Deck 26: Animal and Human Nutrition

Question 1

Heterotrophs need

A) a digestive system for processing and digesting food into small molecules for absorption.
B) predatory behaviour for the acquisition of organic compounds, which cannot be manufactured.
C) to acquire organic compounds, which cannot be manufactured.
D) to be motile to facilitate prey capture.
E) bacteria in the gut to produce enzymes that digest cellulose.

Answer 1

to acquire organic compounds, which cannot be manufactured.

Question 2

Choose the statement that is most correct. Nutrients required by animals include

A) water-soluble vitamins such as A and C.
B) macroelements such as sodium, chlorine, copper, potassium and calcium.
C) essential amino acids but they do not require fatty acids because they can manufacture them (with the exception of some insects).
D) essential fatty acids, with exception of some insects which do not require them in their diet.
E) fat-soluble, such as D and K, that cannot be stored and so must be eaten regularly.

Answer 2

essential fatty acids, with exception of some insects which do not require them in their diet.

Question 3

A major difference between the nutritional needs of plants and animals is that

A) animals need less sodium than plants.
B) plants cannot use inorganic nitrogen sources.
C) animals need less chlorine than plants.
D) animals require a greater variety of minerals than plants.
E) animals need organic nitrogen.

Answer 3

animals need organic nitrogen.

Question 4

When compared to animal tissues, plant tissues are

A) digested relatively easily and have a relatively high nutritional content.
B) predominantly carbohydrate but include good sources of fibre and protein.
C) an important source of nutritious fibre.
D) generally less nutritious.
E) good sources of protein, but often lack essential amino acids.

Question 5

In vertebrates, cellulose breakdown

A) relies on cellulases produced by microorganisms.
B) utilises zooxanthellae.
C) can only occur in ruminants.
D) occurs only at high pH.
E) does not occur.

Question 6

Which of the following animals CANNOT manufacture vitamin C?

A) Rodents and lemurs
B) Primates and fruit bats
C) Humans and rodents
D) Kangaroos and fruit bats
E) Marsupials and eutherian mammals

Question 7

A comparison of percentage dry matter indicates that generally

A) fruits and the 'whole mammal' contain similar amounts of fat.
B) fruits contain more protein than foliage.
C) foliage contains less sugar/starch than 'whole mammal'.
D) grasses contain more tannins than foliage.
E) foliage contains more minerals than 'whole mammals'.

Question 8

The glycemic index (GI) is

A) high for brown rice.
B) low for brown multigrain bread.
C) high for chocolate and low for white bread.
D) a measure of blood glucose levels.
E) a measure of the amount of carbohydrates in food.

Question 9

Animal tissues

A) are not nutritious because of the low proportion of carbohydrates, which are necessary for the production of glucose, important for many metabolic processes.
B) contain only saturated fats as distinct from plant tissues, which only contain unsaturated fats.
C) like plant tissues, have variable mineral composition.
D) are not as nutritious as plant tissue as they are not as easily digested.
E) contain large amounts of protein, are highly nutritious and are relatively easy to digest.

Question 10

Mass-specific food intake

A) increases linearly as body mass declines.
B) is the same for all vertebrate groups but is variable in some invertebrate groups.
C) means that the daily energy requirement must necessarily increase with size.
D) may be related to types of diet that animals select; small animals can afford to increase search time for scarce but nutritious foods while large animals eat poor-quality bulk foods such as grasses.
E) shows that larger animals require quality food.

Question 11

The mouse-elephant curve (which relates body mass and metabolic rates) demonstrates that

A) large animals require proportionally more energy than small ones.
B) large animals require proportionally less energy than small ones.
C) food intake is independent of body mass.
D) large animals have a proportionally larger surface area than small ones.
E) large animals require higher quality food.

Question 12

The digestive process breaks large molecules into small molecules for absorption. In animals

A) physical digestion always precedes enzymatic digestion because it increases the surface area for enzymatic attack.
B) digestive enzymes have a similar specificity to other enzymes. They are sensitive to pH temperature and operate on specific bonds only.
C) the process of enzymatic digestion is similar within groups and therefore there is little correspondence between the types of food an animal eats and the digestive enzymes it produces.
D) secreted enzymes are similar with some digestive enzymes acting only on specific bonds.
E) complete enzymatic breakdown of food involves the sequential secretion of different digestive enzymes along the length of the gut.

Question 13

Pepsin is

A) a zymogen.
B) directly elicited by Gastrin.
C) produced from pepsinogen when activated by acid or existing pepsin.
D) an inactive precursor of a protease secreted to prevent damage to the cells themselves.
E) an enzyme produced from the zymogen pepsinogen, which degrades carbohydrates.

Question 14

The stomach is protected from being digested by

A) a layer of surface active phospholipids.
B) surfactants.
C) a layer of epidermal cells.
D) the ability to switch off acid production.
E) production of hydrogen carbonate ions which neutralise the acidity of the partly digested food.

Question 15

Digestive secretion in humans is

A) under hormonal control only.
B) under nervous control only, as evidenced by Pavlov's experiments.
C) elicited by zymogens, inactive precursors of hormones secreted to prevent damage to the cells themselves.
D) regulated by feedback systems involving exocrine and endocrine hormones and the nervous system.
E) primarily under the control of bile secretions which emulsify fats.

Question 16

Gut passage rates

A) of herbivores are relatively fast because carbohydrates are readily hydrolysed.
B) of carnivores are a reflection of proteins being readily hydrolysed.
C) are more closely correlated to the size of the animal than to the types of foods consumed.
D) decrease with increased metabolic activity.
E) All the answers are correct.

Question 17

Elaboration of the stomach is characteristic of

A) carnivores, because the stomach is the principal site for protein digestion.
B) folivores, because the leaves are the least-nutritious herbage and must therefore be stored for long periods of foregut fermentation.
C) birds, macropods and ruminants.
D) herbivores, such as rabbits, koalas and possums, because hindgut fermentation is very inefficient.

Question 18

In foregut fermentation

A) the animal first digests any soluble sugars.
B) starches are extracted in the mouth.
C) sugars and starches are taken up by microbes.
D) proteins are absorbed from the stomach.
E) cellulose is degraded and the glucose released is absorbed in the stomach.

Question 19

After digestion, molecules are absorbed across the epithelium of the gut via

A) osmosis and simple diffusion.
B) active transport and osmosis.
C) simple diffusion and active transport.
D) the Casparian strips.
E) active transport only.

Question 20

In general, animal intestines

A) do not change in size or absorptive capacity in response to environmental cues.
B) grow larger in winter.
C) have smooth linings.
D) are more convoluted in lizards than in similar-sized mammals.
E) have similar transport proteins in the epithelium as those in lizards.

Question 21

Phagocytosis as a mechanism for the ingestion of food is

A) exhibited only by unicellular organisms in the Kingdom Protista.
B) not exhibited by multicellular animals other than sponges.
C) regarded as extracellular digestion because the digestive process is separated from the cytoplasm by a membrane.
D) not commonly exhibited by animals, although sponges and the cells lining the gut of some multicellular animals exhibit this phenomenon.
E) the main uptake process in the intestine of ruminants.

Question 22

In the evolution of digestive systems

A) cnidarians (corals, anemones and jellyfish) have simple sac-like guts with only a mouth and an anus.
B) sponges have the simplest gut, called a spongocoel, with a mouth, called an osculum, and an anus, called an ostium.
C) nematodes are the simplest animals to manifest a one-way digestive tract.
D) development of peristatsis in tapeworms allowed movement of food through the gut, independent of body movements.
E) organisms with a coelom are most likely to have the longest and most complex guts.

Question 23

Filter feeding is

A) a strategy capable of servicing only animals with low metabolic rates, such as bivalve molluscs.
B) a passive process used only by sessile organisms, such as sponges.
C) an active process but is only capable of sustaining small organisms because the filtered particles, such as bacteria and plankton, are so small.
D) by an adaptation of chitinous paired mouthparts of chelicerates.
E) represented in most animal phyla.

Question 24

Caecotropy (also known as coprophagy)

A) allows digestion of the products of microbial fermentation.
B) is common in possums, rabbits and many small rodents.
C) is an adaptation to the high nutrient content and digestibility of meat, in the diets of carnivores.
D) is a behavioural maladaptation in all animals.
E) is the process by which koalas digest eucalyptus leaves.

Question 25

Insects were able to develop an enormous array of dietary specialisations due to the development of

A) a coelom.
B) jaws and teeth.
C) chitinous mouthparts.
D) a closed circulatory system.
E) a muscular gut wall which enabled peristalsis.

Question 26

Which of the following statements about herbivorous birds is true?

A) The majority of herbivorous birds are large ground-dwellers.
B) All herbivorous birds have a gizzard.
C) There are no herbivorous birds.
D) Herbivorous birds eat insects.
E) The coiled intestine of herbivorous birds enables rapid digestion of food.

Question 27

Which of the following is true?

A) The amount of fat we have depends only on what we eat and how much we exercise.
B) Obese people have lower metabolic rates than lean people.
C) Most of human fat comes from eating too much carbohydrate.
D) Weight is influenced by the interaction between our genes and the environment.
E) All of the answers are correct.

Question 28

Which of the following statements about insulin is CORRECT?

A) There is more insulin released in the body on a high-fat diet than a high-carbohydrate diet.
B) Fat storage increases with the more insulin released.
C) Eating chocolate bars rapidly decreases insulin levels.
D) The release of insulin is not influenced by what we eat.
E) The peptide ghrelin, produced in the stomach, induces the release of insulin by the pancreas.

Question 29

Ghrelin is

A) a peptide hormone produced in the stomach which stimulates appetite.
B) a steroid hormone produced in the gut which suppresses appetite.
C) a peptide hormone which induces insulin production in the pancreas.
D) a peptide hormone produced in the ileum which suppresses appetite.
E) a steroid hormone produced in the hypothalamus in response to feeding.

Question 30

Leptin is

A) a peptide hormone mutations which cause obesity.
B) a steroid hormone produced when the body contains a large amount of fat and suppresses appetite.
C) a peptide hormone produced in the brain which directly reduces appetite.
D) a protein which directly controls appetite and is responsible for body weight.
E) a protein secreted by fat cells in proportion to body weight.

Question 31

Most animals require many compounds in their food. These include

A) carbohydrates for energy production.
B) lipids for energy production.
C) amino acids, several of which cannot be synthesised and must be provided by food.
D) vitamins, many of which cannot be stored, and sometimes cannot be synthesised.
E) All of the answers are correct.

Question 32

Anaemia is may result from insufficient intake of the fat-soluble vitamin

A) Vitamin A.
B) Vitamin D.
C) Vitamin E.
D) Vitamin K.
E) None of these answers are correct.

Question 33

Plants are a major source of nutrients for many animals. Problems associated with using plants as a source of nutrients include

A) the lipids of plants are mainly saturated.
B) the composition of many plants varies with the season.
C) the mineral content of many plants is very low.
D) the carbohydrate and protein content of plants is low.
E) many plants in the higher slopes of the Snowy Mountains have high sodium content.

Question 34

Which of the following statements is INCORRECT?

A) The types and activities of digestive enzymes an animal secretes largely reflect the animal's normal diet.
B) Digestive enzymes usually show less specificity than other enzymes.
C) Human vegetarians have higher salivary amylase activity than meat eaters.
D) Bile salts and trypsin are essential for the breakdown of fats.
E) Complete enzymatic breakdown of carbohydrates involves many enzymes including salivary amylase, pancreatic amylase and disaccharidases.

Question 35

Enzyme digestion

A) is a coordinated, sequential breakdown of molecules by enzymes secreted by the small intestine.
B) is induced by the hormone cholecystokinin, released in the duodenum.
C) commences in the buccal cavity where salivary amylase is released continuously.
D) is stimulated by the secretion of the hormone gastrin which causes the release of pepsinogen from the stomach lining.
E) All of the answers are correct.

Question 36

All animals require water, much of which can be obtained from foods. Even apparently dry foods such as seeds are made up of what percentage of water?

A) 5%
B) 15%
C) 2%
D) 8%
E) 10%

Question 37

Many animals, including humans, obtain nutrition from plants. Carbohydrate availability from such foods is measured as GI (glycemic index), but instead of simple sugars such as sucrose or glucose, the major source of blood sugar in foods is

A) cellulose.
B) maltodextrose.
C) isomaltulose.
D) starch.
E) fructose.

Question 38

An animal is being studied to understand its principal mechanism for obtaining water-soluble nutrients. The animal is found to have a relatively small intestine that has well-developed channels in the junctions between cells and a relatively small number of active transport pumps. What is this animal's major route of absorption of water-soluble nutrients?

A) Intracellular absorption
B) Intercellular absorption
C) Intervasial absorption
D) Paracellular absorption
E) Ectocellular absorption

Question 39

In humans, what is the highest contributing factor to an individual's weight?

A) Food
B) Exercise
C) Metabolism
D) Gut flora
E) Genes

Question 40

In the past, particularly between 1500 and 1800, sailors and pirates at sea for prolonged periods often suffered from symptoms such as slow wound healing, degeneration of teeth, skin and blood vessels, as well as impaired immunity. What essential nutrient were they lacking and what is its primary dietary source?

A) Vitamin B: fruits and vegetables
B) Ascorbic acid: fruits and vegetables
C) Vitamin A: nuts and tubers
D) Pantothenic acid: legumes, eggs and dairy
E) Vitamin D: meat and fish

Question 41

Someone suffering from growth failure, impaired immune function, reproductive failure, scaly skin and inflammation should eat which food(s), high in which essential mineral nutrient?

A) Liver, nuts, green leafy vegetables, eggs and whole grains, all high in Mg
B) Beans, nuts, seafood, dark chocolate and meat, all high in S
C) Whole grains, seafood, legumes or meat, all high in Zn
D) Dairy, legumes and green leafy vegetables, all high in I
E) Water, tea and coffee, all high in Cu

Question 42

Animals that feed predominantly on animal tissue need to create glucose for energy. They do this via a process known as

A) the Kreb's cycle.
B) TCA.
C) electron transport chain.
D) citric acid cycle.
E) gluconeogenesis.

Question 43

Animals which tend to feed by injecting digestive enzymes into their prey before sucking out the pre-digested food are referred to as

A) mandibulates.
B) cystostomates.
C) liquefied feeders.
D) typhlosolates.
E) chelicerates.

Question 44

A strictly herbivorous animal is examined and found to have a short, uncomplicated gut. Its diet must therefore consist of

A) small amounts of low-fibre, high fat material able to be processed by a simple gut.
B) fatty acids and lipids.
C) small amounts of leafy material, mixed with chelated mineral nutrients.
D) large amounts of plant material processed quickly, extracting only some of the available nutrition.
E) large amounts of plant material, processed slowly via fermentation and gut flora action.