Question

Using a piece of meat as an example, explain how proteins that are eaten are assimilated into the blood. Your answer should include mechanical reduction in particle size, digestion and absorption.
in an essay

Answer 1

Answer: Meat has high protein content there are various process involved in the digestion and assimilation of proteins. The protein digestion occurs in the mouth, stomach and small intestine.

Mechanical reduction in particle size: Reduction in the particle size is main factor of digestion. In mouth the meat piece get breaks into simple pieces by chewing. And in the stomach and small intestine the reduction of size of meat piece by the action of enzymes.

Digestion: The digestion of meat piece starts initially in the mouth by chewing. And it moves to the stomach via esophagus. The stomach consist of hydrochloric acid and pepsin, it is an enzyme secreted by the stomach. Proteins are large chain of amino acid. These HCl and pepsin acted on the meat piece and it convert the large chain of amino acids into smaller chains. And these small chains of amino acids are moved to the duodenum of small intestine. In the duodenum by the action of trypsin, Chymotrypsin and carboxypeptidase the small chains are convert into simple amino acids. The enymes such as Trypsin and Chymotrypsin is secreted by pancreas and it gets activated in the duodenum.

Absorption: The small intestine consists of small finger like projections called villi. It absorbs the amino acids in the small intestine and it is released into the blood stream. This is the process the proteins get assimilated in the blood.