How do pancreatic secretions break down fats during digestion?

Claude Bernard, a pioneering French physiologist, fundamentally advanced our understanding of digestion by demonstrating that the pancreas plays a critical role in breaking down fats.12

He discovered that pancreatic secretions contain enzymes that split fat molecules into fatty acids and glycerin. Modern science identifies these fat-splitting enzymes as lipases. In the small intestine, these enzymes work in conjunction with bile salts, which reduce the surface tension of fat droplets to allow the lipases to effectively attack triglyceride molecules. Another pancreatic enzyme, colipase, further assists this process by binding to bile salts, ensuring that lipase remains available to break down the fats into monoglycerides and fatty acids.134

Bernard’s work was essential in shifting the scientific consensus to recognize that the principal processes of digestion occur in the small intestine rather than the stomach.1