HUMAN NUTRITION

Diet & Deficiencies

Balanced Diet
 A balanced diet consists of all of the food groups in the correct proportions
 The necessary food groups are:
o Carbohydrates
o Proteins
o Lipids
o Vitamins
o Minerals
o Dietary Fibre
o Water
Food Groups Table
Vitamin and Mineral Requirements Table
Varying Dietary Needs of Individuals Table
 Scurvy & Rickets
Scurvy
 Scurvy is the name for a severe vitamin C deficiency
o It is caused by a lack of vitamin C in the diet for over 3 months
 Its symptoms include:
o Anemia
o Exhaustion
o Spontaneous bleeding
o Pain in the limbs
o Swelling
o Gum ulcerations
o Tooth loss
 It is a condition that was commonly seen in sailors between the 15th to 18th centuries
o Long sea voyages made it very hard to access a ready supply of fresh produce
 Scurvy can be treated with oral or intravenous vitamin C supplements
Rickets
 Rickets is a condition in children characterised by poor bone development
 Symtpoms include:
o Bone pain
o Lack of bone growth
o Soft, weak bones (sometimes causing deformities)
 Rickets is caused by a severe lack of vitamin D
o Vitamin D is required for the absorption of calcium into the body
 Calcium is a key component of bones and teeth
 Vitamin D mostly comes from exposure to sunlight but it can also be found in some foods (fish, eggs and
butter)
 The treatment for rickets is to increase consumption of foods containing calcium and vitamin D
o Alternatively vitamin D supplements can be prescribed
The digestive system
•The digestive system is an example of an organ system
•Some of the digestive system organs make up the alimentary canal; food passes
directly through these organs as it moves through the body:
• mouth
• oesphagus
• stomach
• small intestine, including the duodenum and the ileum
• large intestine, including the colon, rectum and anus
•Some of the organs of the digestive system do not form part of the route travelled by
food, but are still involved with digestion; these are the associated organs, or accessory
organs, and include the:
• salivary glands
• pancreas
• liver
• gall bladder
• The alimentary canal is a long tube which runs from the mouth to the anus.
• The wall of the alimentary canal contains muscles, which contract and relax to make food move
along. These muscular contractions are called peristalsis.
• Sometimes, it is necessary to keep the food in one part of the alimentary canal for a while, before
it is allowed to move to the next part. Special muscles can close the tube completely in certain
places. They are called sphincter muscles.
• To help the food to slide easily through the alimentary canal, it is lubricated with mucus.
• Mucus is made in goblet cells which are found in the lining of the alimentary canal, along its entire
length.
Organs of the digestive system: function
•The function of the digestive system is to digest food and absorb nutrients
•The digestive system carries out its function in several stages:
• ingestion: food and drink are taken into the body through the mouth
• mechanical digestion: food is broken down into smaller pieces without chemical change to
the food molecules
• chemical digestion: large, insoluble molecules are broken down into small, soluble
molecules
• absorption: small food molecules and ions move through the wall of the intestine into the
blood
• egestion: food that has not been digested or absorbed passes out of the body as faeces
•Once nutrients have been absorbed into the blood by the digestive system they can
be assimilated into the body; this occurs when they are taken up by the cells of the body
 Physical Digestion
 Physical digestion (sometimes referred to as mechanical digestion) is the breakdown of food into smaller pieces without
chemical change to the food molecules
 The processes that take place during physical digestion help to increase the surface area of food for the action
of enzymes during chemical digestion
 It is mainly carried out by the chewing action of the teeth, the churning action of the stomach and the emulsification of
fats by bile in the duodenum

Teeth & Digestion

Types of Human Teeth
 Mechanical digestion is the breakdown of food into smaller pieces without chemical change to the food molecules
 It is mainly carried out by the chewing action of the teeth, the churning action of the stomach and the emulsification of
fats by bile in the duodenum
 Teeth are held firmly in the bone of the jaw
o They are used for chewing to increase the surface area of the food so that it can be exposed to saliva and other
digestive juices and broken down more quickly
 The differing shapes and sizes of teeth enable them to perform slightly different functions:
o Incisors - chisel-shaped for biting and cutting
o Canines - pointed for tearing, holding and biting
o Premolars and molars - larger, flat surfaces with ridges at the edges for chewing and grinding up food
 Structure of a Tooth

Types of teeth
The Stomach
The Stomach
 The stomach is one of a number of organs that make up the digestive system
 The role of the digestive system is to break down large insoluble molecules into smaller, soluble food molecules
to provide the body with nutrients
 The stomach lining contains muscles which contract to physically squeeze and mix the food with the strong
digestive juices that are present
o Also known as "stomach churning"
Food is digested within the stomach for several hours
Three types of tissue found in the stomach are muscular, epithelial and glandular. These tissues
work together to allow the stomach to carry out its role
 Chemical Digestion

• the breakdown of large, insoluble molecules into small, soluble molecules

• Is done by enzymes

Enzymes in Digestion
Digestion of Starch
 Amylases are produced in the mouth (in the salivary glands) and the pancreas (secreted into
the duodenum)
 Amylases digest starch into maltose (a disaccharide)
SUMMARY OF DIGESTION IN THE HUMAN ALIMENTARY CANAL
Maltose is digested by the enzyme maltase into glucose on the membranes of the
epithelium lining the small intestine
 Digestion of Protein
 Proteases are a group of enzymes that break down proteins into amino acids in the stomach and
small intestine (with the enzymes in the small intestine having been produced in the pancreas)

 Protein digestion takes place in the stomach and duodenum with two main enzymes produced:
o Pepsin is produced in the stomach and breaks down protein in acidic conditions
o Trypsin is produced in the pancreas and secreted into the duodenum where is breaks
down protein in alkaline conditions
 Hydrochloric Acid
 The stomach produces several fluids which together are known as gastric juice
 One of the fluids produced is hydrochloric acid
 This kills bacteria in food and gives an acid pH for enzymes to work in the stomach
How is a low pH helpful in the stomach?
 The low pH kills bacteria in food that we have ingested as it denatures the enzymes in their cells, meaning
they cannot carry out any cell reactions to maintain life
 Pepsin, produced in the stomach, is an example of an enzyme which has a very low optimum pH -
around pH 2
Digestion of Lipids
 Lipase enzymes are produced in the pancreas and secreted into the duodenum
 They digest lipids into fatty acids and glycerol

The digestion of lipids

Bile
 Cells in the liver produce bile which is then stored in the gallbladder

Bile has two main roles:

 It is alkaline to neutralise the hydrochloric acid which comes from the stomach
 The enzymes in the small intestine have a higher (more alkaline) optimum pH than those in the stomach
 It breaks down large drops of fat into smaller ones. This is known as emulsification. The larger surface area
allows lipase to chemically break down the lipid into glycerol and fatty acids faster
 Bile production and secretion

Exam Tip
Emulsification is the equivalent of tearing a large piece of paper into smaller pieces of paper. This is an
example of mechanical digestion, not chemical digestion – breaking something into smaller pieces does not
break bonds or change the chemical structure of the molecules which make it up, which is the definition of
chemical digestion.
Absorption
Absorption of Food & Water
 Absorption is the movement of digested food molecules from the digestive system into
the blood (glucose and amino acids vitamins and mineral salts) and lymph (fatty
acids and glycerol), Water is absorbed in both the small intestine and the colon, but most
absorption of water also happens in the small intestine
 Absorption takes place in the second section of the small intestine, the ileum

How is the Ileum Adapted for Absorption?

 The ileum is adapted for absorption as it is very long and has a highly folded surface with
millions of villi (tiny, finger like projections)
 These adaptations massively increase the surface area of the ileum, allowing absorption to
take place faster and more efficiently

Structure & Adaptations of a Villus

 Microvilli on the surface of the villus further increase surface area for faster absorption of
nutrients
 Wall of villus is one cell thick meaning that there is only a short distance for absorption to
happen by diffusion and active transport
 Well supplied with a network of blood capillaries that transport glucose and amino acids
away from the small intestine in the blood
 Lacteal runs through the centre of the villus to transport fatty acids and glycerol away from the
small intestine in the lymph. The contents of the lacteals are eventually emptied into the blood.