N3 Anatomy and Physiology AY 2024-2025

How does food change in consistency and form?
● In a nutshell, it goes from food to bolus to acidic chyme to alkaline chyme to purely waste
products to feces as it goes down to the digestive system
- It starts with chewing in the mouth, where teeth break it down into smaller pieces,
and saliva moistens it to form a soft mass called a bolus. In the stomach, gastric
juices turn it into a thick, soupy mixture called chyme. As it moves into the small
intestine, enzymes and bile break it down even further into simpler molecules like
glucose, amino acids, and fatty acids, which can be absorbed by the bod, while the
remains of the food and added waste of the body goes down and out to the anus in a
material called feces.
2. How could the body absorb the nutrients from the foods we eat?
● In a nutshell, the stomach is protein absorption, while the large intestine is water absorption.
- The star of the absorption of vital body needs is the small intestine. The small intestine has
these tiny finger-like structures called villi that line its walls, and each villi have tinier
projections called microvilli, the function of these folds is to increase the surface area for
absorption.