What Is Bile?
Reviewed: Dr. Gromatzky
5. Digestion of Fat
Bile salts found in bile fluid are necessary in the process of digestion of fat. However, they don’t really digest the fat, but act as an enabler to the fat-digesting enzyme lipase. During the process that takes place within the small intestine, the bile salts act on large fat droplets, by breaking them down into smaller droplets.
This process, known as emulsification, results in the fat having a larger surface area, which enables lipase to break it down further. Lipase is an enzyme that can only act on the surface of the fat droplet, hence the importance of the emulsification process. Following the action of lipase, fat is broken down further into free fatty acids and monoglycerides, which are easily absorbed into the body.
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