Nutrition(Diet plans) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Nutrition(Diet plans) - Essay Example In the mouth, food is chewed and the process is called mastication or chewing process. Mastication is the foremost stage of digestion, and it upsurges the surface area of foodstuffs to allow the more efficient breakdown of enzymes. Inside the oral cavity there are numerous accessory glands that help in the digestion of food, they are - the teeth, tongue, and salivary glands. The teeth are small and hard organs that are located along the anterior and lateral edges of the oral cavity and are 32 in number. They help in cutting and grinding the food into smaller pieces. The tongue is situated medial to the teeth and on the inferior portion of the oral cavity. It assists to push the food to the posterior part of the oral cavity for swallowing. Finally, the salivary glands are vital organs that produce saliva that is a watery secretion. There are three sets of salivary glands surrounding the oral cavity and the watery secretion they produce assists to moisturise the food and starts the digestion of carbohydrates (Gray 2004). Chewing is an important step in the process of digestion and this process might be impaired if one does not chew properly or eats too quickly. Chewing or Mastication breaks up food into pieces that are more manageable and upsurges the surface area and also mixes with saliva. The saliva breaks down the carbohydrates present in the meal and the fats are broken down by lingual lipase. Therefore, if one consumes food hastily then he or she will have indigestion. In addition, apart from the enzymes present in the saliva, there are antibacterial agents like peroxidase, lysozyme, lactoferrin, immunoglobulin A, and a substance known as epidermal growth factor (EGF), which might assist to heal the inflamed intestinal tissues. And if someone had been swallowing without chewing and eating hastily then there is a reasonable chance of some inflammation to occur someplace in the gastrointestinal tract. The oesophagus