Book 1A, Ch 6

Ch 6 Nutrition in humans
6.2 Process of human nutrition (Book 1A, p. 6-3)

 Large, complex molecules in food have to be broken down before our cells can use them. This
is necessary because the membrane of our cells is differentially permeable. Therefore, large,
complex food molecules cannot pass through.
 The nutrition in humans consists of five main processes:

1 Ingestion (攝食):

Food is taken in through the

mouth.
food 2 Digestion (消化):

Food is broken down into small,

soluble molecules in our
digestive system (消化系統).

3 Absorption (吸收):

The small, soluble food

molecules enter our
circulatory system.

digested
food 4 Assimilation (同化):

The absorbed food molecules are

taken up by cells for metabolism.

undigested
food
5 Egestion (排遺):

The undigested and unabsorbed

materials are removed from the
faces (糞便)
body as faeces.
 Nutrition in humans

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Lesson worksheet Book 1A, Ch 6

 Our digestive system consists of the alimentary canal (消化道) and its associated digestive
glands (消化腺).
 Alimentary canal is a long muscular tube that begins at the mouth and ends at the anus.
 Digestive glands produce digestive juices (消化液), which are released into the alimentary canal.

Parts of the
alimentary canal Digestive glands

mouth cavity (口腔)

salivary glands (唾腺)

pharynx (咽)

oesophagus (食道)

stomach (胃)

small intestine (小腸) liver (肝)

duodenum (十二指腸)

pancreas (胰)
ileum (迴腸)

large intestine (大腸)

caecum (盲腸)
appendix (闌尾)
colon (結腸)

rectum(直腸)

anus (肛門)

 The human digestive system

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 Book 1A, Ch 6

6.3 Ingestion (Book 1A, p. 6-6)

 In the mouth cavity, food is cut up into small pieces by the teeth. The process of chewing food
into small pieces is called mastication (咀嚼).

A The types of teeth (Book 1A, p. 6-6)

Type of tooth and their function

Incisor (門齒) Canine (犬齒)

 Biting and cutting food  Tearing flesh

chisel-shaped (鑿形的) pointed and curved

with flat sharp edges

one root one root

Premolar (前臼齒) Molar (臼齒)

 Crushing and grinding food  Crushing and grinding food

broad top with cusps (尖突) broad top with cusps

(similar to premolar)

one or two roots two or three roots

B Milk teeth and permanent teeth (Book 1A, p. 6-7)

 Humans have two sets of teeth, which are milk teeth (乳齒) and permanent teeth (恆齒).
 Dentition (齒系) refers to the type, number and arrangement of teeth in the jaws. It can be
represented by a dental formula (齒式), which shows the numbers of different types of teeth on each
side of the upper and lower jaws.
Milk teeth Permanent teeth

 Appear during the first two years of life  Replace the milk teeth between the ages of
 Dental formula: 2102/2102 6 and 12
 Total number of teeth: 20  Dental formula: 2123/2123
 Total number of teeth: 32

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Lesson worksheet Book 1A, Ch 6

C Structure of a tooth (Book 1A, p. 6-8)

 A tooth can be divided into three regions, the crown, the neck and the root:

enamel (琺瑯質)

dentine (牙本質)
crown (齒冠):
region above the gum
pulp cavity (髓腔)

neck (齒頸): region surrounded

by the gum gum (齒齦)
jawbone

root (齒根): region in the

jawbone (顎骨) periodontal membrane (牙周膜)

cementum (牙骨質)
 Structure of a tooth (canine)

 Each tooth consists of three layers:

Layer Feature

Enamel  The outermost layer of the crown

 Non-living, made mainly of calcium salts
 The hardest tissue in our body. It protects the tooth from wearing
down as a result of chewing
 Replaced by cementum around the root. The cementum attaches the
tooth to the jawbone through the periodontal membrane

Dentine  A bone-like substance containing a large amount of calcium salts; not

as hard as the enamel
 A living tissue containing strands of living cytoplasm

Pulp cavity  Contains (living / non-living) cells

 Contains blood vessels to supply oxygen and nutrients to the tooth, and
remove wastes from it
 Contains nerve fibres (神經纖維) which detect temperature and pressure

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 Book 1A, Ch 6

6.4 Digestion (Book 1A, p. 6-10)

A Physical digestion and chemical digestion (Book 1A, p. 6-10)

1 Physical digestion (物理消化)

 It is the breaking down of food into smaller pieces by physical actions.
 It increases the surface area of food for digestive juices to act on.

2 Chemical digestion (化學消化)

 It involves chemical reactions in which large, complex food molecules are broken down into
small, soluble molecules. The reactions are catalysed by digestive enzymes (消化酶).
 Examples of digestive enzymes in our digestive system:
amylase
Starch maltose

lipase
Triglycerides fatty acids and glycerol

Proteins protease peptides/ amino acids

 Small food substances like water, vitamins and minerals do not need chemical digestion and can
be absorbed directly.

 Digestion mainly occurs in the mouth cavity, the stomach and the small intestine:
Physical digestion Chemical digestion

Mouth cavity Chewing (or mastication) Catalysed by an enzyme in saliva

Stomach Churning (劇烈攪動) Catalysed by an enzyme in gastric juice (胃液)

Small intestine Emulsification (乳化) by Catalysed by enzymes in pancreatic juice (胰液) and
bile (膽汁) on the intestinal wall

B Digestion in the mouth cavity (Book 1A, p. 6-12)

 In the mouth cavity, food is chewed by teeth into smaller pieces and mixed with saliva.
 Saliva is a digestive juice produced in salivary glands.
Substance in saliva Functions

Salivary amylase  Catalyses the breakdown of starch into maltose

(唾液澱粉酶) salivary amylase
starch maltose

Mucus (黏液)  Helps bind food particles together

 Moistens and lubricates the food

Water  Dissolves soluble substances in the food

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Lesson worksheet Book 1A, Ch 6

 After chewing, the tongue rolls the food into a soft mass called a bolus (食團), which is then
swallowed down the oesophagus through the pharynx.

Swallowing:

1 The tongue rises to push the bolus towards the pharynx.

2 The soft palate (軟腭) moves up to prevent the bolus from

entering the nasal cavity.

3 The larynx (喉) rises so that the epiglottis (會厭) covers

the opening to the trachea. This prevents the bolus from

entering the trachea.

4 The bolus enters the oesophagus.

 The swallowing process

Peristalsis: the process of moving food from oesophagus to rectum
 Structure of the oesophagus:

longitudinal muscle (縱肌) connective tissue

epithelium (上皮)

circulatory muscle (環肌) lumen (管腔)

Structure of the oesophagus (cross-section)

 After the food is swallowed, the two muscle layers contract alternatively to produce a wave-like
movement to push the food down to the stomach (peristalsis).

 Mucus lubricates the passage of the food.

C Digestion in the stomach (Book 1A, p. 6-14)

 After the food enters the stomach, muscles in the stomach wall contract to churn the food and mix
it with gastric juice, which contains:
Substance Functions

Pepsin/ Protease  Catalyses the breakdown of proteins into peptides

(胃蛋白酶)  Works best in an (acidic / alkaline) medium

Hydrochloric acid  Provides an acidic medium for the action of pepsin

(氫氯酸)  Kills most bacteria in food

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 Book 1A, Ch 6

Mucus  Protects the stomach wall from being digested by the protease and
being damaged by the hydrochloric acid

 After a few hours in the stomach, the food becomes a creamy liquid called chyme (食糜).

D Digestion in the small intestine (Book 1A, p. 6-17)

 When the chyme enters the duodenum, various secretions are released into the duodenum:
1 Bile
 Bile (膽汁) is produced continuously by the liver. It is temporarily stored in the gall bladder and
is released through the bile duct into the duodenum. Bile contains no digestive enzyme.
Substance in bile Functions

Bile salts (膽鹽)  Emulsify lipids into small droplets to increase the surface area for
chemical digestion of lipids

Bile pigments (膽色素)  Do not take part in digestion (breakdown products of red blood
cells)

Sodium  Neutralizes the acidic chyme to protect the small intestine

hydrogencarbonate  Provides an (acidic / alkaline) medium for the action of the
(碳酸氫鈉) enzymes in the small intestine

2 Pancreatic juice
 Pancreatic juice is produced by the pancreas and released through the pancreatic duct into the
duodenum. Pancreatic juice contains:
Substance Functions

Pancreatic amylase  Catalyses the breakdown of the remaining starch into maltose

Pancreatic lipase  Catalyses the breakdown of the lipids into fatty acids and glycerol

Pancreatic proteases  Catalyse the breakdown of some proteins into peptides, and
some peptides into amino acids

3 Intestinal juice
 Intestinal juice is produced by some glands in the wall of the small intestine. It is slightly
(acidic / alkaline). It mainly contains water, mucus and sodium hydrogencarbonate.
 The epithelium of the small intestine has specialized cells that have various enzymes embedded in
their cell membranes. These enzymes include:

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Lesson worksheet Book 1A, Ch 6

Enzyme Functions

Carbohydrases  Catalyse the breakdown of disaccharides into monosaccharides

Proteases  Catalyse the breakdown of some peptides into amino acids

6.5 Absorption (Book 1A, p. 6-26)

 Most of the food molecules are absorbed in the small intestine, mainly in the ileum.

A Structure of small intestine (Book 1A, p. 6-26)

longitudinal circular
muscle muscle
The wall
 The inner wall is highly folded.
folds

Villi
 The finger-like projections on the inner wall of
the small intestine are called villi.
epithelium
 Each villus has a lymph vessel (淋巴管) called
lacteal (乳糜管) in the centre. villus
lacteal
The lacteal is surrounded by a network of
capillaries. capillary

circular muscle

Epithelium longitudinal
muscle
 It is only one-cell thick.
 The cell membrane of the epithelial cells has a large
number of microvilli (微絨毛)

microvillus

epithelial cell

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 Book 1A, Ch 6

B Absorption of digested food in small intestine (Book 1A, p. 6-27)

 Food molecules are absorbed from the lumen into the capillaries and the lacteals through the
epithelium by diffusion, osmosis and active transport.

1 Water and water-soluble food molecules: into the capillaries

 Water-soluble food molecules,
e.g. monosaccharides, amino acids, minerals and water-soluble vitamins are absorbed into the
blood in the capillaries by diffusion and active transport.
 As the absorption of digested food into the blood(increases / decreases) the water potential of the
contents in the small intestine, water is drawn into the blood by osmosis.

2 Lipid and lipid-soluble food molecules: into the lacteals

 Fatty acids and glycerol enter the epithelium of the villi by diffusion. In the epithelial cells, they
recombine into fine lipid droplets, which then enter the lacteals of the lymphatic system.
 Lipid-soluble vitamins are absorbed into the lymph in the lacteals by diffusion.

C Adaptation of small intestine for absorption (Book 1A, p. 6-29)

Feature Adaptation for absorption

 Very (long / short)  Allows sufficient time for absorption

 Highly-folded inner wall  Increase the surface area for absorption

 Numerous villi
 Numerous microvilli on the epithelial cells

 One-cell-thick epithelium  Reduces the diffusion distance for

absorption

 Presence of lacteals and network of  Transport absorbed food molecules

capillaries in villi away from the villi rapidly, so that a
steep concentration gradient is
maintained for diffusion

 Peristalsis  Brings digested food molecules into close

contact with the villi and keeps a steep
concentration gradient for diffusion

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Lesson worksheet Book 1A, Ch 6

D Absorption in large intestine (Book 1A, p. 6-30)

 Some of the remaining water, minerals and vitamins inside the large intestine are absorbed into
the blood in the colon.
 The semi-solid material left in the large intestine is called faeces.
 If the remains of the food pass through the colon too slowly, a larger portion of water will be
absorbed and the faeces will be hard. This may result in constipation.
 If the remains of the food pass the colon too quickly, a larger portion of water will remain in the
faeces. This may result in diarrhoea.

6.6 Assimilation (Book 1A, p. 6-31)

 Assimilation is the uptake and use of absorbed food molecules by cells for metabolism.

A Transport of absorbed food (Book 1A, p. 6-31)

 Transport of absorbed food from the villus to different parts of the body through different vessels:
1 Water-soluble food molecules

capillaries in
villi of small Hepatic portal vein liver hepatic vein vena cava
intestine

heart aorta other parts of body

2 Lipids and lipid-soluble food molecules

lacteals in
villi of small lymph vessel vena cava heart aorta other parts of body
intestine

B Fates of the absorbed food (Book 1A, p. 6-32)

Absorbed food Fate

Glucose  Broken down by respiration in cells for releasing energy

 Converted to glycogen or lipids for storage if in excess

Lipids  Used by cells to make cell membranes and some hormones

 As an energy reserve
 Stored in the adipose tissue around the internal organs and under the
skin if in excess

Amino acids  Used by cells to make proteins for growth and repair
 As raw materials for making enzymes, antibodies and some hormones

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 Book 1A, Ch 6

 Broken down to release energy when carbohydrates and lipids stored are
used up
 Broken down in the liver through deamination (脫氨作用) if in excess

C Roles of the liver (Book 1A, p. 6-32)

1 Carbohydrate metabolism
 It regulates the blood glucose level by converting excess glucose to glycogen, which is stored in
the liver, or converting the stored glycogen to glucose, which is released into the blood.
 It is the main site for storage of glycogen.
2 Lipid metabolism
 It converts excess carbohydrates and amino acids into lipids.
3 Amino acid metabolism
 It breaks down excess amino acids through deamination.
 It synthesizes (essential / non-essential) amino acids and converts some amino acids into other
amino acids.
4 Breakdown of old red blood cells and storage of iron
5 Storage of lipid-soluble vitamins and production of vitamin A from carotene.
6 Production of bile
7 Detoxification (解毒)

6.7 Egestion (Book 1A, p. 6-35)

 In the large intestine, the undigested and unabsorbed materials form the faeces.
 Faeces contain dietary fibre, bacteria, secretions from the alimentary canal, dead cells from the
intestinal wall and a small amount of water. They are brown in colour because of the presence of
bile pigments.
 Faeces are temporarily stored in the rectum.
 Faeces are expelled from the body by defaecation (排糞).

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