The Digestive System:

An Introduction
2010 2011
Unit 5
How do I work and what with?

Learning Outcomes
Recognise the main structures within
the digestive system
Describe the main structures within
the digestive system
Describe how the main structures
achieve their functions.

What is digestion?

Digestion is the process by which food and

drink are broken down into their smallest
parts so that the body can use them to build
and nourish cells and to provide energy.

Diagram of the digestive

system

Types of Digestion
Mechanical digestion involves food
being ground up, for example by the
teeth and by the churning movements
of the alimentary canal.
Chemical digestion involves large
molecules being broken down into
small ones, by enzymes.

Start of digestion
Digestion begins in the mouth. Food
is chewed which breaks it into smaller
chunks (with a larger surface area),
and is mixed with saliva.
The saliva contains an enzyme called
amylase which begins digestion of
carbohydrate (starch) to sugar.

Salivary glands

Upper GI Tract
The food is then swallowed and
pushed down the oesophagus to the
stomach by waves of peristalsis.
Peristalsis is the contraction and
relaxation of circular muscles in the
wall of the gut.

The stomach

In the stomach the food is churned back

and forth by waves of peristalsis to break
the chunks of food up into a mush (large
surface area), and mix it with the gastric
juice.
Gastric juice contains an enzyme called
protease which begins the digestion of
protein to amino acids.
It also contains hydrochloric acid which kills
bacteria and provides the optimum pH for
this enzyme.

The Stomach

Duodenum

The food is released a little at a time into

the duodenum, which is the first part of the
small intestine.
The duodenum does not make a digestive
juice but has two juices poured into it.
One is from the pancreas. This pancreatic
juice contains carbohydrase, protease and
lipase. Lipase is another enzyme which
begins the breakdown of lipids (fats and
oils).

Bile

The other juice is called bile. Bile is made

by the liver and is stored in a bag called the
gall bladder.
This is not an enzyme but neutralises the
acid that was added to food in the stomach,
making alkaline conditions of pH which
allow the enzymes in the small intestine to
work more effectively.
Bile also emulsifies fats.

The pancreas and liver

The pancreas and liver

The liver is located across our entire

abdomen and detoxifies material and
neutralizes stomach acid.
It also prepares nutrients for absorption
and produces bile that aids in breaking
down fat when released into the small
intestine from the common bile duct.
The pancreas produces digestive
enzymes that are secreted into the
duodenum and insulin which regulates
glucose levels. It is found underneath the
stomach

Small intestine

The food is now a semi liquid, and it passes

into the second part of the small intestine
called the ileum.
The walls of the ileum make a juice which
contains carbohydrase, protease and
lipase.
These enzymes complete the digestion of
fats to fatty acids and glycerol, carbohydrate
to simple sugars and protein to amino acids.

Small intestine

Microscopic view of villi

Large Intestine

All of the food which cannot be digested

passes into the large intestine.
The first part of the large intestine is the
colon and here water is reabsorbed into the
blood.
The indigestible remains form the semi solid
faeces which is stored in the rectum until
being passed out of the body through the
anus.

Large intestine

Role of energy in digestion

Carbohydrates are the human bodys
key source of energy
Providing 4 calories of energy per gram
When carbohydrates are broken down
by the body, the sugar glucose is
produced
Glucose is critical to help maintain
tissue protein, metabolize fat, and fuel
the central nervous system.

Further reading

If you want to learn more about

homeostasis visit
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize
/biology/humansasorganisms/6homeostasisre
v1.shtml
If you want to learn about diseases of the
digestive system visit
http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/az.asp
If you want to learn more about diabetes
visit
http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/conditions/diab
etes/

References
http://www.easttroy.k12.wi.us/hs/dept/sci
ence/bottum/Adv
%20Biology/digestive/danatomy/dahome
.htm
http://www.refluxadvice.co.uk/upper_gast
ro_intestinal_system/fig_production_of_g
astric_juice.php
http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_76
1556865_2/Human_Nutrition.html