Introduction

Animal Nutrition

Nutrition is simply how living things take in food to grow and stay healthy.

Nutrition is the process of consuming food and transforming it into living material.

It means that the food you eat is changed into part of your body.

Animals cannot make their own food like plants, so they must eat other living things.

Animals feed by consuming complex organic substances.

This means we eat things like plants and meat that are already made of complex materials.

This way of eating where we swallow solid food is called holozoic nutrition.

This is called holozoic nutrition.

It just means eating organic matter and digesting it inside the body.

Processes of nutrition in animals

Feeding or Ingestion is the first step when you put food in your mouth.

Feeding/ingestion: This is when food is taken into the body.

It is just the simple act of eating your food.

Digestion is when your body breaks down big pieces of food into tiny bits that can melt into your blood.

Digestion: Large food molecules are broken down into smaller, soluble molecules. These smaller molecules can then be absorbed by the body's cells.

It changes big Eba or Yam into tiny liquid particles the body can use.

Absorption is when those tiny food particles actually enter your blood and cells.

Absorption: The digested food is absorbed into the body cells.

It is how the bodyaksaks takes the useful parts of the food inside.

Assimilation is when the body uses the food it has taken in to build new body parts or get power.

Assimilation: Some of the absorbed food is converted into new protoplasm, or used to provide energy for the body.

This is how the food you eat helps you grow taller or gives you strength to run.

Egestion is when you go to the toilet to pass out the food that your body could not use.

Egestion: Undigested food is removed from the body.

It is the way the body gets rid of waste that it does not need.

Classes of food

There are different types of nutrients that the body needs to stay healthy.

The main classes of nutrients are:

Carbohydrates

Fats and oils

Minerals

Proteins

Vitamins

Water