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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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DIGESTION AND ABSORPTION OF LIPIDS 283<br />

First, they have plenty of lingual <strong>and</strong> gastric lipases right from birth. These enzymes play<br />

a much more important role in infants than they do in adults. Second, breast milk actually<br />

contains lipase enzymes that are activated in the baby’s small intestine. In other words,<br />

the mother makes lipases <strong>and</strong> sends them in breast milk to help her baby digest the milk<br />

fats. Amazing, right? Between increased activity of lingual <strong>and</strong> gastric lipases <strong>and</strong> the<br />

lipases contained in breast milk, young infants can efficiently digest fat <strong>and</strong> reap its<br />

nutritional value for growth <strong>and</strong> brain development. Studies show that fat digestion is<br />

more efficient in premature infants fed breast milk compared with those fed formula. Even<br />

pasteurized breast milk, as is used when breast milk is donated for feeding babies in the<br />

hospital, is a little harder to digest, because heat denatures the lipases. (Infants can still<br />

digest pasteurized breast milk <strong>and</strong> formula; they’re just less efficient at doing so <strong>and</strong> absorb<br />

less of the products of triglyceride digestion.) 1<br />

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