Chapter 2: Nutrition

Part II

2.2 Balanced Diet

Balanced Diet
A balances diet is a diet which consists of all
classes of food in a correct proportions.
A balances diet is important to:

Supply the required energy

maintain a healthy body,

prevent various deficiency disease, such as scurvy

and rickets.

Factors that determine a persons

balances diet:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Age
Body sizes
Gender/ sex
Job/ Physical activity
Climate
State of health

Factor

Who ?

Why ?

Age

Babies, children and More active and

teenagers need more their life process
protein
are faster (growing)

Body
sizes

A big sized person

normally needs more
food than a small
sizes person
Men generally need
more food than
women of the same
age and body size

Gender/
sex

Big sized person

need more energy
for their life process
Men are more
active

Factor

Who ?

Why ?

Job/
Physical
activity
Climate

A person doing
Heavy work require
heavy work needs to more energy to
eat more than a
perform
person doing light
work

State of
health

People with health

problems should be
careful with their

People living in cold

countries need more
energy to keep them
warm

More energy is
required to
maintain the body
temperature in a
cold place
Imbalanced diet
can direct affect a
persons health

Read the food label

Calorific value of food

The calorific value of food is the total energy produced
when one gram of food is completely burnt.
The quantity of energy in a food is measured in calorie
(cal) or joule (j)
1 calorie (cal) = 4.3 joule (j)
1 kilocalorie (kcal) = 4.2
kilojoules (kJ)

2.3 Human Digestive System

Digestive System
Digestion is the breaking down of
complex food into simpler form so
that they can be absorbed into the
bloodstream.
Digestion take place in two stages:
1) Physical digestion big pieces of
food are broken down into
smaller pieces by teeth
2) Chemical digestion Enzymes
break up complex food molecules
into smaller molecules

Digestive System
Enzymes
Characteristic
of enzymes:

Enzymes are proteins that speed up the process of

digestion.
Enzymes break up complex food molecules to
smaller and simpler molecules.
a) Enzymes are small quantities only
b) Enzymes are not destroyed at the end of digestion
c) Specific enzymes act only in specific acidic or
alkaline conditions
d) Specific enzymes act only on specific foods
e) Enzymes function best at normal body temperature
(37 C). Enzymes are destroyed at high temperature
.

Digestive System
1. The digestive system consists of all the organ in the body
that help in the digestion of food.
2. The alimentary canal is made up of the mouth,
oesophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine and
anus (starts from the mouth and ends at the anus).
3. Food is pushed along the alimentary canal by the
muscular walls that contract and expand alternately
through the process of peristalsis.

In the mouth

Salivary
gland

1. Food is chewed and broken

up into small pieces
2. In the mouth, the salivary
gland secrets saliva
3. Saliva is alkaline and
contains salivary
amylase enzymes.
4. Salivary amylase digests
starch into
maltose
Amylase
Starch
Maltose
(sugar)

Tongue

Oesophagus
1. Food is pushed through
the oesophagus into
stomach by the
alternating contraction
and relaxation of the
oesophagus.
2. This process of
alternating muscular
contraction and
relaxation is known as
peristalsis.

Stomach
The stomach secretes gastric juice
which contain hydrochloric acid and
enzymes (rennin and pepsin).
Function of hydrochloric acid:
Providing an acidic medium for
enzymic action
Killing bacteria found in food
Neutralising the alkaline property of
saliva

Stomach
In the stomach,
1) Pepsin digest protein to peptones /
polypeptides
Pepsin
Proteins

2) Rennin coagulates milk in the

stomach to help in the enzymic
Rennin
enzymes
Liquid milk
proteins

Peptones/
Polypeptides

Solid milk
proteins

Small intestine
Duodenum

is the first part of the small intestine.

- It receives bile and pancreatic juice.

Bile
- emulsification of fat
- preparation of an alkaline medium for enzymic action.

Pancreatic juice
a) Maltese
b) Protease
c) Lipase

contains three types of enzymes:

Duodenum- Pancreatic juice

Pancreatic juice contains maltase, protease, and
lipase.
1. The maltase break down maltose into glucose
Maltose

____________

Glucose

2. The protease break down peptones into amino acids

Peptones

____________

Amino acids

3. The lipase digests fat into fatty acids and glycerol

Fat

____________

Fatty acids +
glycerol

Small intestine
Digestion is completed in small intestine.
The digest food is then ready to be absorbed
through the thin walls of the small intestine into
the bloodstream.
The end products of digestion are:
a) Carbohydrate glucose
b) Protein amino acids
c) Fats fatty acids + glycerol

Large intestine
Water is reabsorbed in the large intestine.
Undigested food is expelled from the body through the
anus as faeces.

2.4 Absorption of Digested Food

Absorption of digested food takes place in the small
intestine
The end products of digestion, vitamins and minerals
are absorbed by the villi into the bloodstream.

Absorption of digested food

The small intestine has several
characteristics that enable the effective
absorption of end products of digestion.
i.

It has a lot of villi of its surface.

This increases the surface area for

absorption.
ii. Each villus has a thin epithelial wall to
enable the diffusion of
digested
food.
iii. There is a rich network of blood

Villus

Lab
To show the absorption of glucose through a Visking
tube.

1.

At the beginning of experiment, the water in the beaker

is tested with iodine solution and Benedicts solution.

2.

Both the glucose and starch are not present in the water.

3.

After 30 minutes, the two tests above are repeated.

4.

It is found that the water in the beaker be contains

glucose.

Conclusion:
. This shows that glucose has diffused through the wall of
the Visking tube.
. The starch molecules are too big and hence cannot diffuse
through the wall of Visking tube.

2.5 Reabsorption of Water and

Defecation
1. The undigested food, minerals and excess water pass
into the large intestine.
2. The large intestine does not secrete any enzyme and
hence, no digestion occurs in the large intestine.
3. The process of reabsorption takes place in the large
intestine. Water and minerals are reabsorbed.

Reabsorption of Water and

Defecation
After the water is reabsorbed, the undigested
food turns into
faeces.
The feaces is stored in the rectum.
Defecation is the process in which feaces is
expelled from the body through the anus.
Insufficient fibre and water in our diet will cause
constipation.

Reabsorption of Water and

Defecation
Residue from the small
intestine

Sold waste
called feaces

Stored in the
rectum

Defecation
through the
anus

Reabsorption of
water + minerals +
vitamins

2.6 Practice the Habits of Healthy

eating
Unhealthy eating habits can cause diet-related diseases
such as diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure and
cancer.
Choose nutritious food, Avoid junk food!