Question

Short / Long answer type questions.
Describe the process of digestion and absorption of fats

Answer 1

Lingual lipase is produced in the mouth, which begins to emulsify any fat present in the food. Once the food reaches the stomach, the parietal cells release acids (like hydrochloric acid), pepsin, and gastric amylase and lipase to help degrade food into chyme. The chyme is then moved into the duodenum or the upper part of the small intestine, which is the main site for the digestion of fats. Here, the bile salts break up and coat the fat to form finer droplets. These finer droplets have more surface area, and this aids digestion because the fat-digesting enzyme pancreatic lipase can only act on the surface of the fat droplet. It breaks down fats into smaller molecules called fatty acids and glycerol. After digestion, monoglycerides and fatty acids associate with bile salts and phospholipids to form micelles. Micelles are constantly breaking down and re-forming, feeding a small pool of monoglycerides and fatty acids that are in solution. Only freely dissolved monoglycerides and fatty acids can be absorbed and not the micelles. Because of their nonpolar nature, monoglycerides and fatty acids can just diffuse across the plasma membrane of the enterocyte. Some amount of absorption may be facilitated by specific transport proteins.