Question

Arrange the following five steps of nutrition in correct sequence: (digestion, assimilation, ingestion, egestion, absorption)

Answer 1

The five steps of nutrition in correct sequence are:

1) Ingestion - It includes the processes that take place while the food is in the mouth also known as a buccal cavity (such as chewing and grinding) and swallowing of the food - which sends it onward down the digestive tract.

2) Digestion - It is the process of breaking down food into simpler substances that can then be absorbed and assimilated into the tissues of the body.

3) Absorption - The digested food is absorbed into the bodily fluids from the alimentary canal. The process of absorption takes place in the small intestine with the help of villi (they are minute finger-like processes lined against the walls of the small intestine).

4) Assimilation - the process by which chemicals from food are taken into the cells of the body after digestion and absorption. The food is absorbed by blood is transported to various parts of the body by the blood vessels.

5) Egestion - the process of removing the undigested food material from the body through the anus.