Miracle Learning Center
Fat Digestion

24 Nov Fat Digestion

Science tuition classes in Miracle Learning Centre are easy to understand and help you to improve in your grades. If you do not understand biology, you must definitely attend the science tuition class at Miracle Learning Centre. Let us learn about the reaction of acids and a metal carbonate in this science tuition lesson.

A student at Miracle Learning Centre asked his science teacher about how fat is digested in our body. His science tuition teacher at Miracle Learning Centre, Mr Lin, replied, “Triacylglycerols, also known as triglycerides, are the major dietary fat and are a storage form of fatty acids. They actually form the main bulk of lipids (fats) we ingest. Triacylglycerols from ingested food are digested before they are absorbed. The triacylglycerides ingested in our food undergo limited digestion by lingual lipase (lipase found in the mouth) before travelling to our stomach and undergoing limited digestion by gastric lipase as well. Lingual and gastric lipases preferentially hydrolyse short to medium chain-length fatty acids, and are therefore most active in infants and young children who drink relatively large quantities of cow’s milk, which contains triacylglycerides with short and medium chain-length fatty acids. When the fat (in the form of a globule) reaches the small intestine, bile, which is synthesized in the liver and stored in the gall bladder, is secreted into the small intestine. Bile contains bile salts, which emulsify (break large fat droplets into smaller droplets) the fats, which increases the surface area to aid in digestion as pancreatic lipase, the fat digesting enzyme, can only act on the surface of the fat droplet. When pancreatic lipase acts on a lipid, it breaks it down, forming free fatty acids and monoglycerides. The free fatty acids and monoglycerides are then absorbed through the intestinal mucosa and undergo esterification to re-form the triglycerides. Before going into the lymphatic system through which lipids are circulated through the body, the triglycerides are coated with a protein, which results in the formation of chylomicrons, which gives the triglycerides a water-soluble coat to travel out of the cell and transport dietary triacylglycerols to skeletal muscle and adipose tissue, and dietary cholesterol to the liver. The chylomicrons are released from intestinal cells to lymphatic vessels first before draining into large veins. ”

Miracle Learning Centre would like to bring you more articles on science tuition concepts. We hope you have understood how fat is digested. Do come to Miracle Learning Centre for more science tuition lessons to learn more about fat digestion.

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