Chapter 5 - Animal nutrition

Diet
● Animals get their food from other organisms - from plants of other animals. They cannot
make their own food as plants do.
● The food an animal eats every day is called its diet. Most animals need 7 types of
nutrients in their diet.

7 types of nutrients animals need in their diet:

- Carbohydrates
- Proteins
- Fats
- Vitamins
- Minerals
- Water
- Fibre (roughage)
● A diet which contains all of these 7 types of nutrients (in the correct amounts and
proportions) is called a balanced diet.

Energy needs
● The energy you use each day comes from the food you eat. All food contains some
energy
If you eat too much food -> some of the extra energy will be stored as fat
If you eat too little food -> you may not be able to obtain as much energy as you need

Nutrients
Nutrient = a substance that provides nourishment essential for growth and the maintenance of
life.
● As well as providing you with energy, food is needed for many other reasons
● To make sure you eat a balanced diet, you must eat foods containing:
- Carbohydrate
- Fat
- Protein
● You also need each kind of:
- Vitamin
- Mineral
- Fibre
- Water
● These substances are called nutrients
● If your body doesn’t contain all of these nutrients, your body will not be able to work
properly

Vitamins
Vitamin = Vitamins are organic molecules essential to an organism in small quantities for proper
metabolic function.
● Vitamins are organic substances which are only needed in tiny amounts. If you do not
have enough of a vitamin, you may get a deficiency disease
Examples of deficiency diseases (vitamins):
Vitamin C - Scurvy (causes pain in joints and muscles and bleeding from gums and other
places)
Vitamin D - Rickets (the bones become soft and deformed)

What type of vitamins are there?

- Carbohydrates (Rice, Corn, Potatoes, Pasta, Bread)
- Fats (Butter, Oil, Eggs)
- Proteins (Meat, Fish, Milk, Eggs)
- Fibre (Lettuce, Oats, broccoli, kiwi)

Minerals
● Minerals are inorganic substances. Only small amounts of them are needed in the diet. If
you do not have enough minerals, you may get a deficiency disease.
Examples of deficiency diseases (minerals):
Calcium - Brittle bones & teeth, poor blood clotting
Iron - Anaemia (there are not enough red blood cells so the tissues do not get enough oxygen
delivered to them)

Fibre
● Fibre helps to keep the alimentary canal working properly.
● Food moves through the alimentary canal because the muscles contract and relax to
squeeze it along. This is called peristalsis.
● All plants such as fruits and vegetables, contain fibre. This is because the plant cells
have cellulose cell walls. Humans cannot digest cellulose,
Examples of fibre:
- Cereal grains (oats, wheat, barley)
- Brown/unpolished rice

Fat and heart disease

● The kind of fat found in animal foods is called saturated fat. These foods also contain
cholesterol.
● Some research suggests that people who eat a lot of saturated fat and colestorol are
more likely to get heart disease than people who do not.
Examples of fatty foods:
- Dairy products (milk, cream, butter, cheese)
- Red meat
- Eggs

Obesity
 ● People who take in more energy than they use up get fat. Being very fat is called
obesity. Obesity is dangerous to health.
● Obese people are more likely to get heart disease, strokes, diabetes, and problems with
the joints.

Starvation and malnutrition

● If there is enough food to keep people alive, they may suffer from malnutrition.
● Malnutrition is caused by not eating a balanced diet. One common form of malnutrition is
kwashiorkor (this is caused by lack of protein in the diet)
● The most severe forms of malnutrition result from a lack of both protein and energy in
the diet, another cause of malnutrition is marasmus (when there is a severe shortage of
energy in the diet, a child’s body weight is much lower than normal and it looks
emaciated)

Digestion
● The alimentary canal of a mammal is a long tube running from one end of its body to the
other.
● It has to get out of the alimentary canal and into the bloodstream. This is called
absorption.
● Before these molecules can be absorbed, they must be broken down into small ones.
This is called digestion.
● The 3 kinds of nutrients that must be digested are:
- Carbohydrates (Polysaccharides broken down to monosaccharides)
- Proteins (Amino acids)
- Fats (Fatty acids & glycerol)
● Water, vitamins, and minerals are already small molecules, and they can be absorbed
as they are. They do not need to be digested.

Mechanical and chemical digestion

● Often the food animal eats is in quite large pieces. These pieces of food need to be
broken up by teeth, and by churning movements of the alimentary canal. Thai is called
mechanical digestion
Steps of mechanical digestion:
1. Ingestion (food enters)
2. Digestion (food is being processed/broken down to molecules)
3. Absorption (molecules are being absorbed in the blood)
4. Egestion (food that is not absorbed is removed from the body)

● Once pieces of food have been ground up, the large molecules present are then broken
into smaller ones. This is called chemical digestion

Chemical digestion = The breakdown of large insoluble molecules into small soluble molecules

Teeth
 ● Teeth help with indigestion and mechanical digestion of the food we eat
● Teeth can be used to bite off pieces of food, They then chop, crush or gind them into
smaller pieces.
● This gives the food a larger surface area which makes it easier for enzymes to work on
the food in the digestive system, It also helps soluble parts of the food to dissolve.

Dental decay
● Dental decay is common problem. It is caused by bacteria. You have large numbers of
bacteria living in your mouth, most of which is harmless.
● Some bacteria, together with substances from your saliva, form a sticky film over your
teeth, especially next to the gums and in between the teeth. This is called plaque
● Plaque is soft and easy to remove at first, but if it is left it hardens to form tartar, which
cannot be removed by brushing.

Types of teeth
Types of teeth:
- Incisors
- Canines
- Premolars
- Molars

There are several easy things you can do to keep your teeth healthy and free from pain, such
as:
 1. Don’t eat too much sugar
2. Use fluoride toothpaste regularly
3. Make regular visits to the dentist

The alimentary canal

● The alimentary canal is a long tube which runs from the mouth to the anus. It is part of
the digestive system.
● Each section of the alimentary canal has its own part to play in the digestion, absorption,
and egestion of food.

The mouth
● Food is ingested using the teeth, lips, and tongues
● Saliva is made in the salivary glandes. It is a mixture of water, mucus, and the enzyme
amylase.

The oesophagus
● There are two tubes leading down from the back of the mouth.
● The one in the front is the trachea/windpipe (takes air down to the lungs)
● Behind the trachea is the oesophages (takes food down to the stomach)
● When you swallow, a piece of cartilage covers the entrance to the trachea. It is called
the epiglottis, and it stops food from going down into the lungs.
● The entrance to the stomach from the oesophagus is guarded by a ring of muscle called
sphincter. This muscle relaxes to let the food pass into the stomach.

The stomach
● The stomach has strong, muscular walls. The muscles contract and relax to churn the
food and mixit with the enzymes and mucus. This mixture is called chyme.
● Like all parts of the alimentary canal, the stomachwall contains goblet cells which
secrete mucus.

The small intestine

● The small intestine is the part of the alimentary canal between the stomach and the
colon
● It is about 5 m long. It is called the small intestine because it is quite narrow
● Several enzymes are secreted into the small intestine
● A tube called the pancreatic duct leads from the pancreas into the duodenum.

Bile
● As well as pancreatic juice, another fluid flows into the small intestine. It is Bile.
● Bile is a yellowish green, alkaline, watery fluid, which helps to neutralise the acidic
mixture from the stomach.
Emulsification = the process by which the dispersed phase is broken up into small droplets.

Villi
 ● The inner wall of the small intestine is covered with millions of tiny projections. These are
called villi. Cells covering villi make enzymes. These enzymes complete the digestion of
food.

Absorption of digested food

Absorption = is the movement of digested food molecules through the wall of the intestine into
the blood.
● The small intestine is especially adapted to allow absorption to take place very efficiently
● Water, mineral salts, and vitamins are also absorbed in the small intestine.

The large intestine

● The large intestine is given this name because it is a wider tube than the small intestine
● Not all food that is eaten can be digested, and this undigested food cannot be absorbed
in the small intestinal
● All that remains is undigestable food (fibre, or roughage), bacteria, and some dead cells
from the inside of the alimentary canal. This mixture forms the faecesm which are
passed out at intervals through the anus. This process is called egestion.

Assimilation
Assimilation = Assimilation is the process of absorption of vitamins, minerals, and other
chemicals from food as part of the nutrition of an organism.