Five Main Processes in Nutrition

• Ingestion: the food is taken in and enters the alimentary canal
• Digestion: food is exposed to mechanical and chemical processes that change solid, insoluble food to simpler, soluble substances
• Absorption: the end products of digestion are absorbed into the bloodstream.
• Assimilation: the cells absorb the nutrients from the blood and use it to build new cell structures and compounds
• Egestion: the process through which undigested remains are removed from the body in the form of faeces