Tag: Human digestive

Introduction

Food is necessary for us to get the raw materials and energy needed to carry out metabolic activities. The efficient digestion and absorption of the food ensure the proper assimilation of its nutrients. Only when the digestive system is operating effectively does proper digestion and absorption take place. The digestive tract will be in good health if you eat enough nutritious food and lead a healthy lifestyle. Poor eating habits can cause digestive system abnormalities and several related health problems. Acidity is the most frequent of all digestive system problems and is related to several risk factors if not treated promptly.

Significance of the Human Digestive System

The alimentary canal and auxiliary digestive organs such as the liver, pancreas, and salivary glands make up the human digestive system. The following list highlights the relevance of this system, which guarantees the effective use of food consumed: 

• The digestive system carries out digestion, or the breakdown of large molecules into smaller, simpler molecules that can be easily absorbed. 
• It makes sure that any disease or dangerous substance that enters through the mouth is eliminated before it has a chance to spread to other organs. 
• It guarantees appropriate secretion of digestive fluid and a suitable environment for this fluid to interact with the food.
• The components of the digestive system are also designed to absorb the material that has been digested and add it to the fluid that circulates to carry it to the cells where it is required.

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Common Disorders of the Human Digestive System

Disorders	Symptoms and causes
Lactose intolerance	Consuming dairy products causes bloating gas and diarrhoea. A person with lactose intolerance is unable to effectively digest the lactose found in milk and other dairy products.
Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD)	Heartburn, chest pain, and difficulty swallowing are some of the main symptoms. GERD is brought on by the stomach’s contents often moving back into the tube connecting the mouth and stomach.
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)	IBS patients may endure cramps, flatulence, and severe stomach pain. IBS is a condition marked by aberrant colon muscle contractions.
Peptic ulcer	Abdominal discomfort is caused by wounds that form in the lining of the stomach, small intestine, and esophagus. These typically appear as a result of non-steroid anti-inflammatory drug use and inflammation brought on by Helicobacter pylori.
Chronic constipation	A person has less than three bowel movements per week, and they last for three weeks or longer. There are a variety of reasons why this happens, including dehydration, inadequate dietary fibre from foods like watery fruits, vegetables, and cereals, inactivity, a lack of exercise, and medication side effects.

How to Prevent Different Disorders of the Digestive Tract?

Disorders	Prevention
Lactose intolerance	Limit your consumption of dairy products and milk. Take vitamins to help the lactose digest.
GERD	Eat enough meals and prevent overindulging, give up smoking, and stop eating two to three hours before bed.
Irritable Bowel Syndrome	Reduce stress, drink enough fluids, and include plenty of fibre-rich foods in your diet, such as beans, fruits, and watery vegetables.
Peptic ulcer	Avoid using smoke and alcohol, and regularly wash your hands to prevent infections.
Chronic constipation	Consume foods high in fibre, exercise often, drink lots of water, and steer clear of undercooked or raw foods.

Causes of Acidity

Acidity is the overproduction of gastric acid, which can be caused by a variety of things, including nutrition, eating habits, activity, and body type.

• Food: Prolonged eating of deep-fried foods might cause the stomach to produce too much acid. Lemon, grapefruit, and orange are citrus fruits that make the stomach’s already-acidic environment more acidic.
• Beverages: A drink containing caffeine, such as chocolate, tea, or coffee causes the stomach to produce acid and cause it to become acidic. A lot of alcohol consumption promotes acidity and irritates the lining of the stomach. Therefore, it is best to stop drinking alcohol. 
• Obesity: Being overweight puts the abdomen under additional strain, which increases acidity. 
• Medications: Heartburn can be brought on by certain medicines, antibiotics, and non-steroidal medications that harm the stomach’s lining.
• Poor habits: The bad behaviours include eating large meals, sleeping right away after eating, smoking, and eating late at night, which can promote acid reflux.

Acidity Symptoms

The common symptoms of acidity include the following.

• Heartburn (burning sensation in the chest and the throat)
• Regurgitation (feeling of undigested food or liquids going up and down in throat)
• Inability to consume food 
• Indigestion
• Abdominal bloating 
• Nausea 
• Vomiting 
• A bitter aftertaste 
• Persistent dry cough

Some Healthy Foods for Healthy Digestive Tract

Foods	Their role in digestion
Banana	Improves digestion and neutralizes excessive gastric juice output.
Apple	The pectin fiber in it enhances metabolism.
Yoghurt	Yogurt is a fermented milk product that contains probiotic microorganisms that are good for the digestive system. It keeps a healthy gut and enhances food digestion.
Leafy greens	They eliminate dangerous microorganisms and preserve sound digestion.
Turmeric	It is an antioxidant with the ability to reduce inflammation, which can aid with digestion.
Lentils	These includes abundant fibres that encourage regular bowel motions and a healthy digestive tract.

Summary 

The alimentary canal and auxiliary digestive organs such as the liver, pancreas, and salivary glands make up the human digestive system. Acidity is the overproduction of gastric acid, which can be caused by a variety of things, including nutrition, eating habits, activity, and body type. The common symptoms of acidity include an inability to consume food, indigestion, and abdominal bloating. Banana improves digestion and neutralizes excessive gastric juice output.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What are Probiotics?
Ans. A probiotic is a live microorganism sold with a claim that it improves or restores the gut microbiota when consumed. Examples are Gram-positive bacteria and lactic acid bacteria (LAB), in the production of cheese, yoghurt, and pickles).

2. Why is the Intake of a Gut-Friendly Diet Important?
Ans. A healthy gut lowers inflammation, keeps your brain healthy, keeps you at a healthy weight, and helps you avoid chronic diseases like cancer and heart disease. Therefore, it will be harder to maintain good health if your gut is out of whack and your immune system isn’t operating at peak efficiency.

3. What are the Health Risks associated with GERD?
Ans. If GERD is not addressed, it can become a problem because, over time, stomach acid reflux harms the tissue lining the oesophagus, resulting in inflammation and discomfort. Adults with persistent, untreated GERD risk lifelongoesophagall injury.

4. Can Acidity Cause Cancer?
Ans. The lengthy tube that delivers food from your throat to your stomach is called the oesophagus. Acid from your stomach flows up into your oesophagus when you have acid reflux. This over time can harm the tissue in your oesophagus and raise your risk of getting oesophagal cancer.

5. How do Foods Decompose?
Ans. As the food moves through the digestive tract and combines with digestive fluids, it breaks down into smaller molecules. After being absorbed by the body through the small intestine’s walls, these smaller molecules are subsequently transported to the rest of the body by the bloodstream.

Introduction 

The human digestive system performs the function of digestion of food which is required for providing nutrition to the body. Food eaten undergoes a series of processes that break down complex food materials into simpler ones that ultimately provide energy. Absorption is one such process under digestion wherein the simpler nutrient molecules from the gastrointestinal tract are absorbed and transported to the blood or lymph to provide nutrition to the rest of the body parts.

Absorption in Various Parts of the Digestive System

The oral cavity, oesophagus, stomach, small intestine, and large intestine make up the alimentary canal, sometimes known as the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. The small intestine is where nutrients are mostly absorbed. However, some compounds are also absorbed in the large intestine, stomach, and oral cavity.

• Oral cavity absorption: The oral cavity plays a major role in chewing and combining food and saliva. The oral cavity is where some medicines, alcohol, and simple carbohydrates are absorbed.
• Absorption in Stomach: The stomach is a hollow, muscular organ that aids in a nutrient breakdown in the presence of hydrochloric acid and enzymes. The stomach is where certain vitamins, alcohol, lipid-soluble substances, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications (NSAIDs), caffeine, and water (during dehydration) are absorbed.

Absorption in the small intestine: The small intestine, is the longest section of the alimentary canal and measures around 6 meters in length. It has been designed to perform the function of absorption because it shows the presence of-

• Villi and microvilli
• Specialized absorptive cells 
• A vast network of blood capillaries and lymphatic arteries.

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According to their characteristics and functions, the small intestine is divided into three divisions. Which are:

• Duodenum-It is the first portion of the small intestine which receives chyme, liver secretions, and pancreatic secretions. Rather than absorbing nutrients, this area mostly performs food digestion.
• Jejunum-It is the middle coil portion of the small intestine and contains a lot of blood vessels. It acts as the initial site of nutrition absorption.
• Leum-It is the final and longest segment of the small intestine. This region of the small intestine absorbs the majority of the nutrients.
• Absorption in the Large intestine- large intestine is wider than the small intestine. It majorly absorbs water, Vitamin K, B12, various ions, and some nutrients.

Absorption of Nutrients

• Vitamins, minerals, monosaccharides, and water-soluble amino acids are directly absorbed by the capillaries into the bloodstream.
• The lacteals of the lymphatic system absorb fat-soluble vitamins, glycerol, and fatty acids before getting absorbed by the blood vessels. Micelles are small, spherical, water-soluble molecules that are initially responsible for absorbing fat-soluble chemicals and lipid derivatives.
• The duodenum absorbs electrolytes such as calcium, sodium, potassium, phosphate, chloride, bicarbonates, and magnesium.
• Bile salts are absorbed in the ileum area.

Mechanism

Mechanism of absorption takes place by 3 methods-

• Simple diffusion-Simple diffusion does not need energy, and here movement of molecules occurs along their concentration gradient. Absorption of dietary lipids by intestinal cells occurs through simple diffusion.
• Active transport- In active transport, the movement of molecules occurs against the concentration gradient. Energy is required for this transport to occur. This transport is used for the absorption of proteins and carbohydrates.

• Facilitated transport-The movement of molecules along their concentration gradient which is facilitated by some other ion, protein, carrier, or channel is known as facilitated transport. It does not require energy. Glucose and amino acids are transported through this method.

Summary

Absorption is a process of taking up simpler nutrient molecules from the gastrointestinal tract into the blood. It occurs after the process of digestion. The small intestine is where most of the absorption of various nutrients such as monosaccharides, amino acids, vitamins, etc takes place. It is made of 3 parts duodenum, jejunum, and ileum out of which most of the absorption takes place in the ileum region. The nutrients which are absorbed into the blood, travel to various parts of the body and provide the necessary nutrients which are required for the regular functioning of various cellular activities.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Give the Various Processes Present During Digestion.
Ans: Digestion is divided into 5 processes or steps-

• Ingestion
• Digestion
• Absorption
• Assimilations
• Egestion

2. Differentiate between Macronutrients and Micronutrients.
Ans: Macronutrients are nutrients required in large quantities as they perform various functions in our body. Some examples are- carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. Micronutrients are required in small quantities by the body. Some examples are- Vitamins and Minerals.

3. How are Carbohydrates, Proteins, and Fats are Broken Down?
Ans: Carbohydrates are broken down to glucose, sucrose, and other monosaccharides using enzymes such as Salivary amylase,           maltase, etc. Proteins are broken down into Amino acids with help of enzymes such as trypsin, chymotrypsin, etc. Fats are broken down into fatty acids with the enzyme lipase.

4. What Occurs if the Nutrients are not Properly Absorbed?
Ans: Malabsorption describes a decrease in the body’s capacity to absorb nutrients from the gastrointestinal tract. It interferes with the normal functioning of the body and causes various nutrient deficiencies.