Question

Describe the process of digestion of food in humans

Answer 1

Digestion: The process of breakdown of complex food items into simpler forms for them to be absorbed by the body is known as digestion.

Steps of digestion of food in humans:

1. It begins with the ingestion of food via the buccal cavity where the food is chewed and saliva gets mixed with it forming a bolus.
2. The saliva having the salivary amylase acts upon the starch and forms maltose and dextrin.
3. The bolus thereafter passes through the oesophagus by peristalsis and reaches the stomach.
4. The stomach releases HCl which activates the pepsin enzyme in the stomach and breaks down the proteins.
5. Here, the food is mixed with water within the stomach, and chyme is formed.
6. The chyme travels to the small intestine for the final stage of digestion.
7. Thereafter within the small intestine, the enzymes from the liver and pancreas are secreted which break down the fats and proteins further.
8. After the complete breakdown of the food, it is absorbed into the blood vessels with the help of the villi in the small intestine.
9. Post absorption is the process of assimilation that begins by which the digested food is transported to every tissue of the body for the cells to convert all that food into energy.