(6) Animal nutrition

(a) Diet (Core)

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Animals need food to a) provide energy b) build new cells for growth or repair c) provide essential substances for d) our metabolic reactions e) keep us healthy to fight disease

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Whatever we eat and drink each day is our diet. It can be a healthy diet or an unhealthy diet, but we are always on some sort of diet.

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There are certain things we need to eat to remain healthy and they should be eaten in the correct quantities. If this is done we will have a balanced (healthy) diet.

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For a balanced diet we need certain nutrients and these are carbohydrates, fats, proteins, minerals, vitamins and water.

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With a little information anyone can live on a balanced diet without paying hundreds of dollars to Jenny Craig!

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Carbohydrates

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Carbohydrates are our main source of energy. All carbohydrates are made from the following elements; carbon, hydrogen and oxygen.

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The simplest carbohydrates are called monosaccharides and include glucose and fructose (found in fruit).

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Disaccharides are formed by joining two monosaccharides together. They include lactose (found in milk), sucrose and maltose.

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When thousands of monosaccharides are joined together a number of different polysaccharides (polys means many in Greek) can be formed. These include starch, cellulose and glycogen.

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Starch is what plants use to store extra glucose for energy when times are hard. Cellulose forms the main structure of plant cell walls and cannot be digested by humans. It does act as fibre (roughage) which is important for the efficient functioning of the alimentary canal (digestive system).

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However, it is not a nutrient as it does not provide a substance that can be metabolised (used in a chemical reaction) by the body.

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Glycogen is the polysaccharide that many animals use (including us) to store extra glucose and it is stored in the liver and muscles.

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Fats/oils

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Although similar, fats are solid at room temperature and come from animals. They include butter, lard and dripping. Oils come from plants and are usually liquid at room temperature, like olive oil and corn oil.

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Fats and oils are also made from carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, although there is a lot less oxygen compared with the amount in carbohydrates.

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Fats provide energy during respiration (just like carbohydrates) and they are also good as energy reserves, because they can be stored under the skin.

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This also provides an insulating layer against the cold, which helps Eskimos but is not really needed in The Bahamas.

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Fats are needed in our diet to act as a solvent for vitamins A, D and E. These vitamins dissolve in fat but not in water, so they are called fat-soluble vitamins.

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Protein

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Just like carbohydrates and fats, proteins contain carbon, hydrogen and oxygen.

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Unlike carbohydrates and fats they also contain nitrogen and sometimes sulphur and phosphorus.

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Due to their similarities with fats and carbohydrates, proteins can provide a small amount of energy but their main job is in building new cells and repairing damaged tissue. Proteins are also needed for the production of enzymes.

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Amino acids are the building blocks of poteins and amino acids can pass through the wall of the small intestine to be carried around the body in the blood stream. When they reach the place where they are needed they leave the blood stream and are built back up into proteins by the cells.

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This means that the protein you ate originally must be broken down (digested) into amino acids, carried by the bloodstream and built back up into protein.

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Certain amino acids can be made by our bodies so they are not needed in our diet. The amino acids that we cant make are called essential amino acids because we must take them in with our food.

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Mineral salts

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Mineral salts contain certain chemical elements which are needed in very small quantities to maintain a healthy body. A lack of these chemical elements leads to deficiency diseases.

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Vitamins

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The first notable work on vitamins was carried out by Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins, an English scientist, in the early 1900s. The name is derived from the expression vital amines.

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Like minerals they are only needed in small amounts, but serious deficiency diseases are caused if they are missing from the diet. Some vitamins are soluble in water and some are soluble in fats, which is why water and fats are both needed in our diet.

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Water

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Water is the most important nutrient in our diet as nearly 70% of our bodies is water. It takes part directly in some reactions and acts as a solvent for certain substances in other reactions.

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Composition of Food
Table 1 Percentage nutrient composition of some foods

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Dried fish

Fresh fish 18.0

Meat

Cows milk 3.5

Cabbage

Protein

63.0

18.0

1.0

Fat

10.0

3.0

18.0

4.0

0.0

Water Carbohyd rate Other

18.0

77.0

63.0

87.5

94.0

0.0 9.0

0.0 2.0

0.0 1.0

5.0 0.0

4.0 1.0

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Energy and Activity

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A person gets his or her energy from respiration when oxygen burns food. The harder somebody works (physically) the more energy they will use.

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Traditionally the unit of energy was the calorie and it is still used by most of the public. As far as scientists are concerned the calorie has been replaced by a new unit, the joule (symbol J).

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A gardener cutting, digging and planting will use more energy during a workday than someone sitting at a computer in an office.

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Energy and Gender

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Females use the energy available in food more efficiently than males, so they require less energy from food in their diet.

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Energy and Age

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Up until puberty children show a steady increase in the amount of joules they need as they get older.

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Between 15 and 19 boys are still growing whilst girls have usually finished growing. This means that boys of this age range need food with a higher energy content

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Human Alimentary Canal (Core)

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The alimentary canal starts with the mouth. Food is put into the mouth and this is also called ingestion.

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As the teeth mash up the food the tongue forms it into a ball. The food is now called a bolus.

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From here muscle contractions and tongue movement pushes the food (bolus) into the oesophagus, which is a muscular tube that leads to the stomach. This is where the food (bolus) gets churned up and broken down into useful material that the body can use, in a process called digestion.

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Enzymes that are made by the stomach wall flow into the stomach to help with digestion.

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The stomach is a big bag of muscle and it pushes the digested food into the duodenum of the small intestine. A chemical called bile is made by the liver and this also helps with digestion, although it is not an enzyme.

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Enzymes made by the pancreas complete the digestion of food. Bile and the pancreatic enzymes work in the first part of the small intestine.

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The digested food is now in solution (it has dissolved) and can be absorbed into the body. This takes place through the wall of the small intestine and the process is called absorption.

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On passing through the intestinal wall the nutrients (including water) are carried by the blood around the body to the places where they are needed. When they get to the right place they leave the blood and move to the cells where they are used in a process called assimilation.

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While the nutrients are being absorbed by the small intestine the indigestible matter is passed along to the large intestine.

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Along with this indigestible matter is one last bit of useful material-water. It is through the walls of the large intestine that any excess water is absorbed back into the body.

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The undigested material is passed along to the rectum where it is stored until there is enough to be passed out through the anus in a process called egestion.

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mouth

oesophagus

gall bladder

liver stomach pancreas large intestine rectum

small intestine

anus

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Summary 1. The alimentary canal starts at the mouth. 2. Putting food into the mouth is called ingestion. 3. The food is formed into a ball called a bolus.

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4. The bolus moves from the mouth, down the oesophagus to the stomach. 5. Digestion starts in the mouth. 6. The food moves from the stomach into the first part of the small intestine called the duodenum.

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7. Bile and pancreatic enzymes also help with digestion. 8. Digested food is absorbed through the wall of the small intestine. 9. Digested food is carried around the body in the blood.

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10. Digested food is used in a process called assimilation. 11. Excess water is absorbed through the walls of the large intestine. 12. Undigested material passes along to the rectum. 13. Undigested material is passed out through the anus (egestion).

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Questions 1. What is the process of putting food into the mouth called? [1] 2. What is the ball of food that is formed in the mouth called? [1] 3. What tube leads from the mouth to the stomach? [1]

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4. Where do the enzymes that get used in the stomach come from? [1] 5. What organ makes bile? [1] 6. Where is the digestion of food completed? [1] 7. Where does water get absorbed into the body from? [2]

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8. Where does undigested material get stored before it is passed out of the body? [1] 9. What is the process of passing out undigested material through the anus called? [1] Total marks [9]

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