Carbohydrate Digestion

Simple sugars like glucose and fructose can be absorbed and metabolised directly but disaccharides such as sucrose or lactose and polysaccharides such as starch and glycogen have to be broken down to monosaccharides before they can be used in metabolic pathways. Carbohydrases that digest carbohydrates can be grouped into two categories:

1. Polysaccharases that split polysaccharides into disaccharides or trisaccharides.
2. Glycosidases that break up the disaccharides or trisaccharides to monosaccharides.

The digestion of carbohydrates, like proteins also occur in steps.