© PDST Home Economics
Without food, water and oxygen, human beings
could not survive.
The digestive system is a set of organs which
change what we eat into substances that can be
used in the body.
These substances can be used for energy, growth
and repair.
The alimentary canal is a tube that runs from
the mouth to the anus
It is composed of the mouth, oesophagus,
stomach, small intestine and the large intestine
As food passes through the alimentary canal it is
changed and the nourishment is taken into the
blood
Waste passes out the end of the canal
Certain organs and glands add juices to the canal
at various points
Mouth
1. Chemical digestion (amylase
Oesophagus converts starch to maltose)
2. Physical digestion (teeth break
Connects mouth food down into smaller
to stomach pieces)
Liver Stomach
Produces 1. Holds the food for a while
bile for the 2. Physical digestion (food is
churned and mixed)
digestion of 3. Chemical digestion (assisted
fats by HCl)
Gall Small intestine
Stores bile
bladder 1. Chemical digestion
2. Absorption of
nutrients into blood
Pancreas Large intestine
Produces digestive (colon)
juices
1. Elimination of waste
Appendix
2. Absorption of water
Anus Rectum
Stores faeces
Food can be broken down (digested) in one of
two ways:
1. Physical Digestion
This is where large pieces of food are broken
down into smaller pieces of the same food
2. Chemical Digestion
This is where food is broken down into a
different substance that can easily pass into the
blood
The food is broken down by the teeth and mixed
with saliva.
Saliva is excreted by three pairs of glands:
• The parotid gland (below the ear)
• The submandibular (under the tongue)
• The sublingual (under the tongue)
Saliva contains water, mucus and the enzyme
salivary amylase.
It lubricates food with mucus, making it easier to
swallow.
It contains the enzyme salivary amylase, which
acts on cooked starch turning some of it into
maltose.
It keeps the mouth and teeth clean.
The ball of food that leaves the mouth is known
as a bolus.
Taste: it is covered with thousands of taste
buds. These are sensitive to salt, sweet, sour
and bitter chemicals in food and drink.
They help us enjoy food and drink and warn us
when food, drink are off or inedible.
Chewing: the tongue aids chewing by moving
the food around the mouth, pushing it between
the teeth and covering it with saliva, which
contains enzymes that start the digestive
process.
The food is turned into a partially digested mass
known as a bolus.
Swallowing: when the food is ready to travel to
the stomach, the tongue pushes it to the back of
the mouth.
Tongue Taste Centres
Epiglottis
Bitter
Papillae
Taste Buds
Sour
Salt
Sweet
The food passes into the pharynx (a muscular
tube behind the mouth) and down the
oesophagus.
The epiglottis a small flap of cartilage blocks the
entrance to the larynx, this stops the food going
down the wrong way and prevents choking.
It is a muscular tube.
It leads from the pharynx to the stomach.
Function
To carry chewed food from the pharynx to the
stomach.
Food moves along it by a muscular contraction
known as peristalsis.
The muscle fibres contract and relax which acts
like a wave on the tube, pushing the bolus
forward.
It’s lining secretes mucus to lubricate the
passage of food.
Oesophagus
Cardiac Sphincter
Pyloric Sphincter
Duodenum
Body of Stomach
It is a J-shaped, elastic organ.
Food enters it from the oesophagus through the
cardiac sphincter.
The cardiac sphincter, is a valve that stops back
flow of the stomach`s contents.
Food leaves the stomach through the pyloric
sphincter into the duodenum (first part of the
small intestine).
The walls of the stomach is made up of layers of
muscle.
It has an inner mucous membrane.
This membrane has lots of folds.
When the stomach is full these folds stretch out,
enabling it to expand, then they contract when the
stomach empties.
It digests protein through the action of enzymes.
It churns food with the gastric juices.
It helps lubricate the food by producing mucus.
It absorbs alcohol.
It kills bacteria by producing hydrochloric acid.
Hydrochloric acid neutralises bacteria and activates
pepsin.
Rennin is an enzyme that curdles milk protein in
infants.
Pepsin is an enzyme that breaks down proteins into
peptones.
It is seven metres long.
It is divided into three parts:
The duodenum
The jejunum
The ileum
The walls has four layers:
A muscular layer
A layer containing blood vessels, lymph vessels,
and nerves.
A submucous layer,
A mucous layer.
The inner wall is covered in villi, tiny hair like
projections which increase the surface area for
absorption.
Each villi contain blood vessels and lymph vessels.
Pancreatic juice is secreted into the duodenum
and contains the following enzymes:
Trypsin: converts proteins into shorter chains.
Lipase: converts fats into fatty acids and
glycerol.
Amylase: converts starch into disaccharides.
Bile: emulsifies fats (breaks them into smaller
droplets).
Intestinal Juices have the following enzymes:
Maltase, sucrase, lactase: change
disaccharides into monosaccharides.
Peptidase: changes polypeptides into amino
acids.
Digested food is absorbed through the villi walls.
Fats, fatty acids and glycerol are passed into the
lymph system.
Amino acids and sugars pass along the portal vein
to the liver.
Ascending Transverse
Descending
Colon Colon
Colon
Caecum
Anus Rectum
Apendix
It deals with waste.
It is about 1.5m long.
It consists of the following:
The caecum: a small pouch; the ileum empties its
contents into the caecum through the ileo-caecal
valve.
The colon: ascending, transverse, descending
colon.
The appendix: narrow tube attached to the caecum.
The rectum.
The anus
Whatever remains of the food, is passed into the
large intestine
To reabsorb water and vitamins left in digestive
waste.
It secretes mucus to help the movement of faeces.
Short term storage of faeces in the rectum.
Many bacteria live in the large intestine, they are
harmless in the colon and may be useful e.g.
produce Vitamin K.
Defecation: peristalsis pushes waste along the
colon and then it is passed out of the body.
An enzyme is a biological catalyst
A catalyst speeds up chemical reactions
Enzymes speed up biological reactions
All chemical reactions that take place in living
systems require the action of an enzyme
Digestive enzymes break food down into smaller,
more soluble substances
This allows the food to be absorbed into the blood
An example of a digestive enzyme is
amylase
Amylase is present in saliva
Amylase chemically breaks down starch
Amylase converts starch into a sugar called
maltose
STARCH MALTOSE
AMYLASE
STARCH
MALTOSE
The substance that an enzyme works on is known
as its SUBSTRATE
The substance formed by the enzyme is known as
its PRODUCT
Therefore starch is the substrate for amylase and
maltose is its product
There are four stages in human nutrition:
1. Eating (also called “ingestion”)
2. Digestion
3. Absorption of digested food into the blood
4. Elimination of undigested food (also called
“egestion”)
Digestion changes food into a form that can enter
the blood
Physical (mechanical) digestion breaks food down
into smaller pieces
Chemical digestion breaks food down into
different, more soluble substances
The contents of the alimentary canal are
pushed along by a rhythmic pulsing of the
muscles of the intestines
This is known as peristalsis
An adult human has 32 teeth, 16 in either jaw
The shape and size of the tooth varies with the
job it has to do
There are four different types of tooth
Incisors
These cut and bite food
Canines
These grasp and tear food
Pre-molars
These grind and chew food
Molars
These also grind and chew food
Incisor Canine
Pre-molar Molar
The type of teeth that an animal has depends on
what it eats
A herbivore eats plant material and has very
large incisors and molars
A carnivore eats other animals and needs very
large canines
An omnivore (e.g. humans) eats all kinds of food
and needs and use all of the types of tooth
equally
