Animal nutrition

Nutrition: Taking in nutrients to be used for energy, growth and development.

 Organic substances: carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, fiber.
 Inorganic substances: Water, minerals.

Balanced diet:
A diet which provides nutrients in correct amounts and proportions to provide energy and
maintain health.
Energy requirements depend on
1. Age:
 Babies need calcium and vitamin D for bones and teeth.
 At puberty child need glucose for energy and proteins for growth.
 Old people: need protein for repair.
2. Sex:
 Males need
• More energy due to more physical work & larger body
• Proteins to build muscles.
 Females need
• More iron to replace hemoglobin lost in menstruation.
• Pregnant: need
✓ More calcium for bone and teeth,
✓ Iron for baby RBCs.
✓ Proteins for growing fetus.
• Breast feeding female needs
✓ Energy to move and
✓ Protein for milk production.
3. Activity: heavy workers as miners need more energy than light workers.
4. Disease, climate can affect energy requirements.

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Malnutrition: if not eating a balanced diet.
1. Obesity:
Being very fat due to taking energy more than used up, they are prone to
 Heart disease, diabetes, and strokes.
 Strain on muscles and joints as knee joint and
 Psychological effect.
Control:
 Balanced meals with more roughage and less fats and carbohydrate.
 Regular exercise to increase energy use.
2. Kwashiorkor:
Due to lack of protein and lot of carbohydrates due to poverty.
Child if put onto high protein diet they grow normally again.

3. Marasmus:
Due to lack of protein and carbohydrate, fats in diet in undeveloped countries.
Similarities of kwashiorkor and marasmus: both
✓ Are types of malnutrition caused by protein deficiency and affects children
✓ Suffer muscle wasting , low body mass and poor growth, dry skin.
✓ Anaemia and irritability.
Differences:
✓ kwashiorkor has swollen belly, oedema due to water retention.
✓ Marasmus also deficient in, carbohydrates, fats (energy)

4. Constipation:
Lack of fiber (roughage), the cellulose cell wall that is undigested. Found in.
✓ Fruits and vegetables.
✓ Whole meal bread which contains bran. (outer husk of cereal grains)
Function:
1. Prevent constipation: retains water and forms a bulk in the large intestine which
stimulates peristalsis. Lack of fiber cause constipation due to less peristalsis.
2. Prevent obesity: sense of stomach fullness and replaces fat and sugar in diet.
5. Starvation: no enough food to feed people who can die.
6. Scurvy and Coronary heart disease see latter.

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 Human teeth

Types:
Incisors:
• Sharp edges at the front.
• For biting food.

Canines:
• Pointed, cone shaped at either side of incisors
• For cutting and tearing food.

Premolars & molars

• Wide surface and cusps slide against each other for grinding food during chewing.
• Premolars 2 cusps, 2 roots.
• Molars 4 cusps, more than 2 roots
• Molars at the back are called wisdom teeth, grow at later age.

Structure:
1. Crown: part above the gum and root embedded in gum.
2. Enamel: cover crown, hardest substance in the body but dissolved by acids.
3. Dentine: under the enamel, have channels containing living cytoplasm.
4. Pulp cavity: contain nerves for sensation, blood vessels to give dentine O2 &nutrients.
5. Cement: cover the root and anchor the teeth to the jaw.
6. Fibers: from cement to jaw bone, it allows teeth to move slightly when biting or chewing.

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Dental decay (caries): causes
1. Poor dental hygiene.
2. Plaque containing bacteria, saliva and sugar form on teeth & next to gums.
3. Bacteria in plaque respire sugar changing it into acid.
4. Acid dissolve enamel and dentine forming cavity & expose nerves causing tooth ache.

Prevention:
1) Changing diet:
 Avoid eating much refined sugar, better to eat with meals.
 Calcium, vitamin D, strengthens enamel and dentine.
2) Regular brushing after meals, and before going bed as toothpaste
A. Removes plaque.
B. Contain fluoride which hardens enamel in children so teeth more resistant to decay.
C. Contain anti-bacterial agent which kills bacteria.
D. Alkaline (pH 8.5) neutralizes acids in the mouth.
3) Use dental floss, and visit dentist regularly.,
4) Adding fluoride to drinking water.

Lower part of the tooth softens before upper part with acid:
 Crown is covered by enamel, but root doesn’t, covered with cement and dentine.
 Enamel is harder than cement and dentine.

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 Alimentary canal
Muscular tube from mouth to anus where food move by peristalsis.
Sphincters: rings of muscle which contract to keep food in one part for certain time.

Duodenum

Ileum Colon

All digestive juices contain water and mucus from goblet cells
 Mucus:
• Lubricant,
• Stick food as bolus and
• Protect wall of alimentary canal from enzymes.
 Water:
✓ Solvent: dissolve food to taste it and for easier chewing, swallowing and egestion.
✓ Hydrolysis in chemical digestion.
✓ For enzyme activity.

Ingestion: taking food and drink into the body through mouth.

Digestion:
 Mechanical digestion: breakdown of food into smaller pieces by teeth without chemical
change to increase surface area for enzyme action and for easy swallowing.
 Chemical digestion: breakdown of large insoluble molecules into small soluble ones that
can be absorbed by the blood by breakdown of molecular bonds by enzymes.

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1. Mouth and teeth: responsible for
 Ingestion using teeth lips and tongue.
 Chewing:
 Grind food to increase its surface area for enzymes action.
 Mixes food with saliva to form a bolus.
 Saliva from salivary glands, is made of water, mucus and salivary amylase
 Amylase begin starch digestion to maltose as food stays in mouth for short time.
 Its action stops in the stomach as pH is acidic so enzyme is denatured.

2. Esophagus: behind the trachea. Food is pushed down by peristalsis.

Peristalsis: rhythmic wave of contraction and relaxation of muscle to push food forwards
 Behind bolus: circular muscles contract, longitudinal relax, pushing food forward.
 In front bolus: circular muscles relax, longitudinal contract, making lumen wider.
 Circular and longitudinal muscles work antagonistically
During swallowing
 Soft palate closes the nasal cavity.
 Epiglottis (cartilage) closes the trachea.

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3. Stomach: under the diaphragm and has strong muscular wall
a) Mechanical digestion in stomach: contraction and relaxation of muscles in stomach wall
churns food and mixes it with enzymes forming chyme.
b) Chemical digestion: Gastric juice from cells in pits
• Pepsin: protease enzyme which break proteins to amino acids.
• HCL: give optimum pH 2 for pepsin and kill bacteria in food by denaturing their enzymes.

After one or two hours, chyme pass into the duodenum.

Stomach is protected from pepsin and HCL by:
1) Pepsin is secreted as inactive pepsinogen, activated by HCL.
2) Mucus from goblet cells coat stomach lining, protect from enzymes and HCL.

Stomach secretes most water in a digestive juice.

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4. Small intestine: (5 m), duodenum near stomach and ileum near colon.
Duodenum: near stomach, in it food is mixed with bile and Pancreatic juice.
a) Bile: greenish yellow fluid, contain no enzymes, made in liver, stored in gall bladder
and Flows to the duodenum through bile duct, consist of
 Bile pigments:
 From break down of hemoglobin of dead RBCS in liver.
 Excreted with faeces.
 Bile salts: for
 Emulsification of fat to droplets which increase surface area for action of lipase.
 Provide alkaline pH for pancreatic enzyme and neutralizes acidity from stomach.

b) Pancreatic juice: made in pancrease flows to duodenum by pancreatic duct .

 Pancreatic amylase break starch to maltose.
 Pancreatic protease ,trypsin which break proteins to amino acids.
 Pancreatic lipase; break emulsified fat into fatty acids and glycerol.
 Sodium hydrogen carbonate: it is alkaline
 Give optimum pH for enzymes in small intestine
 Neutralize gastric HCL.

Gall stones: block bile ducts and stop bile flowing through it into the duodenum, so no bile
salts, less emulsification of fat and less surface area and so digestion of fat takes longer.

End products of digestion: are small, soluble and can be absorbed through villi by diffusion.
Enzymes on membranes of the epithelial lining of small intestine complete digestion of food.
1. Maltase breaks maltose to glucose.
2. Sucrase breaks sucrose to glucose and fructose.
3. Lactase breaks lactose to glucose and galactose.
4. Protease: finish breakdown of proteins to amino acids.
5. Lipase: break emulsified fat to fatty acids and glycerol.

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 Absorption

Movement of small food molecules and ions through wall of small intestine into blood or lymph.

Adaptation of small intestine for absorption:

 Long: gives time for digestion and absorption of food as it slowly passes through.
 Intestinal villi: projections 1 mm long, on inner wall of duodenum and ileum
1. Large number which increase surface area for absorption.
2. Villous epithelium:
 One cell thick: short distance for diffusion to capillaries and lacteals.
 Cells have microvilli which increase surface area for faster absorption.
 Cells have many mitochondria to provide energy for active uptake.
 Goblet cells secrete mucous: protect from enzymes, acids, toxins, physical damage
3. Blood capillaries: transport simple sugars, amino acids, water, minerals, vitamins and
some fat to the liver through hepatic portal vein, then round the body.
4. Lacteals: absorb fats and fat-soluble vitamins into the lymphatic system.
5. Muscles at the base: empty lacteals and move villi to increase gradient and absorption.

Effects of a reduction in absorption of nutrients:

1. Weight loss and lack of energy
2. Malnutrition: Anemia, Kwashiorkor, Marasmus, scurvy and night blindness.

Assimilation
Movement of digested food molecules into body cells and used, becoming part of cells.
Nutrients are taken to the liver by hepatic portal vein
• Some are broken down, some are converted into other substances, and some stored.
• Remainder taken to other parts of the body where they may become part of a cell.

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Large intestine (colon, rectum):
Wider than duodenum and ileum and has large surface area for
 Absorption of water and salts from food to the blood.
 Store faeces until egested through the anus, have no role in digestion.
Most of water absorption is from small intestine.
Water absorption prevent diarrhoea with loss of water and ions (dehydration).

Egestion
Passing out of undigested or not absorbed food through anus as faeces.
Not excretion because faeces are not a waste product of metabolism.
Faeces are composed of:
 Undigested food as fiber, mucus and bile.
 Bacteria and some dead cells from wall of alimentary canal.

Diarrhea
Loss of watery faeces if water is not reabsorbed.
Severe diarrhea can cause:
1. Dehydration and increase in blood concentration and loss of water from cells by osmosis.
2. Loss of minerals and vitamins.
3. Kidney failure coma and death.
Treatment:
• Give oral rehydration solution: mixture of salt, sugar and water
• Antibiotics.

Cholera:
1. Cholera bacterium is ingested in contaminated water or food from infected person
It breeds in the small intestine and attach to the wall and release a toxin.
2. Toxin stimulates cells to secrete chloride ions.
3. Chloride ions increase concentration of the fluid in the lumen.
4. Lot of water is lost by osmosis from vessels in the walls into the gut lumen causing
diarrhea, dehydration and loss of salts from blood.
If enough fluids are given to replace losses, cholera will recover

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Vitamins: organic substances needed in tiny amounts to perform specific function
1. Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) water soluble and should be supplied daily, not stored.
Source: citrus fruits lemon, oranges & raw fresh vegetables, tomatoes, and kiwi.
Function:
 Make collagen protein in skin, gums, and blood vessels.
 Keep good tissue repair and protect cells from ageing.
 Increase immunity and help iron absorption.
Deficiency
Scurvy: disease of sailors (no fresh vegetables)
 Bleeding gums, bruising.
 Pain in joints and muscles and poor healing of wounds and anemia.

Testing for vitamin C: DCPIP test.

DCPIP is a blue liquid and vitamin C causes DCPIP to lose this color.
1. Measure 2 cm of DCPIP in test tube and use pipette to add lemon juice to the DCPIP.
2. Count how many drops needed for DCPIP to lose its color.
3. The smaller number of drops for DCPIP to lose color, the more is vitamin C.

2. Vitamin D, fat soluble, stored in the body

Source: eggs and fish and liver or made under the skin on exposure to sun.
Function: Help absorption & deposition of calcium in bone & teeth making them strong.
Deficiency
 Rickets: bones become soft and deformed.
 Muscle cramps and stunted growth and fatigue.

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Minerals: Inorganic substances needed in small amounts for normal body functions, Ca, K, Na.
1. Iron (Fe)
Source: Red meat, liver, eggs and green leafy vegetables
Function Synthesis of hemoglobin in RBCs this carries oxygen.
Deficiency: Anemia: decrease Hb, and oxygen carrying capacity of blood, causing
 Pale appearance
 Headache, fatigue
 Shortness of breath on mild effort.

2. Calcium (Ca)
Source: Milk, cheese, and eggs and fish.
Function: strengthen bones and teeth enamel.
Deficiency: cause brittle bone and teeth more prone to decay.

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