6 Nutrition in humans

6.1 Modes of nutrition

1 Nutrition (營養) is a process in which organisms obtain food for energy, growth and
maintaining health. Autotrophic nutrition (自養營養) and heterotrophic nutrition (異養營養)
are two different modes of nutrition.
2 Plants make their own food by photosynthesis. They are autotrophs (自養生物).
3 Most of the organisms cannot make their own food but depend on other organisms for food.
They are heterotrophs (異養生物).
4 Three main types of heterotrophic nutrition:

Type Action Example organism

Holozoic nutrition Take in complex food and digest it inside the Humans
(動物式營養) body

Saprophytic Break down the food outside the body and then Saprophytes
nutrition absorb the soluble nutrients into the body (腐生生物) like bread
(腐生式營養) mould (麫包霉) and
bacteria

Parasitic nutrition Live on or inside the body of other organisms Parasites (寄生物)
(寄生式營養) and obtain food from them like tapeworms (絛蟲)

6.2 Process of human nutrition

1 It is necessary for human to break down large, complex molecules in food because:
- the membrane of our cells is differentially permeable. Large, complex food molecules
have to be broken down into small, soluble molecules to enter the cells.
- the food molecules are structurally different from those making up our body. Our body
has to break them down and use the small molecules to build our own molecules.
2 Nutrition in humans consists of five main processes:

ingestion (攝食) digestion (消化) absorption (吸收)

egestion (排遺) assimilation (同化)

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3 Nutrition in humans takes place in the digestive system (消化系統), which consists of the
alimentary canal (消化道) and its associated digestive glands (消化腺).
4 The alimentary canal is a long muscular tube that begins at the mouth and ends at the anus.
5 The digestive glands produce digestive juices (消化液), which are released into the
alimentary canal to aid digestion.

Parts of the
alimentary canal Digestive glands

mouth cavity (口腔) salivary glands

pharynx (咽) (唾腺)

oesophagus (食道)

liver (肝)
stomach (胃)
duodenum pancreas (胰)
small intestine (十二指腸)

(小腸) ileum (迴腸)

caecum (盲腸)
appendix (闌尾)
large intestine
colon (結腸)
(大腸)
rectum (直腸)
anus (肛門)

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6.3 Ingestion
1 Ingestion is the taking in of food into the mouth cavity and masticating by the teeth.
2 Mastication (咀嚼) is the process of chewing food into small pieces by the teeth.
3 The four types of teeth in mammals:

Type Feature Function

Incisor (門齒) - Chisel-shaped (鑿形) with flat sharp edges Biting and cutting
- Has one root food

Canine (犬齒) - Pointed and curved Tearing flesh

- Has one root

Premolar (前臼齒) - A broad top with cusps (尖突) Crushing and

- Has one or two roots grinding food

Molar (臼齒) - A broad top with cusps Crushing and

- Has two or three roots grinding food

4 Dentition (齒系) refers to the type, number and arrangement of teeth in the jaws.
5 Dentition can be represented by a dental formula (齒式), which shows the numbers of
different types of teeth on each side of the upper and lower jaws.
6 The two sets of teeth in humans are milk teeth (乳齒) and permanent teeth (恆齒):

Milk teeth Permanent teeth

Dental formula 2102 2123

2102 2123

Total number of teeth (2 + 1 + 0 + 2) × 2 × 2 = 20 (2 + 1 + 2 + 3) × 2 × 2 = 32

7 A tooth can be divided into the crown (i.e. region above the gum), neck (i.e. region
surrounded by the gum) and root (i.e. region in the jawbone).

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8 Structure of a canine (left) and a molar (right):

enamel (琺瑯質)
dentine (牙本質) crown
crown (齒冠)
pulp cavity (髓腔)
nerve fibres neck
neck (齒頸) gum (齒齦)
blood vessel
jawbone (顎骨) root
root (齒根)
periodontal
membranes (牙周膜)
cementum (牙骨質)

9 Each tooth consists of three layers:

Layer Feature

Enamel - The outermost layer of the crown

- Non-living
- Made mainly of calcium salts
- The hardest tissue in our body
- Protects the tooth from wearing down
- Replaced by cementum around the roots. The cementum attaches the
tooth to the jawbone through the periodontal membrane

Dentine - A bone-like substance containing a large amount of calcium salts, but

not as hard as the enamel
- A living tissue containing strands of living cytoplasm

Pulp cavity - Contains living cells, blood vessels and nerve fibres
- The blood vessels supply oxygen and nutrients to the tooth, and remove
wastes from it
- The nerve fibres can detect temperature and pressure

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6.4 Digestion
1 Digestion occurs physically and chemically:

Physical digestion (物理消化) Chemical digestion (化學消化)

Meaning Breaks down food into smaller Involves chemical reactions that are
pieces by physical actions catalysed by digestive enzymes
(消化酶) such as carbohydrases
(碳水化合物酶), lipases (脂肪酶) and
proteases (蛋白酶)

Significance Increases the surface area of the Breaks down complex food
food for digestive juices to act on molecules into small, soluble forms,
which are ready for absorption

2 Physical digestion and chemical digestion in the mouth cavity, the stomach and the small
intestine:

Parts of the
Physical digestion Chemical digestion
alimentary canal

Mouth cavity Chewing (mastication) Catalyzed by the enzyme in

saliva (唾液)

Stomach Churning (劇烈攪動) Catalyzed by the enzyme in

gastric juice (胃液)

Small intestine Emulsification (乳化) by bile Catalyzed by enzymes in

(膽汁) pancreatic juice (胰液) and
enzymes on the intestinal wall

3 Peristalsis (蠕動) is the process of moving food from oesophagus to rectum. The circular
muscles (環肌) and longitudinal muscles (縱肌) in the wall of the alimentary canal contract
alternatively to produce a wave-like movement to push the food.
4 Importance of peristalsis:
- It pushes food along the alimentary canal.
- It helps mix the food with digestive juices.
- It helps absorption by increasing the contact between the intestinal wall and digested
food.

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5 Actions of digestive juices in the digestive system:

Site of Digestive Site of Enzyme or other Action of digestive

pH
action juice production substance present juice

Mouth Saliva Salivary - Salivary amylase - starch → maltose 6.5–7.5

cavity (唾液) glands (唾液澱粉酶)
- Water
- Mucus (黏液)

Stomach Gastric Gastric - Pepsin (胃蛋白酶) - proteins → peptides 2.0

juice (胃液) glands - Hydrochloric acid (acidic)
(胃腺) in (氫氯酸)

stomach - Mucus
wall

Small Bile (膽汁) Liver - Bile salts (膽鹽) - lipids → small lipid 7.6–8.6
intestine - Bile pigments droplets (alkaline)
(膽色素) (emulsification:
- Sodium physical digestion)
hydrogencarbonate
(碳酸氫鈉)

Pancreatic Pancreas - Pancreatic - starch → maltose 8.0

juice (胰液) amylase (胰澱粉酶) - proteins → peptides (alkaline)
- Proteases - peptides → amino
- Pancreatic lipase acids
(胰脂肪酶) - lipids → fatty acids
- Sodium + glycerol
hydrogencarbonate

Intestinal Glands in - Water — 8.5

juice (腸液) the wall of - Mucus (alkaline)
small - Sodium
intestine hydrogencarbonate

Specialized - Carbohydrases - disaccharides → —

cells on - Proteases monosaccharides
epithelium (in the cell - peptides → amino
of small membrane of acids
intestine epithelial cells)

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6.5 Absorption
1 Absorption of food mainly takes place in the ileum of the small intestine.
2 The routes of absorption of digested food:
1 Water and water-soluble food 2 Lipids and lipid-soluble
molecules food molecules
water-soluble food molecules fatty acids
(e.g. monosaccharides, amino acids, and glycerol
minerals, water-soluble vitamins) lipid-soluble
water vitamins
microvillus
(微絨毛)

diffusion osmosis diffusion diffusion

villus (絨毛) and active and
transport recombining
nucleus fine lipid
capillary droplets
epithelial
cells
lacteal
(乳糜管) capillary capillary

lacteal lacteal

3 Adaptation of the small intestine for absorption:

Feature Adaptation

- Very long - Allows sufficient time for absorption

- Peristalsis - Brings digested food molecules into close contact with the
villi and keeps a steep concentration gradient for diffusion

- Highly-folded inner wall - Increases the surface area for absorption

- Numerous villi - Increase the surface area for absorption

- Lacteals and network of - Transport absorbed food molecules away from the villi
capillaries in villi rapidly, so that a steep concentration gradient is
maintained for diffusion

- Numerous microvilli on the - Increase the surface area for absorption

epithelial cells
- One-cell-thick epithelium - Reduces the diffusion distance for absorption

4 In the large intestine, some of the remaining water, minerals and vitamins inside are
absorbed into the blood in the colon. The semi-solid material left inside is called faeces.

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6.6 Assimilation
1 Assimilation is the uptake and use of absorbed food molecules by cells for metabolism.
2 The transport of absorbed food molecules from the villi to other parts of the body:

a Water-soluble food molecules

hepatic hepatic vein and

capillaries in portal vein vena cava aorta other parts
villi of small liver heart of the body
intestine

b Lipids and lipid-soluble food molecules

main lymph vessel, blood vessel near

lacteals in the neck region and vena cava aorta other parts
villi of small heart of the body
intestine

3 The fates of the absorbed food:

Absorbed food Fate

Glucose - Broken down by respiration in cells for releasing energy

- Excess glucose is converted to glycogen or lipids for storage

Lipids - Used by cells to make cell membranes and some hormones

- Act as an energy reserve; broken down to release energy when the
body is short of glycogen
- Excess lipids are stored in the adipose tissues around the internal
organs and under the skin

Amino acids - Used by cells to make proteins for growth and repair
- Used to make enzymes, antibodies and some hormones
- Broken down to release energy when the stored carbohydrates and
lipids are used up
- Excess amino acids are broken down through deamination (脫氨作用)

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4 The roles of the liver:

Carbohydrate metabolism - Regulates the blood glucose level

- Stores glycogen

Lipid metabolism - Converts excess carbohydrates and amino acids into

lipids

Amino acid metabolism - Breaks down excess amino acids through deamination
- Synthesizes non-essential amino acids

Breakdown of old red blood - Breaks down old red blood cells and stores the iron
cells and storage of iron released from the process

Storage and production of - Stores lipid-soluble vitamins

vitamins - Converts carotene to vitamin A

Production of bile - Produces bile for the emulsification of lipids in the

duodenum

Detoxification - Breaks down certain mild toxic substances in the blood

through detoxification (解毒)

6.7 Egestion
1 The undigested and unabsorbed materials in the large intestine formed the faeces. Faeces are
semi-solid waste containing dietary fibre, bacteria, secretions from the alimentary canal,
dead cells from the intestinal wall and a small amount of water.
2 Faeces are brown in colour because of the presence of bile pigments. Faeces are temporarily
stored in the rectum.
3 Anal sphincter (肛門括約肌) is a ring of muscles at the anus. When the sphincter relaxes and
the muscles of the rectum contract, faeces are pushed out through the anus.
4 Egestion or defaecation (排糞) is the process of expelling faeces from the body.

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