Digestive Enzyme

Digestive enzymes are enzymes that break down the complex macromolecules that make up food into smaller and simpler molecules which can be absorved and/or stored into the blood and organs. They are found in the digestive tract of animals or humans where they aid in the digestion of food as well as inside cells, especially in their lysosomes. Digestion enzymes are also found in your saliva, which are produced by your salivary glands.

Digestive enzymes are secreted by different glands which are located in the human digestive system: the salivary glands, the glands in the stomach, the pancreas, and the glands in the small intestines. The actions of digestive enzymes are as follows:

• Salivary amylase produced by salivary glands in the mouth breaks down starch into sugar.
• Pepsin and rennin produced by stomach gastric pit breaks down protein into peptides.
• Amylase produced by pancreas breaks down starch into glucose.
• Lipase produced by pancreas breaks down lipids into fatty acids and glycogen.
• Trypsin produced by pancreas breaks down peptides into amino acids.
• Sucrase produced by ileum breaks down sucrose into glucose.
• Lactase produced by small intestine breaks down lactose into glucose and galactose.