Question

What is the role of bile in digestion of fats?

Answer 1

It acts as an emulsifier to increase surface area.

Explanation:

When digesting fats, bile acts as an emulsifier to break the large fat globules into smaller emulsion droplets. The use of this is that it gives the fat a much larger surface area on which the lipase enzymes (fat digesting) can act on, which in turn makes it a much quicker and efficient process.

Bile also helps to make fat more "soluble". On it's own, fat will separate from water which makes it hard to transport in the human body. This is because it is hydrophobic. However, the bile bonds to the fat on it's hydrophobic (water-hating) tail and the water on the hydrophilic (water-loving) head. This allows it to be carried by water.

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