Digestion of starch

Principle

Starch (a carbohydrate) is an important source of energy for humans. Starch is absorbed through food (mainly cereal-based products). The starch on many can be poorly "processed" by the human organism. The starch is therefore digested in our body. The starch molecule is thereby split into smaller components (into individual sugars or glucose molecules), which then serve as energy suppliers in the digestion process. As part of the digestion process, the starch ingested with food is broken down in the mouth and mixed with saliva. Human saliva contains an enzyme that splits the starch, which consists of linked sugar molecules, back into individual sugar molecules.