Food and Digestion

Carbohydrates
● Made of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen
● They are polymers that broken down into simple sugars (glucose, fructose)
● Large carbohydrates (i.e. starch, glycogen) are broken down into simple sugars
● Cellulose is a polymer of glucose but humans cannot digest cellulose so it forms
dietary fibre, which gives the muscles of the gut something to push against
● Found in bread, cereals, rice

Lipids
● Made of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen
● Animal fats are solid at room temperature, whereas plant fats are liquid
● Long-term energy store and they provide insulation
● Lipids are made from glycerol (oily liquid) attached to three fatty acid molecules
● Too much lipid is unhealthy
● Found in meat, oils

Proteins
● Made of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, sulphur, nitrogen and phosphorus
● They are polymers that can be broken down to amino acids
● Kwashiorkor is a disease caused from protein-deficiency
● The order of amino acids determines the type of protein made
● Found in meat, fish

Minerals
Mineral Role in body Food rich with it

Calcium Making teeth and bones Dairy products, fish

Phosphorus Make teeth and bones Most foods

Sodium, chlorine In body fluids (blood) Most foods

Magnesium Making bones Green vegetables

Iron Part of haemoglobin in red blood cells Red meat, eggs

● Calcium deficiency causes rickets, which results in poor bone development

● Iron deficiency causes anaemia, which causes a lack of haemoglobin in the blood
Vitamins
Vitamin Use in Body Effect of deficiency Foods rich with it

A Making chemical in retina, Night blindness Carrots, butter

protects surface of eye

B1 Helps with cell respiration Beri-beri (weak muscles) cereals

B2 Helps with cell respiration Poor growth, dry-skin Eggs, fish

B3 Helps with cell respiration Pellagra (dry skin, poor Meat, fish
growth, digestive disorders

C Sticks together cells lining Scurvy (wounds fail to heal) Fresh fruits and
surfaces vegetables

D Helps absorb calcium and Rickets, poor teeth Fish liver oils, made
phosphate in skin in sunlight

Food tests

Starch
● Add starch to spotting tile
● Add drop of yellow-brown iodine solution to starch
● If starch present, colour changes to blue-black

Glucose
● Add spatula of glucose to test tube
● Add 2cm depth of water to the glucose, and shake tube to dissolve glucose
● Add drops of benedict’s solution, enough to change the mixture colour to blue
● Fill half a beaker with water and place the test tube in it
● Allow the water to boil
● If glucose present, colour changes to cloudy orange or brick red (precipitate of
copper oxide)
● If sucrose is used instead, mixture will stay a blue colour

Protein
● Called a “biuret test”
● Add protein to test tube
● Add 2cm depth water, and shake tube
● Add equal volume of dilute potassium hydroxide solution, and shake tube again
● Add two drops of 1% copper sulphate solution
● If protein present, colour changes to purple
 Lipids
● Place a drop of olive oil in test tube
● Add 2cm depth ethanol, and shake tube
● Fill three-quarters of another test tube with cold water
● Pour the contents of the first tube over the second
● If lipid present, white cloudy layer forms(ethanol dissolves in water leaving lipid
behind)

Energy from food

● Energy in food depends on the amount of carbs, lipids and protein they contain
● Age, gender, pregnancy, activity affect the body’s energy requirements

Digestion
● Chemical and mechanical breakdown of food. It converts large insoluble molecules
into small soluble ones, which can be absorbed into the blood
● Speeded up by enzymes
● Mechanical digestion is physical breakdown of food by chewing and biting, and
muscles in the stomach
● Chemical digestion is done by enzymes in the gut, and mouth

Peristalsis
● Walls of intestines have a circular muscle layer (fibres arranged in rings) , and a layer
of longitudinal muscle layer
● When circular contrat, and longitudinal relax, the gut is made narrower. When the
opposite happens, guts become wider.
● Waves of contraction push food along the gut, and this is called peristalsis

Digestive enzymes
Enzyme class Example Digestive action Source Where it acts

Carbohydrases Amylase Starch→maltose Salivary glands Mouth

Amylase Starch→maltose Pancreas Small intestine
Maltase Maltose→glucose Small intestine wall Small intestine

Proteases Pepsin Proteins→peptides Stomach wall Stomach

Trypsin Proteins→peptides Pancreas Small intestine
Peptidases Peptides→amino acids Small intestine wall Small intestine

Lipases Lipase Lipids → glycerol + fatty acids Pancreas Small intestine

The Digestive System

Mouth
● Performs mechanical digestion: teeth break food into smaller pieces
● Salivary glands produce amylase to break down starch into maltose
● Saliva moistens food so it can be swallowed

Oesophagus
● Tube from mouth to stomach
● Food bolus moved down the oesophagus due to peristalsis

Pancreas
● Produces amylase, trypsin, lipase and releases them in the small intestine

Stomach
● Stomach wall secretes hydrochloric acid, so its contents are acidic, which kills
bacteria
● Stomach wall makes pepsin which breaks down proteins to peptides
Liver
● Produces bile and stores it in the gallbladder and then passes down the bile duct
● Bile turns large lipid globules into an emulsion of tiny droplets
● Bile and pancreatic juice are alkaline so they neutralise acidic contents before they
enter the gut

Small intestine
● Semi-digested food is held in the stomach by sphincter muscles.
● When sphincter muscles relax, the food is released into the small intestine

Duodenum
● First part of the small intestine
● Pancreas releases amylase, trypsin, and lipase here
● Bile and pancreatic juices play their role here

Ileum
● Second part of the small intestine
● Lining has large surface area (covered with villi). This helps with absorption
● Each villi is covered with microvilli
● Digested food enters the blood through the vessels that surround each villi
● Products of fat digestion enter a tube called a lacteal, which is part of the
lymphatic system. It transports a liquid called lymph and eventually enters the
blood
● Surface of a villi is called an epithelium (single layer of cells)
● They contain many mitochondria to provide energy needed for active
transport
● Villi contains muscle fibres which contract and move the villi. This keeps a
steep concentration gradient
● Blood vessel in the ileum join and form the hepatic portal vein which leads to
the liver
● Liver, breaks, builds, and stored molecules (i.e stores glucose as glycogen)

Large intestine

Colon
● First part of the large intestine
● Absorbs remaining water
● Leaves semi-solid waste material (faeces)

Rectum
● Second part of the large intestine
● Faeces stored here and expelled through rectum