In: Anatomy and Physiology
How does the rate of digestion differ between the macronutrients?
Macronutrients include carbohydrates, fats and proteins. Carbohydrates is made up of simple sugars like glucose and fructose. The digestion of carbohydrates starts in the mouth with the help of amylase enzyme, and the sweet taste of carbohydrates is felt immediately, after consuming carbohydrate rich food. The bonds in the complex carbohydrates can be easily broken and also many are simple carbohydrates.
The digestion of proteins require enzymes like pepsin, trypsin and chymotrypsin to break its three dimensional structure which includes breaking of peptide bonds to results in individual amino acids.
The digestion of fats is complex process as it requires bile juice for emsulsification process and then enzymes like lipase start breaking bonds to result in fatty acids and glycerol.
The rate of digestion of macronutrients in the increasing order :
Fats > Proteins > Carbohydrates (Quickest)