Chemistry of Digestion

1. Chemistry of Digestion

2. Digestive System Functions • The Digestive System has 3 very important jobs: • Ingest (bring in food) • Digest (break down food) • Egest (get rid of unusable food)

3. Digestive System • Mouth • Esophagus • Stomach • Small Intestine • Large Intestine • Rectum

4. Digestion • Digestion is the process of both physically and chemically breaking down food into usable resources for the body. • Involves both: • Physical changes  • Chemical changes 

5. First Stop: Mouth • The mouth is the place where food enters the body. The mouth breaks food down both physically and chemically. • Physical Breakdown  chewing • Chemical Breakdown  enzymes • Specifically carbohydrates!

6. Esophagus and Stomach • The esophagus leads to the stomach. • The stomach also physically and chemically breaks down food. • Physical  the stomach churns, grinding food into smaller pieces • Chemical  Enzymes and acids present to break down proteins

7. Stomach • The proteins are broken down into smaller pieces called amino acids.

8. Small Intestine • The small intestine is a very long, thin tube that leads away from the stomach. • The small intestine is 7m long! • Three organs dump more enzymes into the small intestine for further chemical digestion • Chemical breakdown of fats, more proteins, and more sugars occurs in the small intestine. • Food is also mechanically broken down and pushed through the small intestine.

9. Small Intestine • The pancreas, liver, and gallbladder add enzymes into the small intestine to allow for further chemical digestion of food • The small intestine is the last place of digestion in the system! • The small intestine is where he absorption of the breakdown down food occurs

10. Last Stop - Large Intestine/Rectum • The large intestine has the job of absorbing water from the remaining waste. • The large intestine leads to the rectum, and outside of the body.

11. Review