# From Tasting to Digesting

## Overview
This chapter helps students understand how different food tastes are detected by our tongue, the role of saliva and chewing in digestion, and how food travels through our body. It also explores hunger, health, and the importance of eating proper and balanced food.

## Key Topics Covered

### 1. Recognizing Tastes
- Children play a game by tasting foods with eyes closed to guess sweet, sour, salty, and bitter items.
- Tastes can be identified by different parts of the tongue—front, sides, and back.
- Smell plays an important role in identifying food—closing the nose affects the sense of taste.

### 2. Tongue and Taste Buds
- Different regions of the tongue sense different tastes.
- Activity: Observe where on the tongue a taste is strongest—front (sweet), sides (sour), back (bitter).
- Tiny bumps on the tongue (taste buds) help in sensing these tastes.

### 3. Role of Chewing and Saliva
- Chewing food more leads to better digestion and changes in taste.
- Saliva helps to soften the food and start the digestion process in the mouth itself.
- Activity: Compare taste by chewing few times vs. chewing 30 times.

### 4. Feeling Hungry
- Signals of hunger include tiredness, anger, headaches, and crying.
- Hunger is the body’s way of telling it needs food.
- Lack of food for a long time can make one weak, sick, or faint.

### 5. Glucose and Energy
- Glucose is a quick source of energy given during sickness or sports.
- Nitu’s story shows how a glucose drip can help when someone is weak due to vomiting or diarrhea.
- Sugar-salt solution helps rehydrate the body and provide energy.

### 6. Story of Martin and Dr. Beaumont
- Martin, a soldier, had a hole in his stomach after an injury.
- Dr. Beaumont conducted digestion experiments using Martin’s stomach to understand how food is broken down.
- Results showed food digests faster inside the body than in a glass with digestive juices.

### 7. Understanding Digestion
- Digestive juices in the stomach help in breaking down food.
- Food digests faster when a person is happy and calm.
- Acid in the stomach aids digestion, but too much can cause acidity.

### 8. Case Studies – Rashmi and Kailash
- Rashmi is undernourished due to lack of food, often sick and tired.
- Kailash is overweight, eats only junk food, and is inactive.
- Both children need a proper diet to stay healthy.

### 9. Importance of Proper Food
- Balanced diet is essential for physical and mental development.
- Many children in India don’t get enough food.
- Proper nutrition is every child’s right.

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## New Terms and Simple Definitions

| Term | Definition |
|----------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Taste buds | Tiny bumps on the tongue that help us sense taste |
| Saliva | Watery fluid in our mouth that helps in chewing and digesting food |
| Glucose drip | A liquid given through the vein to give energy when someone is very weak |
| Digestive juice| Liquid in the stomach that helps break down food |
| Digestion | The process of breaking food into small parts that our body can use |
| Acidity | A condition when excess acid is produced in the stomach causing discomfort |
| Balanced diet | Food that has the right amount of all nutrients needed for good health |
| Starvation | Condition caused by not eating enough food for a long time |
| Mandis | Marketplaces where farmers sell their grains |
| Nutrients | Substances in food that help our body grow and stay healthy |

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## Practice Questions

### Easy (3)

1. **What helps us taste different kinds of food?**
**Answer:** Taste buds on our tongue.
**Explanation:** Taste buds detect sweet, salty, sour, and bitter tastes.

2. **Why is it important to chew food properly?**
**Answer:** To help in digestion.
**Explanation:** Chewing mixes food with saliva and makes it easier to digest.

3. **What is a quick source of energy given during weakness or illness?**
**Answer:** Glucose.
**Explanation:** Glucose provides instant energy to the body.

### Medium (2)

4. **What change did Dr. Beaumont observe in food digestion inside and outside the stomach?**
**Answer:** Food digests faster inside the stomach.
**Explanation:** The stomach has acidic juices and churns food to speed up digestion.

5. **Why was Nitu given a glucose drip in the hospital?**
**Answer:** Because her body was weak due to vomiting and loose motions.
**Explanation:** The drip helped give her quick energy when she couldn't eat.

### Difficult (3)

6. **How can smell affect our ability to taste food?**
**Answer:** Smell enhances the flavor; without it, food may taste bland.
**Explanation:** Nose and tongue work together to identify food.

7. **What did Dr. Beaumont find about digestion when Martin was sad?**
**Answer:** Food didn’t digest properly when Martin was sad.
**Explanation:** Emotions affect our digestive system.

8. **How does lack of proper food affect children like Rashmi?**
**Answer:** It makes them weak, sickly, and unable to attend school.
**Explanation:** Poor nutrition leads to poor health and development.

### Very Difficult (2)

9. **Why is it important to give sugar and salt solution to someone with diarrhea or vomiting?**
**Answer:** To replace lost water and salts and provide energy.
**Explanation:** This prevents dehydration and weakness.

10. **If grains are spoiled in mandis or godowns, how can it affect people like Rashmi?**
**Answer:** They may not get food even when it is available.
**Explanation:** Spoilage causes food shortage and denies access to the needy.

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