Talk:Digestion

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Digestion was wikified on 30/08/2006 as part of WikiProject Wikify. The project is currently taking on a 7000+ page backlog, and needs your help! Please help and wikify a page or tell a friend about the project.JubalHarshaw

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To-do list for Wikipedia:WikiProject Wikify (Talk):

1 Things to Add
2 Large intestine
3 Digestive Cycle Period
4 Fat digestion
5 Possible copyvio
6 Confusing

[edit] Things to Add

Digestive Molecules

This site talks about how digestion is affected by the circadian rythm. It would be also good to address this notion of how digestion makes you sleepy. Lot of people think that tryptophan is only in turkey, but it also present in other foods.

The serotoninergic system is known to modulate mood, emotion, sleep and appetite and thus is implicated in the control of numerous behavioural and physiological functions. Decreased serotoninergic neurotransmission has been proposed to play a key role in the aetiology of depression.
http://www.biopsychiatry.com/serotonin.htm

The graph on the left shows how alertness varies through out the day in relation to the three circadian phase regulatory molecules. Serotonin and SAM both start off in relatively high concentrations in the height of the day, while melatonin is almost no where to be found. As the sun begins to set, the pineal gland recognizes that there is less and less light. Norepinephrine begins to bind to β-receptors in the pineal gland, and the pineal gland used the day time store of SAM and serotonin to manufacture melatonin Understandably, while melatonin concentrations rise, SAM and serotonin concentrations fall. Once the concentration of SAM is to low to make any more melatonin, melatonin levels start to drop off, and SAM is free to rebuild. When the pineal gland senses the coming of light, SAM is produced again starting a new daily cycle. The graph on the right is almost identical to the one on the left. The difference is that sleepiness is show as the affect on the mammal instead of alertness. The purpose of having two graphs was to show that high melatonin levels correspond to feelings of sleepiness, while high serotonin and SAM levels correspond to high levels of alertness.
http://dubinserver.colorado.edu/prj/jph/braincircadian.htm

Even though you get energy from food, it also takes a lot of energy to DIGEST food so your body can use it. Energy use is called METABOLISM. When you eat, the rate of your metabolism goes up because of all that digestive activity in your gastrointestinal tract. (That's basically everything from your mouth to your anus.) So if you need energy to digest your food, it makes sense that there's LESS energy available for the REST of your body. ... Finally, when you eat some foods--mainly carbohydrates--the level of "tryptophan," an amino acid in your blood, increases. Tryptophan is converted into "serotonin" in the brain. And guess what serotonin does. It makes you sleepy! http://www.wsu.edu/DrUniverse/turkey.html

This last point is addressed in the tryptophan article. Maybe simply add a link then? --Moo 03:27, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Large intestine

What is the precise role of the large intestine in the process of digestion? --LostLeviathan 23:53, 18 Apr 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Digestive Cycle Period

I was reading that the stomach empties its contents into the intestine 'about every 20 minutes'. If this is true, can someone elaborate on this an submit it to the article? I came to the article to check this out, but there is nothing on the subject of how and why the stomach empties into the intestines. Cheers, --Aidan 07:04, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

In fact timing (time ranges, as probably not constant) for the whole process and for each stage would be good to add. --Moo 03:23, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Fat digestion

That section's text is scrambled and doesn't make sense after the first few sentences... --Moo 03:19, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Possible copyvio

This very large and detailed edit [1] may be a copyright violation. The editor will only divulge that the source is "online" and has made numerous similar edits that are copyright violations. I recommend removing all that remains of this edit: Carbohydrate Digestion Discussion and Fat Digestion. Fat Digestion has been heavily vandalized which is why much is nonsensical. --Ronz 16:36, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

Just to be clear, I removed the information in question November 20. --Ronz 02:45, 9 December 2006 (UTC)