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Module 12: Animal Nutrition

Modes of nutrition
Carnivore:

 An animal that eats other animals. E.g.: Lion, cheetah, hyena, crocodile, snakes

Herbivore:

 An animal that eats plants. E.g.: Cows, sheep, rabbits, giraffes, zebra, buffalo

Omnivore:

 An animal that eats both plants and other animals. Example: Humans, pigs, mice,
bears, chickens

Animal dentition
The first process of digestion is that of physical digestion. This begins in the mouth when the
teeth can physically break down ingested food.

Mammals usually have 4 different types of teeth:

 Incisors
 Canines,
 Premolars
 Molars.

Certain carnivorous animals have specially adapted premolars and molars known
as carnassial teeth.

Figure 1: Structure of different teeth found in humans and animals.

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Table 1: The specific structural adaptations of each tooth variant and the specific function
they perform.

Tooth type Structure Function

 Biting off pieces of food (imagine taking

 Sharp-edged
Incisors a bite of an apple)
 Chisel-shaped
 Cutting

 Sharp, "fang-like"'
 Tearing, piercing and/or killing of prey
Canines  More pointed than incisors
 Catching and holding
 Cone-shaped

 Blunt  Crushing

Pre-molars  Ridged with 2 points/ cusps  Chewing and grinding

 Broad surface area  Mastication of chewed food

 Blunt

 Ridged with 4-5 points/ cusps  Crushing and grinding

Molars
 Broad surface area larger  Chewing
than premolars

 Jagged
Carnassial  Cutting
 Triangular edges

Human dental formula

 A full set of adult teeth consists of 32 teeth.
 Teeth in the mouth are represented as something called a ‘dental formula’.

Write down the dental formal of a human:

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The structure of the human digestive system

Macro-structure of the digestive system

 The digestive system consists of a long muscular tube, almost 9 meters long, and
several accessory organs including the salivary glands, pancreas, liver and gall
bladder.

 It is responsible for food ingestion and digestion, absorption and assimilation of

digested products, and the elimination of undigested waste materials.

Figure 1: The human digestive system.

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The Alimentary Canal

The alimentary canal consists of the:

 mouth

 pharynx

 oesophagus

 stomach

 small intestine (duodenum, jejunum, ileum)

 large intestine (caecum, colon, rectum)

 anus.

Accessory Organs

The accessory Organs include:

 salivary glands

 liver

 gallbladder

 pancreas.

Table 1: Functions of the digestive system.

The Alimentary Canal

 Lined with mucous membranes.

Mouth  Teeth are well adapted to perform their functions of preparing food for
swallowing.

Pharynx (throat  Openings lead to both the oesophagus and trachea (windpipe).
cavity)  The epiglottis prevents food from entering the trachea.

Oesophagus  Circular muscles contract and relax antagonistically – peristalsis.

Stomach  Thick muscular sac-shaped organ.

 important for mechanical digestion - physically mixes food with

hydrochloric acid and enzymes, producing chyme.
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 Lower oesophageal membrane/cardiac sphincter prevents chyme from

moving back up the oesophagus.

 Pyloric sphincter: prevents chyme from moving into the duodenum

prematurely.

 Duodenum –connected to the common bile duct from the gallbladder

The small and the pancreatic duct.
intestine
 Jejunum

 Ileum –connects to the caecum (ileo-caecal sphincter.)

 Caecum

 Colon –ascending, transverse, and descending colon. Secretes mucus

The large
and absorbs water and substances, such as vitamins and bile salts.
intestine
 Rectum stores undigested waste temporarily before egestion of faeces
via the anus.

Accessory organs

Salivary glands  Exocrine glands - secretes saliva and aid in bolus formation.

 Pancreatic cells - secrete pancreatic juices.

Pancreas  Islet of Langerhans - aids in the maintenance of homeostasis of blood
glucose levels.

 Liver cells produce bile - transported via the common hepatic duct.

 Storage of the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K and water-soluble

Liver
Vitamin B12.

 Blood glucose regulation will be covered in future modules.

 Stores and secretes bile.

Gallbladder  Chemical digestion of lipids (fats and oils) and helps to emulsify fat
globules.
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Processes involved in human nutrition

Table 1: The five main processes of nutrition.

Process Description

The process of taking food, liquids or other substances into the

Ingestion body.

Physical/mechanical and chemical breakdown of food into its

Digestion simplest soluble form with the help of digestive enzymes.

The products of digestion diffuse into the bloodstream.

Absorption

Nutrients such as amino acids and glucose are incorporated into

Assimilation the cells and used to build new structures and compounds.

The removal of undigested solid matter and unabsorbed water,

Egestion
during defecation, through the anus and in the form of faeces.

Ingestion and Digestion: Mouth - stomach

Ingestion occurs when food enters the mouth (ingestion).

Digestion begins with the teeth mechanically breaking down the food into smaller pieces.

Chewing, scientifically known as MASTICATION, has 2 important functions.

1. it makes the food easier to swallow.

2. it increases the surface area of the food for enzymes to work on.

 This mechanical digestion is aided by the 32 teeth that an adult human has, which
are all perfectly adapted to perform their specific function.

 In the mouth, chemical digestion also begins.

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 The salivary glands secrete saliva which mixes with the chewed food. Saliva contains
the enzyme amylase which is a carbohydrase and breaks down starch into sugar.

 Saliva also contains mucus which lubricates the food and helps it pass down the next
section of the alimentary canal, the oesophagus, through the process of swallowing.

Figure 1: The organs involved in digestion from the mouth to the stomach.

 Before swallowing the tongue makes a food bolus, a soft ball-like mass of food, and
pushes it to the back of the mouth.

 As food is swallowed it passes over the epiglottis which covers the opening of the
respiratory system and prevents food from entering it.

 Next, the food bolus enters the stomach. The stomach is one large muscle playing a
crucial part in the mechanical and chemical digestive process.

 The stomach cells secrete gastric juices which mix with the food and continue with
the chemical digestion process. These gastric juices contain
a protease enzyme called pepsin, which breaks down proteins into amino acids.
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Figure 2: Chemical digestion of protein into amino acids.

 The gastric juices secreted in the stomach also contain hydrochloric acid which
creates the optimal acidic environment for pepsin.

 While optimal for pepsin, the acidic environment is very suboptimal

for pathogens and, as a result, the low pH level of approximately 2 kills off unwanted
bacteria and viruses preventing them from moving further along the alimentary
canal.

 As part of the mechanical digestion process, the muscular walls of the stomach churn
the food with all the digestive juices, converting it into a thick liquid called chyme.

 Chyme enters the 6-meter-long small intestine, via the pyloric sphincter.

 The small intestine is divided into 3 sections – the duodenum, jejunum and ileum.
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Processes involved in human nutrition - digestion

Digestion: Small intestine - Anus

As the food passes through the duodenum, the accessory organs secrete 3 important
digestive enzymes which are mixed with the chyme.

Liver
The liver produces bile which is stored in the gall bladder and enters the small intestine via
the bile duct.

The bile performs two important mechanical digestion functions.

1. Bile has an alkaline pH which neutralises the pH of the hydrochloric acid added in the
stomach. The alkaline pH creates an optimal environment for the digestive enzymes
of the small intestine.

2. Bile emulsifies fats. This means that it breaks large molecules of fat into smaller
droplets which increases the surface area of fats for the lipase enzyme to work most
effectively.

Via the hepatic portal system, the liver plays an essential role in detoxifying the body of any
toxins that have been ingested, as well as its role in the regulation of blood glucose levels
and storage of nutrients.

Pancreas
 Second important accessory organ = pancreas which secretes pancreatic juices into
the duodenum.
 The pancreatic juices contain amylase, proteases and lipases.

Small intestine
 The final important digestive enzymes are secreted directly from the walls of
the small intestine.
 These intestinal juices also contain carbohydrases, proteases and lipases which
complete the chemical digestion process.

Digestive Enzymes
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 The main enzyme-producing components of the human digestive system are

the salivary glands, stomach, pancreas, liver and small intestine.

 The suffix ‘-ase’ is used with the name of the substance being acted on.
When sucrose (sugar) is digested, it is acted upon by an enzyme called sucrase

Figure 1 and Table 1 below summarise which digestive enzymes are produced in each
accessory organ and the role they play in the digestion of the different nutrient groups.

Figure 1: Nutrient digestion and end products.

Table 1: Digestive enzyme summary.

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Structure/Organ &
Enzyme produced Substance digested Product formed
Digestive juice

Salivary glands Carbohydrase

Starch Maltase
Saliva (Amylase)

Stomach Protease (pepsin) &

Proteins Partly digested proteins
Gastric juice hydrochloric acid

Proteases (pepsin,
trypsin, renin and Proteins Peptides & amino acids
Pancreas trypsinogen)
Fats emulsified by bile Fatty acids & glycerol
Pancreatic juice Lipases
Starch Maltose
Carbohydrase (Amylase)

Liver
Bile salts Fats and lipids Glycerol and fatty acids
Bile

Peptidases Peptides Amino Acids

Small Intestine Carbohydrase (Sucrase) Sucrose (sugar) Glucose & Fructose

Intestinal enzymes Carbohydrase (Lactase) Lactose (milk sugar) Glucose & galactose

Carbohydrase (Maltase) Maltose Glucose