Module 7 Intro

Module 7—The Digestive and Respiratory Systems

Lesson 2—The Digestive System

 

Get Focused

 

Have you ever eaten so much that you thought your stomach was going to explode? On July 4, 2006, Takeru “The Tsunami” Kobayashi, of Nagano, Japan, set a world record by downing almost 54 hot dogs and buns in 12 minutes at the annual Coney Island Hot Dog Eating Contest.

 

Kobayashi is a multiple title-holder in the world of competitive eating. He pushes the human body to new limits of the gastrointestinal variety. His daily intake of 6000 calories is three times the recommended amount for an average person. However, he claims his 89-kg, 1.71-m frame carries a mere 10% body fat.

 

While you might marvel at the seemingly impossible and potentially dangerous eating feats of “The Tsunami,” some relatively simple biological concepts may help to explain his success.

 

As a competition approaches, Kobayashi eats greater amounts of food. He is expanding his stomach to prepare for the incredible volume of food that will enter his body in a short period of time. He also regularly weight trains and works out—these factors help push his rate of cellular respiration higher and helps him burn the excess calories that he takes in while training. This lessens the likelihood that his food intake will be stored and converted to fat, which would impair the critical expansion of his stomach during competitions.

 

Finally, perhaps the true secret to his success is that he is reported to have a condition called gastroptosis. This non-fatal disorder allows his stomach to displace downward beneath his rib cage, where it has a lot more room to expand as food fills it up.

 

There is no doubt that this example of an extreme test of the digestive system is not for everyone. The overall health implications of this kind of consumption would be negative, if not fatal, in most circumstances. This example does, however, raise the obvious question of how exactly the digestive system functions.

 

In this lesson you will learn about the digestive system's anatomy. You will discover how your body processes the food and drink that you take in on a daily basis. By tracking the pathway of digestion from the ingestion of food through the breakdown of macromolecules to the absorption of nutrients and, ultimately, the excretion of waste, you should gain a better understanding of the interdependence of the body’s various organ systems.

 

In this lesson the following essential questions will be examined:

• How do the organs of the digestive system work together to digest carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins?
  
  
• In what way does the body facilitate the exchange of energy and matter from the digestive system?

Module 7: Lesson 2 Assignment

 

Your teacher-marked Module 7: Lesson 2 Assignment requires you to submit a response to the following:

 

Try This: The Journey From Gums to Bums

 

There are four parts to this assignment.

• TR 1. Mapping the Route from Gums to Bums
• TR 2. Enroute From Gums to Bums
• TR 3. Enroute from Gums to Bums: The Small Intestine and Accessory Organs
• TR 4. Enroute from Gums to Bums: The Large Intestine

You can access your Module 7: Lesson 2 Assignment. You can print off the assignment or save the download to your computer. Your answers can be saved on this document to your course folder.

 

You must decide what to do with the questions that are not marked by the teacher.

 

Remember that these questions provide you with the practice and feedback that you need to successfully complete this course. You should respond to all the questions and place those answers in your course folder.

 

Biology 20 © 2008 Alberta Education