Small Intestine

• 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 .