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In detail, a phagocyte's duty is obtaining food particles and digesting it in a vacuole. [2] For example, following phagocytosis , the ingested particle (or phagosome) fuses with a lysosome containing hydrolytic enzymes to form a phagolysosome ; the pathogens or food particles within the phagosome are then digested by the lysosome's enzymes.
The human body is composed of approximately: 64% water, 20% protein, 10% fat, 1% carbohydrate, 5% minerals. [1] The decomposition of soft tissue is characterized by the breakdown of these macromolecules, and thus a large proportion of the decomposition products should reflect the amount of protein and fat content initially present in the body. [4]
This fragmentation may occur through the chewing action of teeth (in the mouth of many vertebrates) or the grinding action of pebbles (in the gizzard of earthworms and birds). Chemical digestion then occurs, breaking down the larger food molecules of polysaccharides and disaccharides, fats, and proteins into their smallest sub-units.
Digestion is the breakdown of large insoluble food compounds into small water-soluble components so that they can be absorbed into the blood plasma.In certain organisms, these smaller substances are absorbed through the small intestine into the blood stream.
Transit time through the small intestine is an average of 4 hours. Half of the food residues of a meal have emptied from the small intestine by an average of 5.4 hours after ingestion. Emptying of the small intestine is complete after an average of 8.6 hours. [30]
The large intestine's main function is to transport food particles through the body and expel the indigestible parts at the other end, but it also collects waste from throughout the body. The typical brown colour of mammal waste is due to bilirubin , a breakdown product of normal heme catabolism . [ 1 ]
The decomposition of food, either plant or animal, called spoilage in this context, is an important field of study within food science. Food decomposition can be slowed down by conservation. The spoilage of meat occurs, if the meat is untreated, in a matter of hours or days and results in the meat becoming unappetizing, poisonous or infectious.
Decomposition is the process of breaking large molecules in dead matter down into smaller molecules that nearby plants are able to take up through their roots. Some steps of the process occur via mechanical grinding and churning by things like earthworms and plant roots in a process called bioturbation . [ 8 ]