Question

Digestion begins in the mouth. Which of the following statements is incorrect?
A) The tongue aids in the digestion of the food
B) The saliva changes some of the starches in the food to sugar
C) The tongue keeps the food in place in the mouth while the food is being chewed
D) The digestive juices can react more easily with food when chewed

Answer 1

Hint: The tongue consists of eight interwoven and striated muscles. It can move in any direction, making it quite flexible.

Complete Answer: The food consumed by us is converted into nutrients in a multistep process that involves digestion and absorption.
>In the digestion process, the food we take in is broken down to smaller particles which makes it easy for our body to absorb it.
>This entire process may happen by chewing and a few other chemical reactions too. In our body, the digestion process starts in the mouth, once we eat the food.
>While eating, teeth help us to chew and break the food into smaller components. Saliva has enzymes that break down the food chemically. Later, the food is swallowed. After which it enters into the long tube known as an alimentary canal that connects the stomach and mouth.
>So, in this entire digestion process, the tongue is used to keep pushing the food in all directions when you chew.
>After chewing, when you are about to swallow the food, the tongue pushes a bit of food back to the throat. Later it goes to the esophagus. It does not aid in the chemical digestion process.
>When you chew food containing starch, it gets mixed with saliva. As told earlier, saliva has an enzyme amylase which converts the starch into small sugar molecules.
>The digestive juices can react more easily with food when chewed since there is larger surface area within which they can interact.

Thus, the correct option is ‘A’.

Note:In the digestion process, our tongue helps us to taste the food, chew and swallow the food. It is the primary organ of taste in the gustatory system.