Question

Short / Long answer type questions.
Explain in detail the digestion of carbohydrates as the food passes through the alimentary canal.

Answer 1

Digestion of carbohydrates begins in the mouth. In the moth, the food mixes with the saliva. Saliva is secreted by the salivary glands of the mouth and contains the enzyme salivary amylase, which acts on the starch in food and breaks it down to maltose. In the stomach, the food gets mixed with the gastric juice and the action of amylase ceases due to the high acidity. However, some of the sucrose present in the food get hydrolyzed by the action of HCl in the stomach. The food then passes into the small intestine where it mixes with the pancreatic juice that contains the enzyme pancreatic amylase. It breaks down the remaining polysaccharides into maltose and isomaltose. Several disaccharidases secreted by the small intestine than act on these e.g: maltase breaks down maltose into two units of glucose, lactase breaks lactose into glucose and galactose and sucrase breaks down sucrose into glucose and fructose. These monosaccharides are then absorbed in the small intestine.