A Journey Through the Digestive System

A Journey Through the

Digestive System

My Meal

Egg is a food that is mainly made of protein and fat. The white part is mostly protein while the yellow yolk is made mostly out of fat. This is the amount of macro nutrients for 2 pieces.

Milk

Milk is from a cow so it contains a large amount of fat. It also contains some protein and Carbohydrates. This is the amount of macro nutrients in the milk.

Banana

Bananas are also a good source of carbohydrates. They help you to get more energy. This is the amount of macro nutrients in the small banana (less than 6 inches)

Cheerios

Since Cheerios is made out of wheat which is one of the main sources of carbohydrates, it will contain a lot of carbohydrate. This is the amount of macro nutrients in one cup of cheerios.

Oranges are a good source of carbohydrates so it is good to eat in the morning when the energy is most needed. This is the amount of macro nutrients in a small orange.

Where Does it All Go?

The Mouth is the start of the digestive. The teeth in your mouth help chew the food to break it apart which is mechanical digestion. The saliva that is produced around 1 - 1.5 liters a day moistens the food and contain salivary amylase which allows chemical break down of the starch in your food.

Esophagus 20-30 cm tunnel from the mouth that leads to the stomach. Another name that is used for the esophagus is the

food pipe. The food from the mouth is pushed down the esophagus by contraction from the muscles in around 7 seconds. The wind pipe is connected to the food pipe so when the food goes through, the thing call epiglottis prevents the food from entering the wind pipe.

Stomach

The stomach is the digestive organ that allows your protein to get broken down from the food and turn into amino acid. There are two main substances that come out from the stomach to allow that. The Hydrochloric Acid and the Pepsin. The Hydrochloric acid is there to give the suitable PH for the pepsin to work and kills the microorganisms that come with the food. Pepsin works in a PH of around 3-4 and the hydrochloric acid gets diluted by the food to do that. Their is a lining of mucus around the stomach to prevent the hydrochloric acid from damaging the stomach. The Stomach also absorbs the alcohol by the membrane and goes straight into the circulatory system and a vitamin called the B12.

Small Intestine

The Small Intestine is the digestive organ after the stomach that allows the digestion of most of the nutrients that are left gets absorbed by chemical digestion. There are three digestive enzymes that come out from the small intestine. One of them is the bile which is produced from the liver to digest the lipid which is a substance that is mostly made of Fat. Another enzyme that comes from the pancreas is called the Pancreatic juice which help breakdown the remaining protein and intestinal juice is made to dilute the hydrochloric acid that comes from the stomach. All this happens in the first part of the small intestine called the duodenum and in the second part, called the Jejunum which absorbs all the nutrients. After this, the muscles contract to move the food onto the large intestine.

The Large Intestine.

The Large Intestine is like a path to the Anus. Nothing really happens much except that the water is absorbed by the chyme and the things that aren't or can't be digested are mixed with the waste products from the body to go to the anus.

Where do the nutrients go?

Glucose

The glucose is the simplest kind of sugar and one of the 3 sugars Monosaccharide (Monosaccharide is a term that is used to describe the simplest from of carbohydrate. The three are glucose, fructose and galactose) that is absorbed into the blood vessels. Sugars such as sucrose and starch all gets broken down into glucose. . Glucose is the main source of energy in your body. Glucose is also known as blood sugar and is used instantly by your body when you eat it.This is why your body turns hyper when you take a lot of sugar. When a lot of it is absorbed, your cholesterol gets higher which means that the sugar is sticking to the side of the blood vessels and it will eventually slow down the blood from going around the body.

Amino Acids

Amino acids are the simplest form of protein. Amino Acids help your muscles and bones grow and function. They are essential and are needed to create hormones, immune response, cell repair and nucleic acid which are found in your DNA and RNA. If you eat, then some sort of protein will be digested so there isn't much chance of you not having enough protein. In poorer countries where you don't have enough food, a lack of protein might happen and cause a malnutrition called Kwashiorkor. Protein is mostly found in nuts and seeds.

Fatty Acids.

Fatty acid like the amino acid is an essential element in your body that comes from fat. Fat produces two types of substances : the fatty acid and the glycerol. The glycerol is used to make glucose while the fatty acid provides the energy for you. Too much fat can also be bad cause the glucose can turn into body weight when there is much more than usual. Fats called saturated fats stay solid at room temperature and fats called unsaturated fat remain liquid. So things like butter is a saturated fat and things like oil are unsaturated. The reason fatty acids are essential is because they contain vitamins called B6 and B12.

Thank You

Bibliography

Wikipedia

Brain pop

Bacon

A Bacon is pig meat which means that it would be made of a large amount of fat and a bit of protein. This is the amount of macro nutrients for 2 pieces.

This meal contains 2 slices of bacon, 2 fried eggs, one orange and a banana. There is also a cheerios and a glass of milk.

Egg

This is the amount of the main nutrients in your body.

This meal contains a total of 614.3 calories. As you can see the amount of fat and carbohydrates are similar but there is a bit less of protein. This is actually a breakfast meal and I think this is a good meal since in the morning, protein is not needed that much in the morning while carbohydrates and fat will help you get the energy needed for the day. This is why many people eat bread or a sandwich for breakfast.

Digestive System

Esophagus

Mouth

Stomach

In here all the food will get broken up into pieces. Then the starch from all the food would get absorbed here.

Esophagus 20-30 cm tunnel from the mouth that leads to the stomach. Another name that is used for the esophagus is the

food pipe. The food from the mouth is pushed down the esophagus by contraction from the muscles in around 7 seconds. The wind pipe is connected to the food pipe so when the food goes through, the thing call epiglottis prevents the food from entering the wind pipe.

Stomach is the place where all the protein in your food gets broken down. Hydrochloric acid and an enzyme called pepsin are mixed with food and breaks down the protein in chemical digestion. The pepsin is the enzyme that actually breaks it down and the

Small and large Intestine

S

Esophagus 20-30 cm tunnel from the mouth that leads to the stomach. Another name that is used for the esophagus is the

food pipe. The food from the mouth is pushed down the esophagus by contraction from the muscles in around 7 seconds. The wind pipe is connected to the food pipe so when the food goes through, the thing call epiglottis prevents the food from entering the wind pipe.

Stomach is the place where all the protein in your food gets broken down. Hydrochloric acid and an enzyme called pepsin are mixed with food and breaks down the protein in chemical digestion. The pepsin is the enzyme that actually breaks it down and the

Stomach

The stomach is the digestive organ that allows your protein to get broken down from the food and turn into amino acid. There are two main substances that come out from the stomach to allow that. The Hydrochloric Acid and the Pepsin. The Hydrochloric acid is there to give the suitable PH for the pepsin to work and kills the microorganisms that come with the food. Pepsin works in a PH of around 3-4 and the hydrochloric acid gets diluted by the food to do that. Their is a lining of mucus around the stomach to prevent the hydrochloric acid from damaging the stomach. The Stomach also absorbs the alcohol by the membrane and goes straight into the circulatory system and a vitamin called the B12.