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Nutrition Science and Everyday Application - beta v 0.1

Nutrition Science and Everyday Application - beta v 0.1

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THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM 145<br />

macronutrients into their chemical building blocks (for example, starch into glucose).<br />

Enzymes are chemicals that help speed up or facilitate chemical reactions in the body. They<br />

bring together two compounds to react, without undergoing any changes themselves. For<br />

example, the main chemical reaction in digestion is hydrolysis.Hydrolysis<br />

is the splitting of<br />

one molecule into two with the addition of water. For example, the sugar sucrose (a double<br />

sugar) needs to be broken down to its building blocks, glucose <strong>and</strong> fructose (both single<br />

sugars), before it can be absorbed. This breakdown happens through hydrolysis, <strong>and</strong> the<br />

enzyme, sucrase, brings together the sucrose molecule <strong>and</strong> the water molecule to react. This<br />

process is illustrated in the following animation.<br />

Video: Enzyme Action <strong>and</strong> the Hydrolysis of Sucrose by McGraw-Hill Animations, YouTube (June 3,<br />

2017). 1:46 minutes.<br />

A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://openoregon.pressbooks.pub/<br />

nutritionscience/?p=1147

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