UNIT OVERVIEW

Your body is like a chemical factory. Every time you eat, food travels through a long tube inside you. Along the way, food gets broken down into tiny pieces small enough to enter your blood. These tiny pieces give your cells the energy and building blocks they need.

This unit teaches you how mammals—including humans—turn food into fuel for life.

What You Will Learn:

By the end of this unit, you will be able to:

• Compare teeth in herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores
• Describe the parts of the human digestive system
• Explain how food is broken down and absorbed
• Describe how villi help absorption
• Explain what the liver does with nutrients
• Discuss how hormones control blood sugar
• Explain what happens when blood sugar control fails (diabetes)
• Evaluate the importance of eating well and the effects of malnutrition
• Read food labels and calculate nutritional values

What You Should Already Know:

• Carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids (Grade 10)
• How enzymes work (Grade 10)
• Basic cell structure (Grade 10)
• Food chains and energy flow (Grade 10)

Links to Other Topics:

• Photosynthesis — where food energy starts
• Excretion — how waste products leave the body
• Population Ecology — energy transfer between living things

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