TCC Nutrition 101 Practice Test

Salivary amylase starts chemical digestion of carbohydrates in the mouth. It acts on starch, a carbohydrate, breaking it into smaller sugars like maltose and dextrins. That’s why the nutrient affected by this enzyme is carbohydrate. Proteins are digested by proteases (such as pepsin and pancreatic enzymes), fats by lipase (with bile for emulsification), and nucleic acids by nucleases, so they aren’t acted on by salivary amylase. Also, the stomach’s acidic environment Inactivates salivary amylase, so most carbohydrate digestion continues later in the small intestine with pancreatic amylase.