Food and Digestion Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, food groups, nutrients, and organ functions in the human digestive system based on lecture notes.

Claim

A statement that is supposed to be true.

Carbohydrate

A nutrient used as the main source of energy, found in foods such as pasta, rice, and bread.

Constipation

When the intestines get blocked.

Diet

The food that you eat.

Fat

A nutrient stored to be used for energy in the future that also acts as a thermal insulator.

Fibre

A substance found in food that is not used up or digested by the body, which helps keep the intestines clean and gives the digestive system a good workout.

Glucose

An important sugar used as a reactant in respiration.

Lipid

A large group of similar substances that includes fats and oils.

Mineral

An element that is a nutrient needed in small quantities for health (e.g., calcium), found in foods and soils as mineral salts.

Nutrient

A substance needed in the diet to provide raw materials for making new substances and for energy release.

Nutrition

The substances that help organisms respire and grow.

Oil

A liquid fat.

Protein

A nutrient used for growth and repair, rich in foods such as fish and meat.

Raw material

A substance used to make other substances.

Starch

A type of insoluble carbohydrate found in plants that is broken down into smaller sugar molecules during digestion.

Sucrose

The sugar that is transported around plants, also known as table sugar.

Sugar

A type of soluble carbohydrate, of which glucose is an example.

Vitamin

A nutrient needed in small quantities for health (e.g., vitamin C).

Oesophagus

The organ that links the mouth to the stomach and controls the movement of food by peristalsis.

Stomach

An organ that churns food, mixes it with digestive enzymes, and contains hydrochloric acid.

Small intestine

The place in the digestive system where digested food is absorbed into the blood.

Large intestine

The organ in the digestive system where water is reabsorbed from food.

Rectum

The organ that holds and stores waste food as faeces until it is ready to be passed out of the body.

Peristalsis

The contracting and relaxing of the oesophagus muscles to move food in a controlled way towards the stomach.

Enzymes

Biological catalysts that act as the main chemical substances used to speed up the breaking down of food.

Organ

A structure made up of tissues that performs a specific function within an organism.

Digestion

The process of breaking down insoluble food substances into small, soluble ones so that they can be absorbed into the bloodstream.

Diffusion

The main process by which digested food passes into the blood from the small intestine.