CHAPTER 9
NUTRITION AND THE
HUMAN DIGESTIVE
SYSTEM
9.1 Digestive System
✓ Human digestive system comprises of the
alimentary canal which starts at the mouth and
ends at the anus
✓ Parts of alimentary canal :
✓ Mouth
✓ Oesophagus
✓ Stomach
✓ Duodenum (the first part of small
intestine)
✓ Ileum ( rest of small intestine)
✓ Large intestine ( caecum, colon and
rectum)
✓ Anus
Other structures of the digestive system include digestive
glands such as
- Salivary glands in the mouth
- Gastric glands in the stomach
- Intestinal glands in the ileum of the small intestine
Organs involved in digestion :
- Liver
- Gall bladder
- Pancreas
9.2 Digestion
• There are two types of digestion :
• Physical digestion – breaking
down large food pieces by
chewing into smaller pieces
• Chemical Digestion – Breaking
down large complex molecules
into small simple soluble
molecules that can be absorbed
Digestion of Carbohydrate in
the Mouth
• Digestion of carbohydrates starts at the
mouth and involves salivary glands which
secrete saliva
• Optimum pH for digestion of carbohydrates
in the mouth is pH 7
Digestion of Protein In the Stomach
❑ The digestion of protein starts in the stomach
❑ Stomach has gastric glands to produce gastric
juices
❑ The cells in the epithelial lining of the stomach wall
have differentiated to form gastric glands that
consists :
❑ cheif cells - secrete pepsinogen (inactive
enzyme)
❑ parietal cell - secrete hydrochloric acid
❑ mucous cells (goblet cell) - secrete mucus
❑ Optimum pH for protein digestion in stomach is pH 2
Physical Digestion
❑ In the stomach, peristalsis causes the food to
be churned and mixed
Functions of hydrochloric acid
❑ Activates inactive enzyme (pepsinogen) into
active enzyme (pepsin)
❑ Provides an acidic medium for pepsin and
rennin to act
❑ Kills bacteria
❑ Stops the action of salivary amylase. The
digestion of starch stops as pH is too low
Functions of mucus
❑ Protects the walls of the stomach from being
corroded by acid in the stomach
Functions of enzymes
❑ Pepsin hydrolyses proteins into peptones and polypeptides
Pepsin
Protein + Polypeptides
Water
❑ Rennin coagulates milk. It converts caseinogen (soluble protein)
in milk to casein (insoluble protein)
Rennin
Caseinogen Casein
• Food is churned and remains in
the stomach for at least 4 hours
to become semi-solid digested
food called chyme
• The chyme is released slowly into
duodenum controlled by pyloric
sphincter muscles
Digestion of Carbohydrate, Proteins
and Lipids in the Small Intestine
• The small intestine consists of two main
parts :
• Duodenum (the first part)
• Ileum ( remaining pat of small
intestine)
• The optimum pH for digestion of food in the
small intestine is pH8.5
Digestion of Food in
the Duodenum
• The chyme from the stomach
enters the duodenum and the
digestion of lipids starts here
• Duodenum does not produce any
digestive juice but it receives two
secretions :
• Bile (from liver and stored in
gall bladder)
• Pancreatic juice (from
pancreas)
Functions of the liver
❑ Produces bile which is stored in gall bladder
❑ The bile is transported from gall bladder to the duodenum
by bile duct
❑ Bile is important for
❑ Emulsifies fat – breaks up large globules of fats into
smaller droplets to increase surface are for lipase to
act (speeds up digestion of fats)
❑ Prepares alkaline medium for enzyme action as bile is
an alkali
❑ Neutralises the acid in the chyme from the stomach
Functions of the pancreas
❑ Secretes pancreatic juice which
contain
❑ Lipase
❑ Amylase
❑ Trypsin
❑ Pancreatic juice is carried to the
duodenum by pancreatic duct
Functions of enzymes
❑ Lipase hydrolyses fats into glycerol and fatty acids
Lipase
Fats + Water Glycerol + Fatty
acids
❑ Amylase hydrolyses starch into maltose
Amylase Maltose
Starch +Water
❑ Trypsin hydrolyses polypeptide into peptide
Trypsin
Polypeptide +
Peptide
Water
Digestion of Food in Ileum
• The digestion of food is completed in the
ileum to produce the final products of
digestion carbohydrates, proteins and lipids
• The wall of ileum has intestinal glands
which secretes intestinal juice that contain
many enzymes to complete the digestion of
food
• The enzymes are
• Maltase, sucrase, lactase, erepsin
and lipase
Digestion of Carbohydrates
Maltase
Maltase
Maltose + Water Glucose
Sucrase
Sucrase Glucose
Sucrose + Water
+Fructose
Lactase
Lactase Glucose +
Lactose + Water
Galactose
Digestion of Proteins
Erepsin
Erepsin
Peptides + Water Amino acids
Digestion of Lipids
Lipase
Lipase Glycerol + Fatty
Fats + Water
acids
