DIGESTION
Our body uses glucose as a source of energy. Glucose is not readily found in the environment, so
instead the body breaks down polysaccharides and disaccharides to form glucose.
The body does this by using enzymes, as well as acids to convert starch into glucose:
These enzymes are:


Amylase which breaks down starch into maltose
Maltase which breaks down maltose into glucose:
Starch
Maltose
amylase
maltase
maltose
glucose
We can show this in the following experiment where Visking tubing represents the gut wall.
Visking tubing
Starch + amylase
Warm water
After a few minutes the water in the beaker is tested with Benedict’s.
The Benedict’s turns from Blue to brick red showing that the starch had been hydrolysed.
NOTE:
The water used was approximately 37oC (body temperature) as this is the
temperature at which body enzymes work best. If the water had been too
hot or cold the enzyme would not have worked.