Chapter 5

Life processes: Nutrition

Animals are heterotrophs. They obtain their food directly or indirectly from
plants.
Digestion is the process of breaking down of complex food components into
simpler molecules.
The mode of feeding varies in various groups of animals. A few examples are
scraping, chewing, capturing, swallowing, etc
The human alimentary canal includes buccal cavity, oesophagus, stomach, small
intestine, large intestine, rectum, and anus.
Liver and pancreas are the main digestive glands.
Nutrition is a complex process and involves five important steps ingestion,
digestion, absorption, assimilation, and egestion.
Digestion of food begins in mouth. It includes teeth, saliva, and tongue.
Teeth break down the food. They are of four types molars, premolars,
canines, and incisors. An adult human has 32 permanent teeth.
Saliva is secreted by salivary glands located under the tongue. It contains
a digestive enzyme, which breaks down starch into sugar.
Tongue helps in chewing and swallowing of food.
The food from mouth passes down the oesophagus to the stomach,
through the movement of walls of oesophagus.
Digestion in mouth
1. Starch is converted to maltose by the action of salivary amylase.
2. Food is broken into small pieces and softened. The food is then
swallowed into pharynx then to oesophagus from where it is
carried to the stomach.
Digestion in stomach
1. The stomach contains enzymes pepsin and rennin, hydrochloric
acid, and mucus. The acid activates the enzymes which in turn
changes proteins to peptone.
The food from stomach moves into the small intestine.
It is the longest part of alimentary canal. Small intestine is further
divided into duodenum, jejunum, and ileum.
It is the site where complete digestion of carbohydrate, proteins, and fats
takes place.
It receives intestinal juice from two glands liver and pancreas, which
help in further digestion of food.
Digestion in small intestine


1. Two of the major enzymes present in the pancreatic juice are
trypsin, amylase, and lipase
2. Action of pancreatic juice results in:

3. After being partially digested, the food moves to the second part
of small intestine where it is acted upon by enzymes like maltase,
sucrose, and lactase
4. Action of intestinal juice results in:

Carbohydrate is broken down into simple sugars such as starch.
Proteins are broken down into amino acids while fats are broken down
into fatty acids and glycerol.
All the digested food is absorbed by the walls of intestine. This process is
known as absorption.
Inner lining of small intestine has tiny finger-like projections called villi.
Villi increase the surface area for more efficient food absorption.
The absorbed food is delivered to each and every cell of the body where
they are used to produce complex substances such as proteins, etc. This
process is known as assimilation.
The digested food from small intestine goes into blood stream and the
indigested material and water enters the large intestine.
The function of large intestine is absorption of water from undigested
food.
From large intestine, the waste material is stored in rectum in the form
of semi-solid faeces.
The undigested, stored waste is excreted out from the body as faeces via
anus. This process is known as egestion.
Cellulose is a type of carbohydrate that can be digested by ruminants such as
cows and buffaloes.
Humans lack cellulose digesting enzymes.
Ruminants have sac-like structures between small and large intestines
where cellulose is digested by the action of certain enzymes.
Amoeba absorbs its food by forming temporary finger-like projections
on its cell surface called pseudopodia. The food is broken down inside
the food vacuole.






Contribute to this Revision Note:
If you find anything of importance missing from this note, email it to us at revision-notes@meritnation.com, and
well add it to this note under your name!