Carbohydrate Digestion Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards covering carbohydrate types, digestive organs, key enzymes, and relevant concepts from the AHS 170 lecture on carbohydrate digestion.

Monosaccharide

A sugar that cannot be hydrolyzed into a more simple sugar, consisting of one sugar molecule.

Disaccharide

A simple carbohydrate consisting of 2 monosaccharides bonded together.

Oligosaccharide

A complex carbohydrate consisting of a few sugar molecules.

Polysaccharide

A complex carbohydrate whose molecules consist of a number of sugar molecules bonded together.

Glycogen

The storage form of glucose in the body, which is a polysaccharide.

Starch

The storage form of glucose in plants, which is a polysaccharide.

Gastrointestinal Tract

The organs that food and liquids travel through when they are swallowed, digested, absorbed, and leave the body as feces, including the mouth, pharynx (throat), esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, rectum, and anus.

Enzyme

A substance produced by the body that performs a specific function, such as digestive enzymes that break down food to aid in digestion.

Hydrolysis

The reaction mechanism through which carbohydrates are digested.

Pancreas

An organ which secretes various digestive enzymes (amylase, lipase, protease) and hormones (insulin and glucagon).

Salivary Amylase

An enzyme stimulated by chewing in saliva that hydrolyzes starch into shorter polysaccharide chains and the disaccharide maltose.

Pancreatic Amylase

An enzyme that enters the small intestine via the pancreatic duct to break down polysaccharides into disaccharides.

Maltase

An enzyme on the outer membranes of intestinal cells that breaks maltose into two glucose molecules.

Sucrase

An enzyme on the outer membranes of intestinal cells that breaks sucrose into one glucose and one fructose molecule.

Lactase

An enzyme on the outer membranes of intestinal cells that breaks lactose into one glucose and one galactose molecule.

Lactose Intolerance

A condition that occurs due to a deficiency of the lactase enzyme.

Dietary Fiber

Non-digestible carbohydrates that linger in the stomach, delay gastric emptying, provide satiety, attract water in the large intestine to soften stool, and are fermented by gut bacteria.

Gastrointestinal Microbiome

The community of ~200 prevalent bacteria, virus, and fungi inhabiting the human gastrointestinal tract that provide unique metabolic functions to the host.