8th grade

Lesson 1

Digestive
System
❑Without food, water and oxygen, human beings
could not survive.
❑The digestive system is a set of organs which
change what we eat into substances that can be
used in the body.
❑These substances can be used for energy, growth
and repair.
THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM
The alimentary canal is a tube that runs from the mouth to
the anus
It composed of different organs that work together to
break down food and nourish the body. It also involves
important processes in order to carry out the function of
the digestive system. The nourishment is taken into the
blood.
Certain organs and glands add juices to the canal at various
points
The function of the digestive
system is digestion, the
breakdown of organic compounds
into their simple forms for use by
the cells. Digestion is the chief
function of the digestive system. It
breaks down food mechanically
and chemically.
Food can be broken down (digested) in one of two ways:

1. Physical Digestion
This is where large pieces of food are broken down
into smaller pieces of the same food
2. Chemical Digestion
This is where food is broken down into a different
substance that can easily pass into the blood
 Mouth
1. Chemical digestion (amylase converts starch
Esophagus to maltose)
2. Physical digestion (teeth break food down into
Connects mouth to smaller pieces)
stomach
Stomach
Liver 1. Holds the food for a while
2. Physical digestion (food is churned
Produces bile for and mixed)
the digestion of fats 3. Chemical digestion (assisted by
HCl)
Gall bladder Small intestine
Stores bile 1. Chemical digestion
2. Absorption of nutrients into
Pancreas blood

Produces digestive Large intestine (colon)

juices
1. Elimination of waste
Appendix
2. Absorption of water

Anus Rectum
Stores faeces
Mouth
The food is broken down by the teeth and mixed with
saliva.
Saliva is excreted by three pairs of glands:
•The parotid gland (below the ear)
•The submandibular (under the tongue)
•The sublingual (under the tongue)
Saliva contains water, mucus and the enzyme salivary
amylase.
Functions of Saliva
It lubricates food with mucus, making it easier to
swallow.
It contains the enzyme salivary amylase, which acts
on cooked starch turning some of it into maltose.
It keeps the mouth and teeth clean.
The ball of food that leaves the mouth is known as a
bolus.
 Functions of the Tongue
Taste: it is covered with thousands of taste buds. These are sensitive to salt,
sweet, sour and bitter chemicals in food and drink.
They help us enjoy food and drink and warn us when food, drink are off or
inedible.
Chewing: the tongue aids chewing by moving the food around the mouth, pushing
it between the teeth and covering it with saliva, which contains enzymes that
start the digestive process.
The food is turned into a partially digested mass known as a bolus.
Swallowing: when the food is ready to travel to the stomach, the tongue pushes it
to the back of the mouth.
Tongue Taste Centres
Epiglottis

Bitter
Papillae
Taste Buds
Sour

Salt

Sweet
Oesophagus or Esophagus
The food passes into the pharynx (a muscular
tube behind the mouth) and down the
oesophagus.
The epiglottis a small flap of cartilage blocks
the entrance to the larynx; this stops the
food going down the wrong way and prevents
choking.
 Structure of the Oesophagus
& Functions
It is a muscular tube.
It leads from the pharynx to the stomach.
Function
To carry chewed food from the pharynx to the stomach.
Food moves along it by a muscular contraction known as peristalsis.
The muscle fibres contract and relax which acts like a wave on the
tube, pushing the bolus forward.
It’s lining secretes mucus to lubricate the passage of food.
The Stomach

Oesophagus
Cardiac Sphincter

Pyloric Sphincter

Duodenum

Body of Stomach
 Stomach Structure
❑It is a J-shaped, elastic organ.
❑Food enters it from the oesophagus through the
cardiac sphincter.
❑The cardiac sphincter, is a valve that stops back flow
of the stomach`s contents.
❑Food leaves the stomach through the pyloric
sphincter into the duodenum (first part of the small
intestine).
❑The walls of the stomach is made up of layers of
muscle.

❑It has an inner mucous membrane.

❑This membrane has lots of folds.

❑When the stomach is full these folds stretch out,

enabling it to expand, then they contract when the
stomach empties.
 Functions of The Stomach
❑It digests protein through the action of
enzymes.
❑It churns food with the gastric juices.
❑It helps lubricate the food by producing mucus.
❑It absorbs alcohol.
❑It kills bacteria by producing hydrochloric acid.
Gastric Juices

❑Hydrochloric acid neutralises bacteria and

activates pepsin.
❑Rennin is an enzyme that curdles milk protein in
infants.
❑Pepsin is an enzyme that breaks down proteins
into peptones.
 Structure of the Small Intestine
It is seven metres long.
It is divided into three parts:
➢The duodenum
➢The jejunum
➢The ileum
The walls has four layers:
➢A muscular layer
➢A layer containing blood vessels, lymph vessels, and nerves.
➢A submucous layer,
➢A mucous layer.
 Functions of The Small Intestine
Digestion
Pancreatic juice is secreted into the duodenum and contains the
following enzymes:
➢Trypsin: converts proteins into shorter chains.
➢Lipase: converts fats into fatty acids and glycerol.
➢Amylase: converts starch into disaccharides.
Bile: emulsifies fats (breaks them into smaller droplets).
Intestinal Juices have the following enzymes:
➢Maltase, sucrase, lactase: change disaccharides into
monosaccharides.
➢Peptidase: changes polypeptides into amino acids.
 Ascending Transverse
Descending
Colon Colon
Colon

Caecum

Anus Rectum
Apendix
 What is the Large Intestine

It deals with waste.

It is about 1.5m long.
It consists of the following:
➢The caecum: a small pouch; the ileum empties its contents into
the caecum through the ileo-caecal valve.
➢The colon: ascending, transverse, descending colon.
➢The appendix: narrow tube attached to the caecum.
➢The rectum.
➢The anus
 Functions

❑Whatever remains of the food, is passed into the large intestine

❑To reabsorb water and vitamins left in digestive waste.
❑It secretes mucus to help the movement of faeces.
❑Short term storage of faeces in the rectum.
❑Many bacteria live in the large intestine, they are harmless in the
colon and may be useful e.g. produce Vitamin K.
❑Defecation: peristalsis pushes waste along the colon and then it is
passed out of the body.
ENZYMES
An enzyme is a biological catalyst
A catalyst speeds up chemical reactions
Enzymes speed up biological reactions
All chemical reactions that take place in living
systems require the action of an enzyme
ENZYMES
Digestive enzymes break food down into smaller,
more soluble substances

This allows the food to be absorbed into the blood

ENZYMES
An example of a digestive enzyme is
amylase

Amylase is present in saliva

Amylase chemically breaks down starch

ENZYMES
Amylase converts starch into a sugar called
maltose

STARCH → MALTOSE
ENZYMES
AMYLASE

STARCH
MALTOSE
ENZYMES
The substance that an enzyme works on is known as
its SUBSTRATE
The substance formed by the enzyme is known as
its PRODUCT
Therefore starch is the substrate for amylase and
maltose is its product
STAGES OF NUTRITION
There are four stages in human nutrition:
1. Eating (also called “ingestion”)
2. Digestion
3. Absorption of digested food into the blood
4. Elimination of undigested food (also called
“egestion”)
STAGES OF NUTRITION
Digestion changes food into a form that can enter
the blood
Physical (mechanical) digestion breaks food down
into smaller pieces
Chemical digestion breaks food down into
different, more soluble substances
The contents of the alimentary canal are
pushed along by a rhythmic pulsing of the
muscles of the intestines

This is known as peristalsis