Activity 1. The Food Journey

- The food that a human digests changes its consistency and form through the different enzymes and mechanisms that the digestive organs produce in being able to reduce the size of the food into forms that the body could absorb its nutrients. Elaborating on this, the digestive system can perform two mechanisms in changing the food’s consistency:

1. - Mechanical digestion- digestive organs physically break down substances through mastication of the mouth, churning of the stomach, and segmentation in the small intestine.
  - Chemical digestion- after the digestive system breaks food down into smaller parts, the chemical digestion takes place to reduce the food to sizes in macromolecules into simpler micromolecules. For example is when the stomach secretes gastric juices, pancreas its pancreatic juices, and liver of its bile.
How the body was able to absorb the nutrients from the foods we eat.

- After the digestive system chews and churns the food, the food then comes in contact in the small intestine where most of the nutrients are absorbed in the body. In the small intestine, the nutrients are absorbed through the villi, a microscopic brush-like lining of the small intestine, that grabs onto glucose, amino acids, fatty acids, vitamins, and minerals from the food and sends them in the bloodstream. This process is called diffusion, where extraction of nutrients from the food are carried out by moving water and water-soluble compounds across barriers, like the villi in the small intestine.

REFERENCES:

Your Guide to How Nutrients are Absorbed by the Body. (n.d.). Ask the Scientist. https://askthescientists.com/nutrient-absorption/