Question

Describe the digestion of starch in the alimentary canal.

Answer 1

Starch: Starch is a polysaccharide that is a key component of our diet.

Starch digestion pathway:

1. Saliva gets mixed with the food having starch and forms a bolus as we chew the food in our mouths. This helps in the lubrication of food and easy passage of the chewed food through the oesophagus to reach the stomach for further digestion.
2. Saliva also contains an enzyme known as salivary amylase which is known to break down the starch or complex carbohydrates in the food to simple sugars such as maltose and dextrin.
3. All that food in the form of bolus travels to the stomach where the bolus is converted into chyme and that reaches the small intestine where the pancreas releases pancreatic amylase that breakdown the starch further.
4. The maltose formed as a result of salivary amylase and pancreatic amylase is then broken down into 2 glucose molecules by maltase which are the simplest forms.