Question

Choose the function of the pancreatic juice from the following?

• A. Trypsin digest proteins and lipase carbohydrates.
• B. Trypsin digest emulsified fats and lipase proteins.
• C. Trypsin and lipase digest fats.
• D. Trypsin digests proteins and lipase hydrolyses fats.

Answer 1

Answer: (D)

Trypsin digests proteins and lipase hydrolyses fats.

Hint: The digestion process is a series of reactions of food with the digestive hormones and juices.

Part 1 - Process of digestion

• There are many digestive enzymes present within digestive juices which act on food at various stages during the process of digestion in a sequential manner.
• Pancreatic juice, as the name suggests is the liquid secreted by glands of the pancreas.
• It contains a variety of enzymes, including trypsinogen, chymotrypsinogen, elastase, carboxypeptidase, pancreatic lipase, nucleases, and amylase.
  

Part 2 - Action of digestive enzymes on food

• Trypsin is an enzyme that helps us digest protein and trypsinogen is the inactive form of the enzyme trypsin.
• The trypsinogen enters the small intestine through the common bile duct and is converted to active trypsin.
  
• Lipase hydrolyzes triglycerides (fats) into their component fatty acid and glycerol molecules.

Part 3 - Conclusion

• From the above discussion, we can conclude that trypsin is a protease that breaks protein into smaller peptides and lipase helps in the hydrolysis of fat within the small intestine.

Final step - Trypsin digests proteins and lipase hydrolyses fats.