What type of nutrition involves food being ingested, digested internally, absorbed, and assimilated?

The type of nutrition that involves food being ingested, digested internally, absorbed, and assimilated is holozoic nutrition. This process typically occurs in organisms that consume other living things or organic matter as their food source. In holozoic nutrition, the organism takes in food through a specialized structure (mouth), breaks it down in an internal digestive system, and then absorbs the necessary nutrients into the bloodstream for use throughout the body. This form is characteristic of animals, including humans, which consume larger organic molecules that need to be processed internally.

In contrast, other types of nutrition like holophytic refer to organisms that produce their own food through photosynthesis, such as plants. Heterotrophic nutrition includes a broader category of organisms that cannot synthesize their food, but may not necessarily rely on internal digestion, as it can refer to both holozoic and saprotrophic methods. Autotrophic nutrition, meanwhile, describes organisms that can produce their own food, primarily through photosynthesis or chemosynthesis.

Hence, holozoic nutrition is specifically defined by its reliance on the process of ingestion and internal digestion, distinguishing it from these other types.