Joanne Settel - Your Amazing Digestion from Mouth through Intestine

ATHENEUM BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS

An imprint of Simon & Schuster Childrens Publishing Division

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Text copyright 2019 by Joanne Settel

Illustrations copyright 2019 by Steve Bjrkman

Special thanks to Dr. Dana Zalkin, MD, chief resident of internal medicine at NYU School of Medicine, for sharing her expertise and input.

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Book design by Debra Sfetsios-Conover

The illustrations for this book were rendered in pen, ink, and watercolor.

Jacket design by Debra Sfetsios-Conover

Jacket illustrations Copyright 2019 By Steve Bjrkman

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Settel, Joanne, author. | Bjrkman, Steve, illustrator.

Title: Your amazing digestion from mouth through intestine / by Joanne Settel, PhD ; illustrated by Steve Bjrkman.

Description: First edition. | New York : Atheneum Books for Young Readers, [2018] | An imprint of Simon & Schuster Childrens Publishing Division. | Audience: Ages 712. | Audience: Grades 4 to 6. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017018015 | ISBN 9781481486880 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781481486897 (eBook)

Subjects: LCSH: DigestionJuvenile literature. | Human physiologyJuvenile literature. | Childrens questions and answers.

Classification: LCC QP145 .S37 2018 | DDC 612.3dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017018015

To Jennifer and Maya, my amazing, inspiring daughters

J. S.

For Solomon who gets me

S. B.

Digestions an amazing feat!

It transforms all the food you eat

so that the things on which you feed

get changed into the things you need.

To understand this, first, well see

how one foods special chemistry

provides the building blocks you turn

to tissue parts and fuel you burn.

And then well see how food bits go

down through each organ, nice and slow,

and watch the soupy, gooey paste

turn into nutrients and waste.

The pizza that you ate last night

got rearranged with every bite.

That gooey cheese and sauce and bread

broke into nutrients instead.

Inside each slice, it turns out that

youll find carbs, proteins, and some fat,

some vitamins, and minerals, too.

Theyll soon become a part of you.

(a) The Carbohydrates (Carbs)

Youll get some starches from the crust:

large carbohydrates, which then must

be split to glucose molecules

that active cells can use as fuels.

The glucose carries energy,

and hungry cells can set it free.

Cells break down glucose bit by bit,

extracting fuel they need from it.

(b) The Proteins

Youll get some proteins from the cheese,

but you cant do a thing with these.

Theyre big, and not absorbed at all

by cells in the intestines walls.

But every protein does contain

amino acids in a chain.

Digestion breaks each one of these

off from the chain so its set free.

Then each small compound can pass through

your small intestine, right into

your blood and bodys cells, where then

theyre turned to proteins once again.

You use these proteins every day,

to sleep and work and run and play.

The list is long, but heres a few

of all the things your proteins do:

Strong, stretchy proteins are a part

of all your tissues, for a start:

theyre in your skin; theyre in your hair,

in bones, in blood. Theyre everywhere!

They bind your cellsthey hold like glue

to build your tissues; organs, too.

They help your muscles to contract

and let skin stretch and then spring back.

Proteins form enzymes, which cells need

to do the things they do with speed.

Like burning fuel for energy

or healing up an injury.

And there are hormones you create

from proteins; these help regulate

things like how cells grow and divide

and pull blood nutrients inside.

To sum it all up, you will find

that proteins stretch, contract, and bind,

and speed things up, and regulate.

All from that yummy cheese you ate!

(c) The Fats

Inside that cheese is lots of fat.

And fats are broken down so that

they form small bitsand nearly all

can pass through the intestines wall.

Digested fats work very well

to help us grow each brand-new cell.

They keep us warm, and they can be

an extra source of energy.

Plus many fats form hormones, too.

These have a range of jobs to do.

Some change blood chemistry and flow,

and others make sex organs grow.

Your fat plays an important part

protecting organs, like your heart.

It holds digestive organs down

so theres less chance theyll slide around.

In sum, fats regulate and feed

our blood and cells when theres a need,

and warm and cushion to diffuse

the impact of a bump or bruise.

(d) The Vitamins and Minerals

Here are some other healthy things

that every slice of pizza brings.

Packed in the sauce and cheese and crust

are vitamins. These are a must!

Theres A, six different Bs, and C;

Theres K and D and also E.

A pizza can have all of these

(including all those different Bs)!

Now if you think thats all, its not.

Cause every slice of pizzas got

some minerals. Their presence counts,

though we need only small amounts.

Theres iron, zinc, and calcium,

potassium, magnesium,

and sodium and phosphorus

in sauce and cheese and pizza crust.

These minerals are needed for

our skin, our bones, our