Final answer:
The suffix referring to eating is -phagia. Conditions such as bulimia nervosa, anorexia nervosa, and binge eating disorder are related to eating habits and their effects. Mechanical digestion, including mastication, starts in the mouth with the help of teeth, tongue, and saliva.
Step-by-step explanation:
The suffix that refers to eating is -phagia. This suffix is commonly used in medical terminology to denote eating, swallowing, and the consumption of food. For example, 'dysphagia' refers to difficulty in eating or swallowing.
Addressing the questions provided:
- Bulimia nervosa is characterized by episodes of binge eating followed by attempts to compensate for the excessive amount of food that was consumed, which can lead to an electrolyte imbalance.
- Anorexia nervosa is a disorder where people typically eat very little.
- Binge eating disorder can increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes due to frequent episodes of consuming large amounts of food.
If a child has a distended abdomen, they are more likely to have kwashiorkor, which is characterized by adequate calorie intake but insufficient protein consumption. This leads to a build-up of fluid in the abdomen, causing it to distend.
Mechanical digestion begins in the mouth with the process of mastication, where the teeth break down food, aided by the movement of the tongue and saliva which contains digestive enzymes.
During digestion:
- Elimination is the process of expelling undigested food from the body.
- Absorption refers to the uptake of nutrients from the digested food into the bloodstream.
- Mastication is the process of chewing food.
- Peristalsis is the wave-like muscular contractions that move food through the digestive tract.
- In the mouth, ingestion, mechanical digestion, and chemical digestion all occur.