Question

Describe the process of digestion of proteins in the stomach and small intestine.

Answer 1

Proteins: These are known as the building blocks of the human body. Proteins are a very key component of our daily diet.

Protein digestion:

1. It begins once the food post chewing reaches the stomach in the form of a bolus.
2. This bolus gets treated with HCl and pepsin which is activated by the HCl and thus is now capable of breaking down the proteins in the food into smaller amino acid chains.
3. Proteins are also digested within the small intestine where trypsin and chymotrypsin released by the pancreas act on the proteins and break them down into dipeptides, tripeptides, and finally amino acid units.