Essential Nutrients and Digestive Systems Flashcards
What are the six essential nutrients?
- Proteins
- Carbohydrates
- Minerals
- Vitamins
- Water
- Fats
What are the characteristics of carbohydrates?
Made up of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. They provide us with energy. CHOs are simple sugars like glucose which can for disaccharides and polysaccharides such as starch (plants) and glycogen (animals). Food sources include grains, legumes and vegetables.
What are the characteristics of fats?
Give us energy, used as building materials for cells, insulated against the cold and protect organs, and stores vitamins. Are broken down into 3 fatty acids and glycerol by microvilli. Categorized into saturated and unsaturated fats. Food sources include grains, meat, dairy and organs.
What are the characteristics of cholesterol?
Soft, waxy found in stomatic cells. It forms cell membranes, insulates nerves, and produces vitamin D, bile acids and some hormones. Can be produced in the liver.
What are lipoproteins?
How lipids are transported when they can’t dissolve in the bloodstream. Two types:
Low Density (LDL) - ‘bad lipids’, forms plaque which can clot
High Density (HDL) - ‘good lipids’, that help prevent heart disease
Characteristics of proteins?
Build and repair muscles and membranes, including enzymes and antibodies. Food sources include meat, dairy, whole grains and legumes.
Characteristics of minerals?
Inorganic compounds needed in small amounts. Help build bones and cartilage and are important to hemoglobin. Includes calcium, iodine, sodium
Characteristics of Vitamins?
Coenzymes, help enzymes function. Involved in tissue growth, development and disease resistance.
What vitamins does the body make?
A and D
What vitamins are fat soluble?
A, D, E, K
What vitamins are water-soluble?
B, C
How do amoeba get nutrition?
Phagocytosis which is called intracellular digestion
How do hydras get nutrition?
The tube system. Food enters the mouth and leaves the anus.
How do worms get nutrition?
A digestive system which breaks down food into substances to be absorbed.
How do grasshoppers and other insects get nutrition?
The fluid-feeding system. They suck juices out of plants and animals, they ingest large amounts at a time so they don’t feed constantly.
What is the function of the mouth?
- Teeth are used for physical digestion
- Uvula prevents food from entering the pharynx
- Saliva enzymes aid in chemical digestion
- Food turns into a bolus
What is the function of the esophagus?
- Stretches from mouth to stomach
- No digestion occurs here
- Muscles along the tube help push the bolus along
- Cardiac sphincter is at the bottom of the tube which controls how much is let into the stomach.
What is the function of the stomach?
- Muscular J-shaped sac with millions of gastric glands that secrete digestive gastric juices.
- Rugae folds, physically break down food and mix it with gastric juices creating chyme.
- Pyloric sphincter is located at the end of the stomach which controls the flow of food.
What is the function of the small intestine?
- 7 meters long
- 90% of digestion occurs here
- 3 regions:
- Duodenum - shortest and widest part, pancreatic and bile ducts open here for further chemical digestion
- Jejunum - breaks down remaining protein and carbs
- Ileum - pushes remaining material into the large intestine.
- Along the folds, there are villi, along the villi are microvilli, and within the villi are lacteal vessels which absorb lipids, surrounded by capillaries that absorb AAs and glucose.
What is the function of the large intestine?
- 3 Sections: Ascending, traversing, descending colon.
- 1.5 meters long
- In the colon, water and minerals are absorbed and broken down further to produce vitamins B-12, K and AAs
- The remains are feces, which are passed into the rectum and anal canal (20cm), has sphincters to control timing.
What are the three glands in the mouth and where are they located?
- Parotid Gland, back of the mouth
- Sublingual Gland, bottom of the mouth towards the front
- Submaxillary Gland, bottom of the mouth towards the back
What accessory organ is attached to the liver?
The gallbladder
What is the sphincter at the top of the stomach?
Cardiac sphincter
What is the sphincter at the bottom of the stomach?
Pyloric sphincter
