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How is starch digested into glucose?
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digestion
The human digestive system as seen from the front.
The digestion of starch into glucose is a multi-step enzymatic process that breaks down complex polysaccharides into monosaccharides through hydrolysis.12
- Initial Breakdown: Digestion begins in the mouth, where salivary amylase (ptyalin) mixes with food to initiate the splitting of starch into maltose, a disaccharide.34
- Intestinal Digestion: Once food reaches the duodenum, pancreatic amylase continues the process, catalyzing the remaining starch molecules into maltose and other smaller carbohydrates.53
- Final Conversion: The final stage occurs at the brush border of the small intestine. Here, the enzyme maltase hydrolyzes maltose into two molecules of [glucose].51
Once converted, glucose is absorbed through the intestinal wall into the circulation to be used for energy or stored in the liver as glycogen.513