Question

Describe digestion of fat in the intestine.

Answer 1

Digestion of fats:

1. Digestion of fats occurs in the small intestine.
2. Fats are digested into fatty acids and glycerol by an enzyme called lipase .
3. Bile juice is secreted by the liver which helps in the emulsification of fat.
4. Emulsification is a process that breaks down large fat globules into smaller globules so that the pancreatic enzymes can easily act on these smaller fats.
5. The reactions of fat digestion are as follows:

$$\begin{gathered} \mathrm{Fat}\stackrel{\mathrm{Bile}}{\to }\mathrm{Emulsified}\mathrm{Fat} \\ \mathrm{Emulsified}\mathrm{Fat}\stackrel{\mathrm{Pancreatic}\mathrm{lipase}}{\to }\mathrm{Fatty}\mathrm{acid}+\mathrm{Glycerol} \end{gathered}$$