Digestive chemicals - types & enzymes

• Chemical digestion breaks down food as it moves through the digestive tract. • Using enzymes and other digestive chemicals, the process reduces food particles into nutrient molecules that can be absorbed. • Most chemical digestion is done by the actions of digestive enzymes. • Other important digestive chemicals are needed to maintain a proper environment for enzymatic reactions, as well as other functions. • These chemicals are: • Water • Bile • Gastric acid • Bicarbonate • The reactions in chemical digestion are enzyme-mediated hydrolysis reactions. • Water and enzymes break down the substrate into products. • Most enzymes are identified by the substrate that they break down. • For example, the enzyme dipeptidase breaks down dipeptide.

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