Chemical Digestion, Enzymes, and Altered Compounds

KOMPAS.com The human digestive system is a complex system that aims to convert food into compounds that can be used by the body. However, the digestive process is not as simple as mechanically grinding food, but there is also a process chemical digestion.

Chemical Digestion is the process of breaking down compounds into simpler compounds that can be used by the body in metabolic processes. An example of the breakdown of these compounds is protein into amino acids.

Chemical digestion in the human digestive tract occurs in three places, namely the mouth, stomach, and the small intestine. The following is a discussion according to each place where the chemical digestion process occurs.

1. Mouth

Digestion process that occurs in the mouth takes place mechanically and chemically by using enzyme as the catalyst. Substances that are altered in the mouth by enzyme intermediaries are carbohydrate.

The organ that plays a role in producing enzymes at this stage is the salivary gland. The salivary glands produce the enzyme amylase. Enzyme Amylase is an enzyme that digests carbohydrates into disaccharides.

In addition, there is also a small amount of lipase enzyme in the mouth to break down triglyceride fats into monoglycerides and diglycerides.

Stomach produces stomach acid which functions to kill bacteria in food, activate pepsinogen into pepsin, and stimulate hormone secretion in the small intestine for the next digestive process. Pepsin in the stomach functions to break down proteins into peptides.

In addition, the process of chemical digestion in the stomach also occurs by other enzymes, namely lipase and renin enzymes. The lipase enzyme functions to break down triglyceride fatty acids. While renin is an enzyme that is owned by infants to precipitate proteins from breast milk (ASI).

Read also: Digestion of food in the small intestine

3. Small intestine

The small intestine is a digestive organ located after the stomach. The small intestine is about 6 to 8 meters long. In the small intestine, only chemical digestion occurs. Therefore, there are many enzymes to digest food in a complex manner.

The small intestine is divided into three parts, namely the duodenum, the middle small intestine (jejenum), and the final small intestine (ileum). Chemical digestion takes place in the duodenum and jejunum. While the last part of the small intestine functions to absorb the results of chemical digestion in the previous part of the small intestine.

The enzymes in the large intestine are enzymes produced by the pancreas and gall bladder glands. The following is a list of enzymes present in the small intestine:

• Amylase: convert starch (starch) into sugar
• trypsin: convert protein or peptones into amino acids
• Lipase: converts fats into fatty acids and glycerol
• Malase: breaks down maltose into glucose
• Peptidase: digests peptides into amino acids

Chemical digestion is very important to ensure the food we eat can be absorbed and used by the body optimally. Chemical digestion helps break down our food into micronutrients that are small enough to be absorbed into the cells that need them. Without chemical digestion, our bodies will not be able to digest these nutrients and cause our bodies to experience malnutrition.

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