The food tube
From the mouth to the anus.
Where does food go?
You eat a chapati. Your body cannot use it just as it is.
What do you think happens to the food after we swallow it?
What this lesson covers
The idea
Complex food components—carbohydrate, protein and fat—must be broken into simpler forms before the body can use them; this happens in the alimentary canal, a long tube from mouth to anus, where digestive juices act on the food.
Where does food go?
You eat a chapati. Your body cannot use it just as it is.
What do you think happens to the food after we swallow it?
- It is broken into simpler forms inside a long tube
- It goes into the blood just as it is
- It turns into air
Send a mouthful
Press Eat. Watch the mouthful move along the tube. Tap a part to see its name.
One long tube
The food went through one long tube. Digestive juices acted on it on the way, and the big pieces became small ones.
Complex food components (carbohydrate, protein and fat) must be broken into simpler forms before the body can use them. This happens in the alimentary canal, a long tube from the mouth to the anus, where digestive juices act on the food.
Notes
Complex food components (carbohydrate, protein and fat) are broken into simpler forms in the alimentary canal, a long tube from the mouth to the anus, where digestive juices act on the food.
Check yourself
Which three are complex food components?
The alimentary canal is a long tube from the …
Why must complex food be broken into simpler forms?
What acts on the food as it moves along the canal?
- Air, light and sound. These are not food components. Carbohydrate, protein and fat are.
- Carbohydrate, protein and fat — correct. Yes!
- Sand, salt and stones. These are not the complex components of our food. Carbohydrate, protein and fat are.
- nose to the lungs. That is the path of air. The alimentary canal runs from the mouth to the anus.
- stomach to the mouth. In humans the canal runs from the mouth to the anus.
- mouth to the anus — correct. Yes!
- So that the body can use it — correct. Yes!
- So that it stays in big pieces. The body cannot use complex food as it is. It needs simpler forms.
- So that it becomes colder. Digestion is about simpler forms of food, not about temperature.
- Only water poured from outside. Digestive juices made inside the body act on the food.
- Digestive juices — correct. Yes!
- Sunlight. Sunlight does not act on food inside the body. Digestive juices do.