(a) The various organs of the human digestive system are mouth, oesophagus, stomach, small intestine and large intestine. The glands associated with the human digestive system are salivary glands, liver and pancreas.
(b) (i) Carbohydrates – The digestion of carbohydrates begins in the mouth. The human saliva contains an enzyme called salivary amylase which digests the starch present in the food into maltose sugar. The slightly digested carbohydrates when reaches the small intestine, pancreatic amylase present in the pancreatic juice breaks down the starch. The intestinal juice of the small intestine completes the digestion of carbohydrates and finally coverts it into glucose.
(ii) Fats – The process of digestion of fats begins in the stomach. The glands of stomach secrete a small amount of gastric lipase that breaks down the fats present in the food. From the stomach the partially digested food goes into small intestine where the pancreatic lipase breaks down the emulsified fats. The walls of small intestine secrete intestinal juice which converts the fats into fatty acids and glycerol.
(iii) Proteins – The digestion of proteins begins in the stomach. The glands of the stomach secrete gastric juice which contains an enzyme called pepsin. Pepsin converts the proteins into peptones. Pancreatic juice contains trypsin which digests the proteins into peptides and the intestinal juice completes the process of digestion of proteins thus converting it into amino acids.
