- Small Intestine is highly coiled and is about 7.5 metres long.
- It secretes a digestive juice known as the Intestinal juice .
- This intestinal juice breaks starch carbohydrate into sugar known as the Glucose and proteins into Amino acids .
How is Absorption and Assimilation done in the Small intestine?
- After the pancreatic juice acts on carbohydrates, fat and proteins, the digested food passes into the blood vessels in the wall of the intestine.
- This process is called Absorption .
- The inner wall of the small intestine has many finger-like outgrowths called villi .
- These increase the surface area of the small intestine, hence increasing absorption .
- The absorbed substances are transported via the blood vessels to the organs in the body.
- These are used to build complex substances such as proteins required by the body.
- This process is called Assimilation .
