CBSE Class 10 Answered

During digestion, fats are broken down partially to free fatty acids and molecules with one, two, or three attached fatty acids i.e. mono-, di-, and triglycerides. Lipase and other digestive juices break down the fat molecules into fatty acids and types of glycerol.

To digest fats, after a meal the gallbladder contracts and discharges bile salts (made in the liver). The bile salts emulsify the fatty acids, enabling fat to be dissolved in water to be absorbed. The bile salt-coated fat is able to travel through the water in the intestine to the intestinal cells in the last portion of the small intestine, the ileum, where it dissolves in the membranes of intestinal cells.

After absorption, lipids are repackaged with proteins as chylomicrons and sent to the liver. Here they are repackaged again in a coat of cholesterol and protein. This coating enables the fats to be transported to various parts of the body where fatty acids may be removed to provide energy for cellular components.