Obtaining Food

1. Absorption – as in parasitic
worms
2. ingestion
a. Omnivores : eat both plants and animals
b. Herbivores : eat plants only
c. Carnivores : eat only other animals
Essential Nutrients

• required but not synthesized by the cells

• from diet
• four classes
-Essential amino acids
-Essential fatty acid
-Vitamins
-minerals
 Essential Amino Acids

Methionine
Valine
Corn
Threonine
Phenylalanine
Leucine
Isoleucine Legume (beans)
Tryptophan
Lysine
Fat – Soluble vitamins
Vitamin A

Vitamin D

Vitamin E

Vitamin K
Digestion

Mechanical Breakdown
- cutting and grinding to reduce the size of food

Chemical Breakdown
- digestive hydrolytic enzymes reduce the food
molecules to absorbable
HUMAN DIGESTIVE SYSTEM
Salivary glands

Salivary amylase: starch  maltose

Regions of Pharynx
Stomach – for initial digestion of proteins and storage of food in vertebrates and
invertebrates
 Stomach
• Gastric glands : secrete gastric juice

– Mucus – protects the stomach lining from acidic

substances
– HCL (pH 2) – produced by parietal cells
• denaturing proteins
• deactivates hormones in the food
• Kills bacteria
• Activates pepsinogen

– Pepsin – produced by chief cells

-enzymes that digest protein into smaller peptides
intestines
Structure of the small intestine
Protease activation
 Regulation of digestion
1. GASTRIN
1. Hormone secreted by the stomach
2. Stimulates HCl Secretion
3. Increase gastric mobility
2. CHOLECYTOSKININ
1. Secreted by the endocrine cells of small intestine in response
to fatty acids and ammino acids in the duodenum
1. Stimulates the gall bladder contraction : increases flow of bile into the
intestine
2. Stimulates the pancreas to secrete enymes
3. SECRETIN
1. Secreted by the duodenum
2. Stimulates secretion of pancreatic bicarbonates and bile