Verified Document

Fantastic Voyage Through The Body The Man Essay

Related Topics:

Fantastic Voyage Through the Body The man is eating a hamburger and French fries while drinking a root beer. He is mechanically separating the food into smaller units, and then he is swallowing it. For this exercise, it is important to realize that there are four different types of material that will be absorbed by the body and that they are all absorbed differently. These are fiber from the leafy greens on the hamburger, fats from the hamburger and French fries, proteins from the hamburger, and carbohydrates in many forms which make up the bulk of the meal. They start off in a common area, but they end up going through different processes to either leave or remain in the body.

The first part of the journey is taken by all of the nutrition types. The man bites off a chunk of burger or fires, or drinks a swallow of root beer, and this is processed first in the mouth. The teeth tear and then chew the food to get it into small enough portions that it can be sent through the second part of the journey. After exiting the mouth, all of the food travels down the esophagus via peristaltic action to the stomach. Here the different types of food part ways.

Fiber is probably the least complex of all of the processes because most of it passes, without molestation, through the digestive tract without any absorption or other interruption. The fiber enters the stomach which does little to break it down other than to further decrease the size of the mass. It then travels down through the small intestine and the colon. It is excreted as solid waste (Robinson, 2011). The fiber actually plays another role as it is excreted...

Protein must be broken down before it can be absorbed, but that cannot happen in the mastication process (Andrews, 2011). When protein enters the stomach it is in small chunks that must somehow be unraveled so that they can be transported through the cell membranes where they will be utilized. In the stomach specialized cells secrete acid which unravels the rope that is protein from a large strand of any protein molecules into smaller single strands (Andrews, 2011). The process in the stomach, denaturation, occurs as stomach contractions, enzymes and acid work to break down the protein into manageable chunks. When the protein enters the small intestine, the pancreas and gall bladder add protease compounds that further break the molecules into amino acids. The cells in the small intestine also provide proteases (Andrews, 2011). The amino acids are absorbed by the intestinal cell walls as individual dipeptides and tripeptides, then they are further separated into individual amino acids. These amino acids are then either used by the intestinal cells to create needed proteins within the body, or they are sent to the liver for the same function. The proteins are then broken down by muscle fibers for energy.
The third substance is the fat that the meal includes. Fats are probably the most difficult substances for the body to absorb, and they are broken down through complex processes. "Dietary fats are large, complex…

Sources used in this document:
References

Andrews, T. (2011). How is protein digested? Retrieved from http://www.livestrong.com/article/423153-how-is-protein-digested/

Busse, A. (2011). Busse, A. (2011). How are dietary fats absorbed into the body. Retrieved from http://www.livestrong.com/article/428367-how-are-dietary-fats- absorbed-into-the-body/

Hill, C. (2011). How are carbohydrates digested, absorbed, and eliminated? Retrieved from http://www.livestrong.com/article/488801-how-are-carbohydrates-digested- absorbed-eliminated/

Robinson, S. (2011). Role of fiber in food digestion. Retrieved from http://www.livestrong.com/article/246678-role-of-fiber-in-food-digestion/
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Fantastic Voyage
Words: 1379 Length: 4 Document Type: Essay

Fantastic Voyage [hs130, section: ____ ] Today, on the twentieth of August, I will take you on a trip inside the gastrointestinal tract, and beyond in the human body to observe the process of digestion and excretion. As simple as it may seem, this process is more than just moving down a hollow tube. To understand this more deeply, let's begin our journey! REVIEW OF THE VIDEO TAPE: Being reduced to eight microns in

Fantastic Voyage
Words: 1266 Length: 4 Document Type: Essay

Fantastic Voyage [hs130, section: ____ ] I walked into my office at 8:00 AM with an empty mind. I was worried about the transmission that I needed to air in two days. When my boss asked me that morning about what the transmission would be, I lied and said, "Let that be a surprise!" I quickly logged online for ideas. Just then, I was interrupted by a man who wanted to speak

Foreshadowing in Moby Dick in
Words: 1206 Length: 4 Document Type: Term Paper

.. (is) blasphemous!" (pg. #). This is yet another foreshadowing device, for it shows that Moby Dick is nothing but an animal with no conscience and that Ahab's need for revenge will inevitably lead to his own death and that of the entire crew aboard the Pequod. In a very moving moment in the chapter "The Musket," Starbuck's moral ethics are put to the supreme test, for after a severe typhoon,

Journey Begins As We Enter
Words: 1067 Length: 3 Document Type: Term Paper

The blood in which we are traveling in is composed of red blood cells called hemoglobin, plasma, platelets, and white blood cells. Blood is transported through the body by the heart's pumping action. As we continue, we will enter the hepatic portal vein, which delivers blood from the gastrointestinal tract to the liver, into the ascending aorta, up towards the heart. As we approach the heart, it's pumping will

Enlightenment Issues
Words: 1746 Length: 5 Document Type: Term Paper

Gulliver's Travels" by Jonathan Swift, and "Frankenstein: Or the Modern Prometheus" by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly. Specifically, it will discuss family ties -- Gulliver's neglect of his family compared to Victor's neglect of his. During the Enlightenment, many issues of life and society were considered important to the very necessity and enjoyment of life. Both authors create characters that are far from normal and neglect their families in chaotic and

Moby Dick and Nature How Nature Displays an Indomitable Force
Words: 3725 Length: 13 Document Type: Term Paper

Moby Dick and Nature, How Nature Displays an Indomitable Force Moby-Dick provides different conducts of human beings towards nature. Melville presents a sea animals' world with a white whale as the focus of the narrative and a society represented through the Pequod. Through underlining the conflict between the Pequod, and the white whale, the author of the novel makes a unique, thorough and intensive check out into the link amid human

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now