Download Who`s the boss? Health news Digestive system

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Written by Claire Wilson, Design by Rachael Somerville
Your body,
your choice
The human body has a number of body systems made
up of groups of body parts and organs that perform
special jobs. Today we look at the
digestive system.
Who’s the
boss?
The choices you make about what you put into your
body can affect how well your body systems work.
Good digestion helps body organs, including the
brain, work properly. You feel good and think clearly.
Healthy digestion partly depends on your diet. Good
nutrition comes from eating healthy foods including
fresh fruit and vegetables, whole grains and protein
(eggs, meat, tofu, fish, nuts, etc), and drinking lots
of water.
Digestive
system
If you make poor choices you can harm your body.
For example:
• drugs can affect the way your brain works –
scramble messages and make it hard to think
clearly and make decisions
• smoking can damage your lungs
• eating too many lollies can lead to tooth decay
• drinking soft drinks can damage your teeth
• eating fatty foods and not exercising enough can
make you overweight
The digestive process begins before
you put food into your mouth. Have
you noticed your mouth starts to water
when you smell something yummy?
The moisture is saliva. When you smell
and see food, messages are sent to
the brain to release saliva in the mouth
and to prepare the stomach for food.
The digestive system breaks down
food into nutrients, which are
chemicals the body needs to live and
grow. Nutrients are absorbed into the
bloodstream. The body then gets rids
of the waste it can’t use.
The brain controls the way we
think, feel, move and behave,
and many other things we are
not even aware of – like what
happens to the food we eat.
Messages travel to and from the
brain along nerves. The brain is
the boss of the nervous system.
When a message comes into
the brain from anywhere in the
body, the brain sends a return
message telling the body how
to react. For example, when you
touch something hot or sharp
your brain tells your muscles to
jerk away quickly.
Body organs work together in
groups to do certain jobs. Body
systems include the respiratory,
digestive, nervous, muscular
and circulatory systems. The
brain is in charge of all these
systems.
Create a table showing the good and not so
good decisions you have made for your body in
the last week. An example been done for you.
Write the correct number
from the diagram in the
circle beside the
matching description.
• Anything that has not been digested goes
into a tube that’s 1.5 metres long and
about 7-10 centimetres around. Water
and remaining nutrients are absorbed
into the body. Leftover waste leaves the
body when you go to the toilet.
• Muscles squeeze the food down a long
stretchy pipe into the stomach.
• Stomach muscles break up and mix the
food into smaller pieces. Chemicals
(enzymes and acid) help to break down
the food.
• Food fragments go into a 6-7 metre-long
tube where it’s broken down further to
release nutrients. Nutrients are absorbed
into the bloodstream and are carried
through the body. Nutrients build and feed
the cells, and provide energy to make the
body work.
• Food enters the body and is broken down
by the teeth and saliva into smaller pieces.
Good choices
Poor choices
apples
chips
What can you say about your choices?
Imagine that your body is a machine.
Draw it and label each processing
stage. For example you might include
chopping blades in your machine to
break food down. Describe what goes
in and what product comes out.
Not all stages in the digestive process are
included above. Find out what the liver
and pancreas do and add the extra steps.
Think about your body. How can you
tell when you are hungry? Can you feel
what happens inside you? Do you go to
the toilet regularly? Do you think your
digestive system is working well?
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Health news
Scientists and health professionals are always
learning new things about the effects of what we put
into our bodies. The media shares research results
and readers have to adjust their understanding about
what is good or not so good for them.
For example, we used to think that fruit juice was
good for the body. We now know it’s very high in
sugar and too much can damage children’s teeth.
It’s best to eat the whole fruit, which includes fibre,
which help keep the digestive system healthy.
Search through newspapers and magazines for
ads, pictures or news articles of food or drink
or other substances that can be taken. Cut them
out and sort out them into Good choices and
Bad choices. Which appear more frequently?
What kinds of choices do
you face that affect your
health and your lifestyle?