What happens to a morsel of kenkey in the mouth?

This post answers the 1999 Integrated Science Paper 2 BECE question 

3. (a) (i) Describe briefly what happens to a morsel of kenkey in the mouth during eating.

In the mouth, the morsel of kenkey begins to undergo two types of digestion.

The first type of digestion the morsel of kenkey undergoes is the physical digestion, where the teeth is used to break down the food into small chunks, as well as bits and pieces.

The physical breakdown of the food by the teeth does two things: (1) It reduces the size of the morsel of kenkey for easy swallow; and (2) It increases the surface area of the food for chemical digestion to begin to work.

During the physical breakdown of the food by the teeth, another important substance called saliva mixes with the food.

The saliva contains mucous, and a biological enzyme called Ptyalin. By biological, we mean it is naturally-occurring - the body produces it.

The mucous in the saliva combines with food to make it slippery and to aid in the breaking down process. 

The Ptyalin in the saliva begins to digest the carbohydrate that occurs in the form of starch in the kenkey. Kenkey is a maize meal, which happens to be a staple food in Ghana.

The work of the Pytalin (also known as salivary amylase) is to chemically break down the complex food molecules (starches) into less complex ones (sugars). And so, it works on the food to convert the starch in the kenkey to sucrose. 

The above forms the beginning of carbohydrate digestion, and it happens in the mouth.

So, that is what happens to a morsel of kenkey in the mouth. 

Please Note: Additionally, you will notice that when any carbohydrate, be it kenkey or a piece of bread is chewed for a long time, it tends to become sweet. That's how you know that the starch in the food has gotten converted into sucrose, a less complex carbohydrate.

You Might Also Like

bece question

rme