Life Processes

PART II
Types of Nutrition
Heterotrophic Nutrition
The type of nutrition in which organisms depends on plants or other organisms to obtain its
nutrients is called as heterotrophic nutrition
Holozoic Nutrition
Food is taken from the external environment
The organisms that follow this mode of nutrition breaks down the complex food
into simpler substances with the help of enzymes, with in the body of the organism.
i.e, food is taken into the body , then broken down inside the body and the
undigested food is removed as a waste from the body.
Steps involved in nutrition
There are five steps involved in nutrition in human beings

Steps Process

Ingestion Intake of food into the mouth

Digestion Break down of complex food into simple soluble substances that can be absorbed by
the body. In human beigns,digestion gets completed in the small intestine.

Absorption Passing of digested food through the walls of small intestine, into the blood stream to
reach the cells

Assimilation Utilising the absorbed food for generating energy and various cellular activities

Egestion Throwing out the undigested food from the body

Nutrition in amoeba
Amoeba is a heterotrophic organism. It follows holozoic mode of nutrition.
Nutrition in Paramecium
▪,Paramecium follows holozoic mode of nutrition.
▪Food is taken at a specific spot .
▪Food is moved to this spot with the help of cilia.
Nutrition in Human beings
❑Food gives us energy
❑Food contains complex substances such as carbohydrates , proteins and fats
❑Digestion is the process of breaking down complex substance into simple and soluble
substances that can be absorbed by the body.
❑At the end of the digestion
Carbohydrates → Glucose
Proteins → Amino acids
Fats → Fatty acid and glycerol
❑Digestion is carried out by digestive system with the help of mechanical and chemical process.
❑Chemical digestion is carried out with the help of enzymes.
❑Enzymes are called bio catalysts. Enzymes break down complex substances into simpler
substances so that they can be absorbed by the body.
 The Human Digestive System
❖Human beings follow
heterotrophic(holozoic) mode
of nutrition.
❖The organ system that helps to break down
the complex food we eat is known as digestive system.
❖Human digestive system has following parts organs
 Human Digestive System
❑Digestive system consists of alimentary canal and various digestive glands
❑Alimentary Canal – It is the long tube extending from the mouth to the anus.
❑Digestive Glands – They are group of tissues that secrete various digestive juices that contain
enzymes which help in the process of digestion.
❑The secretions of the glands help in breaking down complex substances into simpler substances.
Digestive System
Mouth /Buccal Cavity /Oral cavity
➢Digestion begins in the mouth.
➢The nutrient that gets broken down in the mouth is carbohydrates.
➢It has a number of teeth and a muscular tongue.
➢Teeth helps to break down the food into simpler pieces (mechanical digestion)
➢Tongue helps in mixing the food with saliva
➢Saliva is a watery fluid (digestive juice) secreted by salivary gland . Saliva moistens the food
and helps in easy passage of food to the oesophagus.
➢The chewed food in the mouth is called bolus.
Salivary Gland’s secretion Enzyme Function
Saliva Salivary Amylase break down carbohydrates into
simple sugar.
Oesophagus
➢Commonly known as food pipe
➢It connects mouth to the stomach
➢Bolus is pushed down by the movement of
muscles in the walls of oesophagus
➢The rhythmic contraction and relaxation of the walls of
the alimentary canal creates a wave like movement that
pushes the food forward through it .This movement is
called peristaltic movement.
➢This movement is seen all through the alimentary canal
or gut
 Stomach
➢Is a J shaped muscular organ
➢Located on the left side of the abdomen
➢The walls of the stomach has gastric glands which produce digestive juices (gastric
juice) ,hydrochloric acid and mucus
Gastric gland’s secretions Functions
Enzyme Pepsin • Helps to break down proteins
(Protein digesting enzyme)
Hydrochloric acid 1. kills the microbes that enters along with the food
2. provides an acidic medium for enzyme pepsin to break down
proteins
Mucus • Protects the inner lining of the stomach from the effects of
hydrochloric acid
Sphincter Muscle
➢The partially digested food present in the stomach is called chyme.
➢Chyme is acidic in nature.
➢The exit of food from the stomach is regulated by a sphincter muscle (gastric sphincter)which
releases digested food in small amounts into the small intestine.
 Small Intestine
➢Food from stomach enters in to small intestine.
➢Small intestine is a highly coiled muscular tube about 7.5 m long
➢Digestion continues in the small intestine with the
help of various digestive juices
➢Digestion gets completed in small intestine
Note – Length of the small intestine varies in different animals depending on the
food they eat.
Herbivores have longer digestive smaller intestine to allow the cellulose to be
digested.
Carnivores have shorter small intestine , as meat is easier to digest.
Small Intestine
➢It receives secretions from two glands
✓Liver
✓Pancreas
The food coming from stomach is acidic.
It has to made alkaline for pancreatic juice to act.
Liver
➢Largest gland in our body
➢Located on the right side of the abdomen
➢It produces a digestive juice – bile
➢Bile is stored in gall bladder
➢Bile is released into small intestine through bile duct
➢Functions of Bile Juice
➢Bile juice makes the acidic food coming from the stomach alkaline for the
pancreatic enzymes to act.
➢Bile salts present in the bile juice, breaks big fat globules (molecules)into small fat
globules to increase the efficiency of enzyme action
Pancreas
Pancreas secretes pancreatic juice , which is a digestive juice,
which contains following enzymes.

Pancreatic Juice Enzyme Functions

Trypsin Helps to breakdown proteins
Pancreatic Amylase Helps to breakdown
carbohydrates
Lipase Helps to break down emulsified
fats.
Small Intestine
It has glands called intestinal glands which secretes intestine juices which
contains various enzymes.
Intestinal glands secrete intestinal juices Functions
Carbohydrates are broken down into
sugars
Proteins are broken down into amino
acids
Fats are broken down into fatty acid and
glycerol
Digestion gets completed in the small intestine .
The digested food needs to be absorbed into the blood stream.
Absorption
➢Passing of digested food through the walls of small intestine into the blood stream
to reach the cells is called absorption
➢Absorption occurs mainly in the small intestine
➢The inner walls of the small intestine have finger like projections called villi
Functions of Villi
➢Villi increase the surface area of absorption in the small intestine
➢Each villus has network of tiny blood vessels called capillaries inside it
➢Digested food passes into the blood vessels through this villi which take the
absorbed food to each and every cell of the body, where it is utilised for obtaining
energy, building up new tissues and the repair of old tissues
.
Large Intestine
➢The undigested food is passed into large intestine
➢Larger intestine is wider and shorter about 1.5 m long.
➢The undigested food goes into a part called colon.
➢Colon absorbs water and salts from the undigested food.
➢Undigested food turns into a semi solid mass called faeces.
➢Faeces is temporarily stored in rectum.
➢Faeces is removed from the body via the anus.
➢The exit of this waste material is regulated by the anal sphincter.
Name of the gland Secretion Site of action Enzymes secreted End product

1.Salivary glands Saliva Buccal cavity/Mouth Salivary amylase Converts starch into
sugar(maltose)
2.Gastric glands Gastric juice Stomach Pepsin Converts proteins into
HCl and mucus simpler forms (peptones)
3.Liver Bile Small Intestine(Duodenum) - Emulsification of fats

4.Pancreas Pancreatic juice Small Intestine(Duodenum) *Trypsin *breaks down protein to

simpler forms. (peptides)

*Pancreatic amylase *breaks down

starch/carbohydrates into
simple sugars

*Lipase *breaks down fats into

simple forms
5.Intestinal glands Intestinal juice Small Intestine Intestinal enzymes *breaks down complex
carbohydrate into glucose
*breaks down Proteins
into amino acid
*breaks down fats into
fatty acid and glycerol
Dental Caries/Tooth Decay
➢Dental caries or tooth decay causes gradual softening of enamel
and dentine.
➢If mouth is not cleaned after eating the food , the harmful
bacteria stick with the food particles and form a sticky layer
over the surface of the teeth forming dental plaque
➢If dental plaque is not removed, bacteria would multiply and
release acids. This would damage the enamel of the tooth
causing tooth decay