How Does Chewing Food Affect Your Body's Abilities to Release the Chemical Energy of Your Food?

It is absolutely necessary to chew solid food to experience the releasing of chemical energy from the food. It would be impossible to eat an apple by swallowing it whole since it is too big to be digested. The chewing of food breaks it down into digestible pieces that can be processed by the enzymes of the stomach. Enzymes are complex proteins that bring about a specific chemical change in the body. Enzymes exist in every organ and cell of the body.

Energy in Food

• Food contains nutrients which act as building blocks to disperse energy and nourishment throughout the body. A nutrient is a chemical that is needed by the body to live, grow and heal. They build and repair tissues, regulate body processes, and are converted to and used as energy. These food nutrients are housed in large molecules that are chemically and physically bound together. Through digestion, these tightly bound molecules are broken down into individual nutrients to be used for the function and support of the body.

Digestion

• Digestion takes place in the gastrointestinal tract which is 20 to 30 feet long --- extending from the mouth to the anus. All food flows through the digestive system. Through digestion, food is converted to nutrients or energy for the body. Nutrients are transported through the cell wall of the intestinal tract and into the bloodstream. Then nutrients circulate into the tissues to promote organ function, supply energy, and to provide growth and repair of new cells and tissues.

Digestive Processes

• Mechanical digestion and chemical digestion are equally important processes in the release of chemical energy of food. They promote the digestion, absorption and excretion of ingested food. The chemical breakdown of food starts in the mouth, traveling to the esophagus, moving into the stomach and then into the intestines. Mechanical digestion can be visibly seen while chemical digestion is not visible, since it happens inside of the body. These vital processes are complementary of each other.

Mechanical & Chemical Digestion

• Mechanical digestion takes place mainly in the mouth and to some degree in the stomach. The teeth are the essential tool of the mechanical digestion process, while the enzymes in the stomach are vital to the chemical digestion process. Further, the stomach muscles impact mechanical digestion while the hydrochloric acid of the stomach affects chemical digestion. Chemical digestion involves chemical energy, in the digestive process, through enzymes that release energy. Chemical digestion primarily happens in the stomach.