Your body can't absorb nutrients from the foods without chemical digestion

What is chemical digestion?

When it comes to digestion, chewing is only half the battle. When food enters the digestive system from the mouth, it will be broken down by digestive enzymes and become smaller nutrients, which your body can easily absorb.

This decomposition is called chemical digestion. Without it, your body cannot absorb nutrition from the food you eat.

Read on to learn more about chemical digestion, including its differences from mechanical digestion.

What is the difference between chemical digestion and mechanical digestion?

Chemical digestion and mechanical digestion are two methods by which the body decomposes food. Mechanical digestion involves the physical movement of making food smaller. Chemical digestion uses enzymes to break down food.

Mechanical digestion

Mechanical digestion begins with chewing in the mouth, then tumbling in the stomach and dividing in the small intestine. Peristalsis is also part of mechanical digestion. This refers to the involuntary contraction and relaxation of the muscles of the esophagus, stomach and intestines to break down food and pass it through the digestive system.

Chemical digestion

Chemical digestion includes enzyme secretion of the whole digestive tract. These enzymes break the chemical bonds that bind food particles together. This allows food to be broken down into small, digestible parts.

How do they work together

Once the food particles reach the small intestine, the small intestine will continue to move. This helps to maintain the movement of the food particles and brings more food into contact with digestive enzymes. These actions also help move the digested food to the large intestine and eventually out of the body.

What is the purpose of chemical digestion?

Digestion refers to ingesting a large amount of food and decomposing it into micronutrients small enough to be absorbed by cells. Chewing and peristalsis help this, but they cannot make the particles small enough. This is the role of chemical digestion.

Chemical digestion breaks down different nutrients such as proteins, carbohydrates and fats into smaller parts:

? lipolysis into fatty acids and monoglycerides.? nucleic acids are decomposed into nucleotides.? polysaccharides, or carbohydrate sugars, break down into monosaccharides.? protein breaks down into amino acids.

Without chemical digestion, your body cannot absorb nutrients, leading to vitamin deficiency and malnutrition.

Some people may lack certain enzymes for chemical digestion. For example, people with lactose intolerance usually do not produce enough lactase, which can break down lactose protein found in milk.

Where does chemical digestion begin?

Chemical digestion begins in the mouth. When you chew, the salivary glands release saliva into your mouth. Saliva contains digestive enzymes that start the chemical digestion process.

Digestive enzymes in the oral cavity include:

? tongue lipase. This enzyme breaks down triglycerides, a kind of fat.? salivary amylase. This enzyme breaks down polysaccharides, a complex sugar, called carbohydrates.

What path does chemical digestion follow?

Chemical digestion is not limited to enzymes in the mouth.

Let's take a look at some major links in the digestive system involving chemical digestion:

Stomach

In your stomach, unique major cells secrete digestive enzymes. One is pepsin, which can break down proteins. The other is gastric lipase, which can break down triglycerides. In your stomach, your body absorbs fat soluble substances such as aspirin and alcohol.

Small intestine

The small intestine is the main site for chemical digestion and absorption of key food components, such as amino acids, peptides and energy glucose. The small intestine and nearby pancreas release large amounts of enzymes for digestion. Including lactase that digests lactose and sucrase that digests sucrose or sugar.

Large intestine

The large intestine does not release digestive enzymes, but it contains bacteria that further decompose nutrients. It also absorbs vitamins, minerals and water.

The bottom line

Chemical digestion is an important part of the digestion process. Without it, your body cannot absorb nutrition from the food you eat. Mechanical digestion includes physical movements such as chewing and muscle contraction, while chemical digestion uses enzymes to break down food.

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