Digestion of Food

By: Cell- Eco

What is Digestion of Food?

Digestion of food is the breakdown of food into nutrients. Digestion of Food occurs in the digestive system

Two distinct Processes of Digestion:

Physical Digestion - Is the mechanical breakdown of food into smaller particles.
Chemical Digestion - Chemical digestion is the breakdown of large molecules such as proteins, starch, and fats contained in food into soluble molecules.

The Digestion Process:

Digestion begins in the mouth where food is broken down by the teeth. This is called mechanical breakdown. The small parts of food are mixed with saliva and swallowed.

Food in the mouth stimulates the salivary glands to secrete saliva, which is mixed with the food. Mucin in saliva helps to soften the food. Ptyalin (also called salivary amylase) is an enzyme that digests cooked starch into sugars. After swallowing the food , it enters the esophagus via the pharynx.

After swallowing the food, it now enters the Pharynx * common passage for food and air * Part of the gut that leads from the mouth to the esophagus and to trachea. * Larynx bears a slit-like opening called glottis.

Epiglottis covers the larynx and no food particles enter the trachea during the swallowing process.

The esophagus - a narrow, muscular tube. - comes from a greek word which means to carry what is eaten. - connects the pharynx to the stomach.

peristalsis
* rhythmic, wavelike contractions of the walls of the guts.

The partially digested food now enters a J-shaped organ called STOMACH
- lies beneath the diaphgram and partly covered by the liver. - Has thick muscles in its wall.

Gastric Juice is a dilute solution of hydrochloric acid and the enzyme pepsin.

The partially digested food becomes liquefied, forming chyme.

Chyme passes in small amounts to the Duodenum - First part of the small intestine.

The stomach joins the small intestine, through a muscular valve called Pyloric Sphincter.

The food in the stomach stimulates the gastric glands to secrete gastric juice into the stomach cavity. While food is in your stomach, it undergoes both physical and chemical digestion.

After several hours in the stomach, the food is now quite different from the food you swallowed earlier. Muscle contarctions and enzymes have changed the food into a soft watery substance.

3 parts of Small Intestine

Some Digestive Enzymes

Ptyalin - In the saliva from the salivary glands and breaks Starch into Complex sugar. Pepsin - In the Gastric juice from the gastric glands in the stomach. It breaks proteins into simpler proteins. Pancreatic Amylase - In the Pancreatic Juice from the pancreas. - Breaks Starch into complex sugars.

 Trypsin - In Pancreatic juice - from Pancreas - breaks Proteins into simpler proteins
Lipase - In Pancreatic Juice - From Pancreas - breaks Fats into fatty acids and glycerol Lactase, maltase and sucrace - In Intestinal Juice - From Intestinal Glands in small intestine - breaks complex sugars into simple sugars

Associated Organs and Glands

Liver
- The largest gland in the body. - Dark red - Made up of Five lobes (Three on the right and two on the left) - has 3 blood vessels * Portal Vein * Hepatic Vein * Hepatic Artery

- Its main function is to aid digestion by producing an alkaline, greenish-yellow liquid, containing bile salts and bile pigments called bile. Other Functions Protein synthesis Iron storage Detoxification Heat production

Pancreas - a soft triangular gland - lies between the small intestine and the stomach. - connected to the duodenum of the small intestine by means of pancreatic duct. - produce Pancreatic Juice |_ mixture of enzymes digestive

- it secretes the hormone insulin which plays an important role in the control of the blood sugar level in the body and utilization of Carbohydrates.

@ Trivias @
Do you know? - that most chemical digestion happens in the first 0.3 meters of the intestine. - when stretched , the intestine is about 6 meters long or 20 feet. - a person can salivate an average of 1-3 pints of saliva everyday.

- hydrochloric acid is a very reactive acid. If you take a drop from your stomach, it can burn a hole in a carpet.

Thank you !!!