Explain The Roles Of The Liver In Dealing With The Products Of Digestion Of Carbohydrates And Proteins?

The process of digestion breaks down carbohydrates and proteins into their constituent monomers - simple sugars and amino acids. These small molecules diffuse out of epithelial cells in the small intestine and enter the blood by passing into the blood capillaries within the intestinal villi. From here they pass to the liver via the hepatic portal vein for further processing.

The liver processes absorbed food molecules, converting some of them into storage products. Sugars can be converted to glycogen for storage. The liver breaks down other food products, including excess amino acids, which are deaminated. This means that their amine groups are removed. These toxic breakdown products then pass to the kidney for excretion as urea.

The liver is an extremely complex organ that also processes many other molecules - it is responsible for metabolising many drugs, including alcohol and paracetamol, and for processing the breakdown products of lipid digestion. If the liver becomes damaged, we get seriously ill.

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