Question

‘A’ got her gall bladder removed surgically as she was diagnosed with stones in her gall bladder. After the surgery, she faced problems in the digestion of certain food items when consumed in bulk. Can you tell which kind of food items would they be and why?

Answer 1

Gall bladder :

1. The gall bladder is a small sac like structure that stores and concentrates the bile juice produced by the liver.
2. Bile juice is the digestive juice secreted by the liver.

Role of bile juice:

1. Although it does not contain any digestive enzymes, it plays an important role in the digestion of fats.
2. Bile juice has bile pigments such as bilirubin and biliverdin. These pigments break down large fat globules into smaller globules so that the pancreatic enzymes can easily act on them.
3. The process is known as emulsification of fats.
4. So, the chief function of bile juice is to emulsify fat into small globules, so that it can be absorbed easily.

Removal of gall bladder will cause:

1. If the gall bladder is removed from human body then it will become difficult for the body to digest fat.
2. Therefore, the patient A, may feel difficulty in digesting fats and lipids containing food items such as oily food, meat and junk foods.