Carbohydrate digestion

• Carbohydrate digestion

  • Saliva containing salivary amylase produced by salivary glands
  • Catalyses the hydrolysis of the glycosidic bonds in starch producing the disaccharide maltose
  • Food is swallowed -> low pH of the stomach denatures salivary amylase
  • Food is passed into the ileum encountering pancreatic juice containing pancreatic amylase
  • Continues to hydrolyse starch into maltose
  • Smooth muscle pushes food along the ileum. Epithelial lining produces the disaccharide maltase, which is a membrane-bound dipeptidase
  • Catalyses the hydrolysis of dipeptides into amino acids
• How glucose is absorbed into the blood

  • sodium-potassium pump -> sodium diffuses through active transport into blood lowering concentration
  • sodium diffuses into the epithelial cell with glucose through co-transport proteins
  • high concentration of glucose in epithelial cell so diffuses into bloodstream