🥼 Digestive Enzyme Locations – How Your Body Breaks Down Food

Digestive enzymes are specialized proteins that accelerate the breakdown of food into absorbable nutrients. Each part of the digestive tract plays a unique role, secreting or storing specific enzymes and compounds that ensure efficient digestion.

🦷 Salivary Glands – The First Step

Enzyme: Amylase
Function: Begins breaking down starch into maltose right in your mouth.
💡 Fun fact: Your saliva contains more than just amylase—it also helps neutralize acids and protect teeth.

🫁 Oesophagus – The Transport Tube

While no digestion occurs here, the oesophagus propels food toward the stomach through peristalsis.

🫀 Sphincters – Gatekeepers of Digestion

These muscular valves regulate the passage of food between different digestive sections, preventing backflow.

🏭 Liver – The Bile Factory

Compound: Bile
Function: Emulsifies fats into smaller droplets for easier digestion by lipase.

🫙 Gall Bladder – Bile Storage Unit

Stores and concentrates bile, releasing it when fatty foods enter the small intestine.

🍲 Stomach – The Protein Breaker

Compounds:

• Hydrochloric Acid – creates acidic pH for enzyme activation

• Protease (pepsin) – starts protein digestion

🥗 Pancreas – The Multi-Tool Gland

Enzymes:

• Protease – breaks proteins into peptides

• Lipase – digests fats into fatty acids and glycerol

• Amylase – continues starch breakdown

🪢 Small Intestine – The Final Breakdown Hub

Enzymes:

• Peptidase – peptides → amino acids

• Sucrase – sucrose → glucose + fructose

• Maltase – maltose → glucose

• Lactase – lactose → glucose + galactose

This is where most nutrient absorption happens.

🚰 Large Intestine – The Recycler

Absorbs excess water and compacts waste into feces.

🪑 Rectum – The Storage Before Exit

Holds feces before elimination.

📊 Quick Reference Table

Organ/Structure	Enzyme/Compound	Function
Salivary Glands	Amylase	Starch → Maltose
Stomach	Protease, HCl	Protein digestion, acidic pH
Pancreas	Protease, Lipase, Amylase	Proteins, fats, starches
Small Intestine	Peptidase, Sucrase, Maltase, Lactase	Final breakdown of peptides & sugars
Liver	Bile	Fat emulsification
Gall Bladder	Bile (stored)	Fat emulsification
Large Intestine	—	Absorbs water
Rectum	—	Stores waste

🧠 Exam Tip

On MCAT or medical exams, match enzyme to substrate and remember site of secretion vs. site of action. For example, pancreatic amylase is secreted by the pancreas but acts in the small intestine.

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