Enzyme and the Digestive System

Physical Breakdown of food

Large chunks of food are broken down by bigger structures such as teeth and the stomach muscles. Breakdown by the teeth also creates a bigger surface area for chemical digestion.

Chemical Digestion - breaking large insoluble molecules to smaller soluble ones

All digestive enzymes function  by hydrolysis. The term for these enzymes are hydrolases. Hydrolases break down molecules by adding water to split the chemical bonds that holds them together.

Chemical digestion breaks down these small chunks into basic building blocks such as amino acids and glycerol. (absorption)

They are then absorbed and carried through the blood stream to various parts of the body. They are then built up into into large moleculed. These molecules are then incorparated into body tissues/or used in functions. (assimilation)

Carbohydrases - break down carbohydrates, in the end to monosaccharides.

Lipases - break down lipids to fatty acids and glycerol.

Proteases - break down proteins, ultimately to amino acids