Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry

College of Arts and Sciences

Visayas State University

Name: Eugene L. Codis Date Performed: October 18, 2019

Lab. Schedule: F (10:00 – 1:00) Date Submitted: November 11, 2019

Experiment No. 9
DIGESTION OF FOODSTUFFS

Introduction
Digestion basically refers to the process by which large food molecules (which
are insoluble) are broken down into their smaller components that can be absorbed by
the bloodstream. This form of digestion can be broken down into two categories based
on where they occur - one being the mechanical digestion that occurs in the mouth
when it is physically broken through chewing and the chemical digestion that occurs
once the food is broken down by the digestive enzymes in the body. This laboratory
report will focus only on the latter, wherein the experimental procedures are
simulations of the action of these digestive enzymes and the effect that they have on
the different components that they were meant to break down. Three molecules of
note that was tackled in the experiment were carbohydrates (broken down by amylase
and other enzymes), fats (broken down by lipase) and proteins (broken down by
proteases like pepsin for example). The following sections will talk about each and an
interpretation of the data will be given as well.

Objectives
1. Identify digestion as a process of hydrolysis.
2. Determine the hydrolysis products of carbohydrate, fat and protein digestion.

Results and Discussion

A. DIGESTION OF CARBOHYDRATES
A-1. Hydrolysis of Starch
COLOR WITH IODINE
TIME (min)
STARCH + SALIVA STARCH ONLY
2 Dark-blue Dark-blue
4 Dark-blue Dark-blue
 6 Dark-blue Dark-blue
8 Dark-blue Dark-blue
10 Dark-blue Dark-blue
12 Dark-blue Dark-blue
14 Dark-blue Dark-blue
16 Dark-blue Dark-blue
18 Dark-blue Dark-blue
20 Dark-blue Dark-blue

A-2 Results of Benedict’s Test:

COLOR WITH
SAMPLE IS GLUCOSE PRESENT?
BENEDICT’S TEST
Starch + saliva Blue No
Starch only Blue No

PART A - DIGESTION OF CARBOHYDRATES

Carbohydrates are essential components for the nutrition for the body because it
is the prime source of energy for one's day-to-day activities as well as ensuring the
functionality of the body systems. Carbohydrates can either be simple, such as the
ones obtained from consumption of food such as fruits and starch sources, or complex,
which can be obtained from food such as unrefined pasta and whole grains.
Regardless of the source, carbohydrates undergo a unique process of digestion within
the body, which starts at the mouth through the saliva.
When food is consumed, the enzymes that are present in the saliva, known as
salivary amylase, go to work on the food and break down the carbohydrates present.
These are broken down into much simpler sugars (disaccharides and trisaccharides)
which then travel through the stomach when swallowed. Progressing through, the
partially broken down food then ends up in the stomach where they are broken down
into more "manageable" proportions by the hydrochloric acid present in the system.
The food then passes through into the small intestine where the key stages of
carbohydrate digestion can be found. The bulk of the breakdown occurs in the small
intestine, where pancreatic amylase breaks down any of the long carbohydrate chains
into much simpler forms of sugar. Augmenting this effect is also the presence of other
carbohydrate interacting enzymes such as maltase, which aids in the complete
breakdown of the carbohydrates into either glucose or fructose. These two sugars are
of prime importance in this step because they are absorbed into the bloodstream and
are ultimately sent to various parts of the body such as muscles, organs and tissues
where they are used in the body's metabolic processes.
The hydrolysis or "digestion" of carbohydrates was observed in the laboratory
through measuring the amount of time it took for a particular amount of saliva to
partially hydrolyze a solution of starch, which was tested through with the use of
iodine. Based on the results from the experiment, there is no noticeable change in the
results. All of the sample remained dark blue-black for the whole session because
there are no enzymes to hydrolyze them into their smaller components. A further test
was performed to support this by performing the Benedict's test on both the samples.
The sample should produce a reddish-orange precipitate, which is an indication of the
presence of reducing sugars which in this case would be either glucose or maltose.
But, both of the samples, the starch solution and saliva mixture give a negative result
because starch is a long polysaccharide and is not a reducing sugar.

B. DIGESTION OF TRIACYLGLYCYEROLS

B-1 Bile Salts

MIXTURE OBSERVATIONS
Oil and Water Formation of 2 layers
Oil, Water and Bile Salts 4 layers was formed

B-2 Hydrolysis By Lipase

VOLUME 0.1 NaOH

TIME (min) pH
(mL)
0 50 mL / 0 mL
10 46 ml / 4 mL
20 42.5 mL / 3.5 mL

PART B - DIGESTION OF TRIACYLGLYCEROLS/FATS

Fats have a variety of uses in the human body and are important substances in
living organisms. It can act as an alternative source of energy when there is a scarcity
of carbohydrates, and this energy can be used in the different bodily functions. They
also ensure the proper functioning of the nerves, where myelin is a fatty material that
wraps around the nerve cells and facilitates neural transmission. Moreover, fats are
transport carriers for the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K and can carry them to the
parts of the body that need them through the bloodstream. The digestion of fat follows
the same pattern as carbohydrates save for a few differences.
Fats are first digested in the mouth relatively simply by what are known as
lingual lipase, and when the move along into the stomach, gastric lipase does it's part
in breaking down the fats further while the stomach does it's part by mixing and
churning it's contents. By this point, the fats in the food are broken down into smaller
fragments called globules so they can be distributed around evenly. The partially
digested food then basically moves on to the small intestine where it is broken down
further mechanically through interaction with the bile acids that are secreted by the
gall bladder. There is also the action of what is known as pancreatic lipase on the food,
which breaks the fats into smaller components of diglycerides, monoglycerides or free
fatty acids. This interaction with bile salts and digestion by lipase are two of the
processes that were looked at and simulated in the experimental procedure.
 The first test involved observing how bile aids in the digestion of fats in the body.
One sample contained only water and oil, while the other contained a sample of oil
and an aqueous solution of bile. After having left both samples to stand for 30 minutes,
the sample of oil and water remained separate from with each other, while the sample
with the bile showed the conversion of the oil into smaller globules that are miscible
in the solution. Bile basically acts as a surfactant that emulsifies the fats in a process
similar to that of soaps by the formation of micelles. They prevent the re-aggregation
of the globules back into larger portions.
The other test involved observing the digestion of fats in milk through the use of
lipase. A sample of condensed milk was obtained to which a part of the meat of an
animal that contained the enzymes necessary for fat digestion was added. This was
then placed in a water bath heated up to physiological body temperature (37°C),
10mL samples taken every 20 minutes for an hour, the pH of each sample roughly
estimated using pH paper and each sample titrated with dilute sodium hydroxide (with
the use of phenolphthalein indicator). Keep in mind that through the course of
digestion, the products formed are fatty acids, and so it would be expected that there
is a drop in the pH level. The results contradict this though, because the pH paper
showed the same colors for each sample throughout (where the milk rated at around
pH 6). As for the volume of NaOH, the trend would be that the amount would
increase because as time progresses, more and more of the fat is converted into the
free fatty acids, which means there is more acid to neutralize. The results, however,
show a decrease in the amount of base used. This can be attributed to not allowing for
enough time for the enzyme to do its part, or could be just plainly due to human error
in the measuring process.

Conclusion

Digestion is an essential process in living organisms, because it is by this process

that these living organisms get all the nutrients that are needed in order to ensure
survival. The experiment has helped in shaping the definition of what digestion really
is and just how important it really is. In the most basic of context, all digestion really
is is the breaking down of larger molecules into the smaller and more essential
molecules that can be easily absorbed by the body. And all of this "breaking down"
mainly occurs through the action of enzymes that catalyze the hydrolysis of these
larger molecules. Moreover, gaining the knowledge of the different products that
come about as a result of digestion has been important into seeing exactly which of
these biological molecules have the most impact on the human body, as well as how a
deficiency of them can potentially affect the physiological conditions of the organism.
Carbohydrates produce glucose that is essential for energy, fats are essential for
neural transmission, and proteins are diverse and have a lot of functions.
Answers to Questions

PART A - DIGESTION OF CARBOHYDRATES

1. Where does starch digestion begin?

The hydrolysis of starch begins in the mouth which is done by salivary amylase,
but this is only small in comparison to the extent performed by the pancreatic
amylase in the small intestine.

2. What carbohydrate digestion occurs in the small intestine?

The breakdown of the longer carbohydrate chains facilitated by the pancreatic

amylase and the supporting role of maltase in the breakdown of the shorter chains
already broken down from the preceding processes.

3. What are the end products of carbohydrate digestion?

Glucose and fructose are the end products of carbohydrate digestion.

4. Why do we need a digestive process?

Having a digestive process is essential because it is the only pathway available for
obtaining the important biomolecules that the body needs in order to survive. As
has been discussed in this laboratory report, the different processes observed make
products that are essential for human life, carbohydrates for energy, fats for proper
nerve function, and proteins for functions such as in antibodies.
PART B - DIGESTION OF TRIACYLGLYCEROLS/FATS

5. What is the effect of bile salts on an oil and water mixture?

The bile emulsifies the oil into smaller globules and allows both of them to mix.
This occurs in a mechanism similar to the concept of soap micelles.

6. What is the function of bile salts in the digestion of fats and oils
(triacylglycerols)?

Bile/bile salts act as a surfactant that aid in breaking down larger pieces of fat into
smaller manageable pieces which are more readily observed than when they are
larger in size.
7. What products of lipase action would change the pH of a mixture containing
triacylglycerol?

The production of free fatty acids that come about from lipase action on fats tend
to change the pH levels of the mixture by virtue of them being acidic in nature
because of the carboxylic acid group (-COOH)

References
 "What is Digestion?"
http://www.news-medical.net/health/What-is-Digestion.aspx
 "Digestion of Carbohydrates"
http://www.livestrong.com/article/417962-how-does-the-body-digest-carbohydrat
es/
 "Bile"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bile
 "Digestive Enzymes"
http://www.nutritionexpress.com/showarticle.aspx?articleID=1209
 "Pancreatin"
http://www.drugs.com/mtm/pancreatin.html
 "Secretion of Bile and the Role of Bile Acids in Digestion"
http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/digestion/liver/bile.html
 "Digestion 101"
http://www.functionalfitmag.com/blog/2011/12/21/digestion-101