1.Ingestion of Food:-
Food is taken through mouth cavity. It is
masticated by teeth and swallowed. Ingestion
takes place in buccal cavity. Salivary glands
lubricate the food and bind the food particles
together to form bolus. Salivary glands have
starch splitting enzyme ptyalin.
2.Digestion of Food:-
Process of converting complex, insoluble, food
particles into simple, soluble and absorbable
form is called digestion.
(i) Digestion in Buccal Cavity:- in buccal
cavity, salivary amylase acts on starch.
(ii) Digestion in Stomach:- The food passes
down through the oesophagus into
stomach. Now food is mixed with gastric
juice and hydrochloric acid, which
disinfect the food and create acidic
medium. Pepsin digests proteins and
converts them into peptones and
proteases. Rennie converts milk to curd.
digested foof now is called chyme.
(iii) Digestion in Small Intestine:- rhyme moves to
duodenum. Food is mixed with bile (liver) to
breakdown fats into smaller globules. Trypsin acts
upon proteins and breaks them into peptides.
Amylase converts starch into simple sugar. Lypase
converts fats into fatty acids and glycerol. Food passes
into ileum and mixes with intestinal juice. Maltase
converts maltese into glucose. Lactase converts
lactose into glucose and galactose. Sucrase converts
sucrose into glucose and fructose. Trypsin digests the
peptides into amino acids. Food now is called chyle.
3.Absorption and Assimilation of
Digested Food:-
Ileum's internal surface has finger-like folds called villi.
There is a dense network of blood capillaries and lymph
capillaries in each villi. It helps in absorption of food.
Absorption is the process by which the end products of
digestion pass through the intestinal mucosa into the blood
or lymph. It is carried out by passive, active or facilitated
transport mechanisms.
Transport of water depends upon the osmotic
gradient. Active transport occurs against the
concentration gradient and requires energy.
Nutrients like amino acids, monosaccharides like
glucose, electrolytes like Na+ are absorbed into
the blood by this mechanism.
Fatty acids and glycerol being insoluble cannot
be absorbed into the blood. They are re-formed
into very small protein coated fat globules called
the chylomicrons, which are Uansported into the
lymph vessels (lacteals) in tile villi. The absorbed
substances finally reach the tissues, which
utilise them for their activities. This process is
called assimilation.
4.Egestion of Undigested Food:-
Digested food passes into large intestine.
Large intestine cannot absorb food but
absorbs much of the water. The remaining
semi-solid waste is called faeces and is
passed into rectum. The digestive wastes,
solidified into coherent faeces in the rectum
initiate a neural reflex causing an urge or
desire for its removal. It is expelled out
through the anus.