Digestive system

The system of organs which include the stomach, the small intestine, and the liver, which break down food to get the energy molecules out of it

Macromolecule

Molecules that are very big, such as starch, which can be broken down.

Dehydration Synthesis

The process in which one molecule loses a H, and one molecule loses an OH, and bond together. This HOH can be written as H20, hence, dehydration.

Hydrolysis

The process of breaking down water into hydrogen and oxygen. There is always double the hydrogen

Carbohydrate

Sugar, composed of hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen, in the pattern 121.

Protein

Another building block of life, made up of different amino acids

Lipid

Fats, which store nutrients within the body. These fats are either saturated or unsaturated. These fats are hard to break down, so they are used as stockpile for the body.

Nucleic Acid

A complex organic substance present in living cells, esp. DNA or RNA, whose molecules consist of many nucleotides linked in a long chain. A sugar with only 1 sugar molecule. Examples include glucose and fructose

Monosaccharide

Disaccharide

A sugar with 2 sugar molecules. For example, sucrose and maltose

Enzyme

A substance produced by a living organism that acts as a catalyst to bring about a specific biochemical reaction

Catalyst

Any substance that serves to speed up or start a chemical reaction to take place.

Competitive inhibitor

Competitive inhibition is a form of enzyme inhibition where binding of the inhibitor to the active site on the enzyme prevents binding of the substrate and vice versa. A substance, such as saliva, that changes large sugar chains such as starch into simple sugars

Amylase

Esophagus

The tube that carries food from your mouth after you chew it into your stomach

Peristalsis

The involuntary constriction and relaxation of the muscles of the intestine or another canal, creating wavelike movements that push the contents of the canal forward

Pyloric Sphincter

The sphincter muscle of the pylorus that separates the stomach from the duodenum

Pepsin

The chief digestive enzyme in the stomach, which breaks down proteins into polypeptides.

Villi

The little tube like structures in the small intestine that absorb nutrients into the blood stream

Carbohydrases

Any of various enzymes, such as amylase, that catalyze the hydrolysis of a carbohydrate.

Lipases

The enzymes that break down lipids into their simplest fatty forms

Proteases

The enzymes that break down proteins into their simple amino acid forms

Gastrin

A hormone that stimulates secretion of gastric juice into the bloodstream by the stomach.

Secretin

A hormone released into the bloodstream by the duodenum (esp. in response to acidity) to stimulate secretion by the liver and pancreas

Chyme

The pulpy acidic fluid that passes from the stomach to the small intestine, consisting of gastric juices and partly digested food.

CCK

Cholecystokinin, a gastrointestinal hormone

GIP

Gastric inhibitory peptide (GIP) decreases both gastric acid and motility

Emulsification

The process in what an emulsion mixture is formed