (now called nutrients) into the body.
7. Defecation is the process of eliminating undigested material through the anus.1
Food's Journey Through the Digestive System
Stop 1: The mouth
The mouth is the beginning of the digestive system, and, in fact, digestion starts here before you even take the
first bite of a meal. The smell of food triggers the salivary glands in your mouth to secrete saliva, causing your
mouth to water. When you actually taste the food, saliva increases.
Once you start chewing and breaking the food down into pieces small enough to be digested, other mechanisms
come into play. More saliva is produced. It contains substances including enzymes that begin the process of
breaking down food into a form your body can absorb and use. Chew your food more -- it also helps with your
digestion.
Stop 2: The Pharynx and oesophagus
Also called the throat, the pharynx is the portion of the digestive tract that receives the food from your mouth.
Branching off the pharynx is the oesophagus, which carries food to the stomach, and the trachea or windpipe,
which carries air to the lungs.
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, The act of swallowing takes place in the pharynx partly as a reflex and partly under voluntary control.
The tongue and soft palate -- the soft part of the roof of the mouth -- push food into the pharynx, which closes off
the trachea. The food then enters the oesophagus.
The oesophagus is a muscular tube extending from the pharynx and behind the trachea to the stomach. Food is
pushed through the oesophagus and into the stomach by means of a series of contractions called peristalsis.
Just before the opening to the stomach is an important ring-shaped muscle called the lower oesophageal sphincter
(LES). This sphincter opens to let food pass into the stomach and closes to keep it there. If your LES doesn't
work properly, you may suffer from a condition called GERD, or reflux, which causes heartburn and
regurgitation (the feeling of food coming back up).
What enzymes placed in mouth and oesophagus:
Salivary amylase: As a primary macromolecule in secretion, enzyme starts to interrupt down starches at
intervals the food you eat. Starches are long chains of sugars connected to each totally different,
and enzyme breaks the bonds on the chain to unleash disaccharide sugar molecules. To expertise enzyme in
action, chew on a cracker for a second and you'll understand that it starts
to style sweet. enzyme functions during a neutral to slightly basic surroundings, that's definitely to not be
found at intervals the acid bathing tub that's your abdomen.
Lysozyme secretion: Secreted in your tears, the secretion in your nose, human breast milk and
your secretion, enzyme isn’t there to digest your food, it's there to guard you from any
harmful organism that came with it. enzyme breaks down the polysaccharides – a kind of sugar – within
the cell walls of the various organism
Lingual Lipase: Lingual enzyme is associate macromolecule that breaks down fatty acids, specifically
triacylglycerols. Excreted as a district of secretion, it doesn’t finish its job until it gets to the abdomen. the
number of lingual enzymes in your secretion decreases as you grow old, and viscus and duct
gland enzyme lower down in your systema digestorium take over the work of digesting fats.
Lingual protein is very necessary for infants as a results of it helps them digest the fats in
milk, making digestion loads of easier for his or her immature systems.
Salivary Kallikrein: Kallikrein is that the name for a bunch of proteases, enzymes that break down
proteins, that are found throughout the body, along with trace amounts at intervals the secretion. The
perform of secretion kallikrein isn't to digest the proteins you consume, as secretion kallikrein breaks
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