Food and digestion

Food groups

Carbohydrates

Lipids

Proteins

Minerals

Vitamins

Made of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen

Basic carbohydrates are simple sugars

Disaccharides are 2 monosaccharides covalently bonded together

Lactose is glucose and galactose

Polysaccharides are more than 2 sugars bonded together

Glucose

Fructose

Galactose

Sucrose is glucose and fructose

Cellulose, starch, and glycogen are polysaccharides

They are used as an energy store (starch/glycogen) or for structure (cellulose)

Main source of energy (fuel for respiration)

Made of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen

Fats

Solid at room temperature

Oils

Liquid at room temperature

Usually produced by animals

Usually produced by plants

Used for cell structure, long-term energy storage, insulation, and padding

Its building blocks are 1 glycerol joined to 3 fatty acids

Made of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen (sometimes sulfur)

Its building blocks are amino acids (there are 20 types)

Used for cell growth and repair

Enzymes are proteins

Kwashiorkor is a protein deficiency disease

A group of various named molecules that carry out functions in the body

Fibre

Cellulose is indigestible and therefore is fibre

A is used for chemicals in the retina and protects the eye. Deficiency causes night blindness

Elements that are needed to make molecules for the body to function

Calcium for bones

Phosphorus for various chemicals such as DNA or ATP

Sodium and chlorine for body fluids

Magnesium for cells

Iron for haemoglobin

C sticks together cells lining surfaces (such as gums). Deficiency causes scurvy

D helps bones absorb calcium and phosphate. Deficiency is rickets

Tests for food groups

Starch

Glucose

Protein

Lipid

Add the sample to a spotting tile and add a drop of iodine. If the solution turns dark blue, starch is present. If it remains yellow-brown, no starch is present

Add the sample to a test tube and add 2cm^3 of Biuret solution. Shake gently. If the solution turns lilac, protein is present. If the solution stays pale blue, no protein is present

Add the sample to a test tube and add an equal amount of ethanol. Shake. Pour the mixture into a second test tube that contains cold water. If the solution goes milky/cloudy and white, lipids are present.

Add the sample to a test tube, and add 2cm deep of water. Add a few drops of Benedict's solution (enough to make it blue). Half-fill a beaker with water and heat it on a tripod and gauze, then place the test tube in the beaker and allow the water to boil. If the solution turns brick-red, glucose is present. If it stays blue then glucose is not present

Measuring energy content of food

Find the mass of the food sample. Put 20cm3 of water in a boiling tube and clamp it diagonally. Measure the temperature. Spear the food on a mounted needle and hold it under a Bunsen burner until it catches fire. Hold it under the boiling tube until it burns out and continue relighting it until it no longer burns. Measure the temperature of the water after stirring it.

Final formula: Energy in joules per gram (J per g) = ((final temperature - original temperature) x 20 x 4.2) / mass of food (g)

Digestion

It is the chemical and mechanical breakdown of food. It converts large insoluble molecules into small soluble molecules which can be absorbed into the blood.

Sped up by enzymes

Biological catalysts

Chemical digestion

End in -ase

Peristalsis

Fibres arranged in rings are called circular muscle layer

Fibres running across the length is called longitudinal muscle layer