CHAPTER 3.

NUTRITION
Nutrition is the process by which
an organism takes food and
utilizes it to get energy, for growth,
repair, maintenance, etc. and then
excreting the waste material from
the body.
To function, the human body must
have these nutrients at appropriate
levels. Nutrition is the process of
intake of the source of energy i.e.
Food from outside the body in order to
grow, develop and synthesize
proteins.
Importance:

Nutrition is important to consume

the above six nutrients on a daily
basis to build and maintain healthy
bodily function.
 INTRODUCTION

What is Digestive System?

We need food to fuel or bodies for energy, growth and repair.
The digestive system converts the foods we eat into their simplest
forms, like glucose (sugars), amino acids(that make up protein) or
fatty acids (that make up fats). The broken down food is then
absorbed into the bloodstream from the small intestine and the
nutrients are carried to each cell in the body.

The digestive tract begins at the mouth and ends at the anus. It is
like a long muscular tube, up to 10 meters long, with digestive organs
attached along the way.
 It also includes the salivary glands, liver, gallbladder, and pancreas
which make digestive juices and enzymes that help the body digest
foods and liquids.

HERE ARE 7 FACTS ABOUT YOUR

DIGESTIVE SYTEM THAT MAY SURPRISE
YOU:

1. Your stomach doesn’t play the biggest role in

Digestion

The stomach begins the digestion process by churning food and

breaking it down using digestive acids. This is referred to as mechanical
digestion. Then, the small intestine does the most of the work of
digestion using enzymes and absorbing nutrients for the body to use.
 2. You can eat upside down.

Food doesn’t need gravity to reach your stomach. When you eat
something, the muscles in your esophagus constrict and relax in a
wavelike manner, which is called peristalsis and pushes food along the
esophagus and into the stomach. It’s difficult to eat upside down, but it’s
possible.

3. The Large Intestine is responsible for than

eliminating waste

The large intestine turns liquid waste into solid stool. The large
intestine also responsible for absorbing remaining nutrients and water
the body needs.
 4. The stomach must protect itself from acid

Your stomach’s primary digestive juice-called hydrochloric acid-is

highly corrosive. The stomach protects itself with a thick layer of mucus.
Without that layer, the stomach acid would digest the stomach itself.

5. The Small Intestine has a surprisingly large

surface area

The small intestine of the average adult around 22 feet long. The
small intestine has a much larger surface than you would expect because
of its many folds and finger like projections called villi.
 6. Fiber is Important for Digestion

Fiber is important to help food move through the digestive tract and
certain types of fiber can help you maintain regularity.

7. Aerobic exercise is the best type of exercise to

keep digestive tract in shape
DIGESTIVE SYSTEM
Parts and Functions
 Mouth

• Where digestion begins with

the teeth, tongue and the
salivary glands.

• Teeth and tongue begin

mechanical digestion by
breaking apart food.
 Pharynx

• Swallows the chewed food

mixed with saliva called
bolus.

• The bolus is passed to the

pharynx (throat) and the
epiglottis make sure the
bolus passes into the
esophagus and not down
the windpipe.
Esophagus

• The esophagus receives food

from your mouth when you
swallow.

• Once you begin swallowing, the process

becomes automatic. Your brain signals the
muscles of the esophagus and peristalsis
begins.
 • To enter the stomach, the
bolus must pass through the
lower esophageal sphincter
(a one way valve) .

• This sphincter usually stays

closed to keep what’s in your
stomach from flowing back
into your esophagus.
Lower esophageal
sphincter
 Stomach
• Storage tank for digesting
food
• Mixes and churns food
(bolus)

• The digested bolus is now

called chyme and it leaves the
stomach by passing through
the pyloric sphincter (another
one-way valve)
 Small Intestines
• Absorption of nutrients
and minerals from food.

• makes digestive juice, which mixes

with bile and pancreatic juice to
complete the breakdown of proteins,
carbohydrates, and fats.

• Made up of three segments --

the duodenum, jejunum, and
ileum.
• Duodenum
It’s largely responsible for
the continuous breaking-
down process.

• The jejunum and ileum

lower in the intestine are
mainly responsible for
absorption of nutrients
into the bloodstream.
Large Intestines

• is used to absorb water

from the waste material
leftover and to produce
vitamin K and some B
vitamins using the
helpful bacteria that live
here.

• Collects food residue for

excretion
 Rectum
• All leftover waste is
compacted and stored at
the end of the large
intestine

• receives stool from the colon,

sends signals to the brain if
there is stool to be evacuated,
and holds stool until
evacuation can happen.

• store the feces until

defecation. 
 Anus

• Surface opening of the

rectum

• Detect rectal contents,

whether they are liquid,
gas or solid, and then
control when stool
should and shouldn’t be
excreted from your
body. 
ACCESSORY ORGANS OF
DIGESTIVE SYSTEM
 Salivary Gland

• Produces saliva
• helps break down
carbohydrates and
lubricates the passage
of food down from
the oro-pharynx to
the esophagus to the
stomach.
Liver

• production of bile
• Toxins Metabolism
• Blood sugar
Pancreas

• Secretes digestive
enzymes into the
duodenum that break
down protein, fats and
carbohydrates.

Lipase – breaks down lipids

Amylase –breaks down
starches
Trypsin – break down
proteins
Gall Bladder

• The gallbladder is a pear-

shaped reservoir that
sits just under the liver
and stores bile. 

• Stores and concentrates

bile from the liver
 FIVE STAGES
Ingestion

Ingestion is the first step in the process of digestion.

It means that food is taken into the mouth, chewed, and

swallowed.
 Parts involved
in ingestion
• Oral Cavity
Also called the mouth, the
oral cavity is the place where
ingestion happens

• Hard and soft palates - form

roof of mouth
• Tongue 
• Salivary glands 
• Teeth
 Oral cavity

Digestion starts here by

two means: 

Mechanical – teeth tear,

shred, and grind food.

Chemical – enzymes in
saliva break down food
molecules such as proteins
and complex sugars.
Tongue is a muscle that
pushes your food
toward teeth to be
mechanically
processed and shapes
your food into small
rounded pieces to be
swallowed.
Salivary glands
help with:
• digestion 
• lubrication
(swallowing)
 • moistening (tasting) 

• They secrete enzyme-

filled saliva to help
break down food
 Ingestion process
• Food is taken into the mouth where it is
physically broken down by the teeth into
smaller pieces.

mastication: the process of

chewing

Saliva moistens and lubricates the food, with

the aid of a slippery substance called mucin,
making swallowing easier as well as dissolving
some of the food and allowing it to be tasted.
 Digestion

• Digestion is the
complex process of
turning the food you
eat into nutrients,
which the body uses
for energy, growth
and cell repair
needed to survive.
The digestion process
also involves creating
waste to be
eliminated.
 Digestion

❖ Digestion refers to
the breakdown of
food into smaller
components that
can be absorbed
into the
bloodstream.
 MECHANICAL
DIGESTION

❖ Mechanical digestion
is a purely physical
process that does not
change the chemical
nature of the food.
Instead, it makes the
food smaller to
increase both surface
area and mobility.
CHEMICAL DIGESTION ❖ Chemical digestion that occurs in the
gastrointestinal tract when the food is
broken down into small molecules by
digestive enzymes. Chemical digestion
involves the secretions of enzymes
throughout your digestive tract. These
enzymes break the chemical bonds that
hold food particles together. This allows
food to be broken down into small,
digestible parts.
 DIGESTIVE ENZYMES

• Digestive enzymes play a

key role in breaking down
the food you eat. These
proteins speed up
chemical reactions that
turn nutrients into
substances that
your digestive tract
can absorb. Your
saliva
has digestive
enzymes in it.
Some of your organs,
including your
pancreas, gallbladder,
and liver, also release
them.
 Some of the organs that has Digestive
Enzymes:
LIVER INTESTINE
SALIV
A

PANCREA
GALLBLLADDER
S
 Different types of enzymes target different
nutrients:

• Amylase breaks
down carbs and
starches

• Protease works on
proteins

• Lipase handles fats

Mechanical and
chemical
digestion:

Mechanical and
chemical
digestion of food
takes place in
many steps,
beginning in the
mouth and
ending in the
rectum.
 Absorption

Digested food products are absorbed into

the bloodstream and transported to cells
Plicae Circulares – are the Villi and Microvilli – increases
mucusa folds of the small the area for absorption
intestines

Lymphatic vessel – Jejunum and ileum

absorption of fats and fat
soluble vitamins
Assimilation

WHAT IS
ASSIMILATION?
 Assimilation

Assimilation gets the nutrients from your

food to your cells where they are used
for growth and repair.

Assimilation of Nutrients
The food we eat is assimilated by the cells of our
body. The process entails the breaking down of
food into simpler particles, digests it, and then
distributes it to the different parts of
our body. Moreover, as described earlier,
assimilation takes down the nutrients from the food
to cells where it is used for growth and
reproduction.
 Purpose of
Assimilation
❑ They provide energy needed in cell activities
❑ They are converted into new protoplasm.
 The Cycle of food Digestion
▪ Mouth - Primarily starts from the mouth
where the food is chewed.
▪ Esophagus- The saliva produced by
the salivary glands moistens the food
and thus it is passed to the stomach
via the esophagus
▪ Stomach- Very strong acids and
enzymes break the food further into
various nutrients such as
carbohydrates, proteins, and fatty
acids.
▪ Small Intestine- Assimilation of
nutrients happens in the small intestine.
Your small intestine is equipped with
tiny projections called microvilli on the
surface of the cells lining the intestine,
called epithelial cells. These important
cells take nutrients from the intestine
and pump it into your blood, where it
can be distributed to the body.
The small intestine has been further divided into three
segments:
• Duodenum- It is the first
section which connects to the
pyloric sphincter of the
stomach. It is the shortest
region of the intestine. The
chyme gets mixed with bile
and pancreatic juice here.
It is the middle section and is the
primary site of nutrient absorption. This
region measures around 3 feet in length.

The inner surface of the jejunum, its mucous

membrane, is covered in projections called villi,
which increase the surface area of tissue
available to absorb nutrients from the gut
contents. The epithelial cells which line these
villi possess even larger numbers of microvilli.
 It is the final section of
the small intestine that
empties into the large
intestine. At a length of
6 feet, it completes the
absorption of the
remaining nutrients.
 Factors Affecting Assimilation:
❑ The time gap
❑ The composition ❑ The age of
between two
❑ Temperatur of the food intake Culture
meals
e

❑ The change in cell

concentration and structure
 Egestion

In humans and other higher forms of animals, the egestion

process entails waves of muscular contractions of the colonic walls,
moving the fecal matter towards the rectum. The fecal matter is
temporarily stored in the rectum ampulla. As the fecal matter
accumulates, the rectal walls expand.
 NUTRITIONAL PROBLEM
IRRITABLE BOWEL SYNDROME (IBS)
IRRITABLE BOWEL SYNDROME (IBS)

IBS is a functional bowel disorder in which abdominal

pain or discomfort is associated with defecation or a
change in bowel habit. Bloating, distension, and
disordered defecation are commonly associated
features.
-IBS is a common disorder that usually affects the large intestine and it's also known as spastic
colon, irritable colon, mucous colitis, and spastic colitis.
-It is a gastrointestinal disorder characterized by the presence of a cluster of symptoms and
signs in adults or children.
- It is a "functional disorder" meaning that it is a problem with the movement (motility) rather
than any damage to the tissues of the digestive system.
Signs and symptoms include:

1. Abdominal pain, cramping or bloating that is related to passing a bowel

movement
2. Changes in appearance of bowel movement
3. Changes in how often you are having a bowel movement
4. Bloating, increased gas or mucus in the stool.
Symptoms of IBS can be triggered by:
 GROUP A

Argie T. Siaton

Francesca Louisse Elias

Camille Jane M. Mibato

Shecin M. Pinote

Michaella Angelie Fe P. Rosalijos

Shedee J. Onto

Gemma Rose Millana

12 S2 - NEWTON