Health and Nutrition

Fat Digestive Enzymes

Fats are digested by pancreatic triglyceride lipase, which are enzymes excreted by the pancreas. These enzymes cling to the intestinal wall in the duodenum and digest fat as it scraps against the walls. Lipase breaks down fat into small molecules – free fatty acids and monoacylglycerols – that can pass through the intestinal wall. When these pancreatic lipase enzymes are not present, fats move into the colon where they are excreted in stools.