Lipid Digestion and Absorption Mechanisms in Human Physiology
Summary
The digestion of dietary lipids is a multistage process that begins in the stomach with the action of gastric lipase on triacylglycerols, continues in the small intestine with bile salt–mediated emulsification and pancreatic lipase–colipase complexes, and culminates in the uptake of free fatty acids and monoacylglycerols by enterocytes. Emulsification increases the surface area of lipid droplets, allowing lipases to hydrolyse ester bonds and generate absorbable products. Bile salts form mixed micelles that solubilise lipid digestion products and facilitate their transport across the unstirred water layer to the brush border membrane. Within enterocytes, fatty acids are re-esterified to triacylglycerols, assembled into chylomicrons and secreted into the lymphatic system. This orchestrated sequence is finely regulated by luminal pH, bile salt concentration, enzyme cofactors and dietary composition. The efficiency of lipid digestion and absorption underpins energy homeostasis, fat-soluble vitamin uptake and the generation of signalling lipids that influence systemic metabolism and appetite regulation. Disruptions in any stage may contribute to malabsorption syndromes, dyslipidaemias or inflammatory bowel disease. Ongoing research seeks to elucidate the interplay between lipid droplet architecture, enzyme kinetics and micellar dynamics, with a view to optimising nutritional therapies and designing targeted drug-delivery systems that exploit enterocyte lipid assimilation pathways.
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Lipid Digestion and Absorption Mechanisms in Human Physiology publication trend
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Technical terms
Gastric lipase: An acid-stable enzyme secreted in the stomach that initiates hydrolysis of triacylglycerols into free fatty acids and diacylglycerols.
Emulsion: A dispersion of lipid droplets in an aqueous phase stabilised by amphiphilic molecules, enhancing digestive enzyme access.
Micelle: A bile salt–lipid aggregate that solubilises digestion products, facilitating their diffusion through the unstirred water layer to the enterocyte surface.
Chylomicron: A lipoprotein assembly within enterocytes composed of re-esterified triacylglycerols, cholesterol and apolipoproteins for lymphatic transport.
Colipase: A pancreatic cofactor that anchors lipase to the lipid–water interface in the presence of bile salts, restoring enzyme activity.
References
- Mechanisms of Inhibition of Triacylglycerol Hydrolysis by Human Gastric Lipase*. Journal of Biological Chemistry (2002).
- INFOGEST inter-laboratory recommendations for assaying gastric and pancreatic lipases activities prior to in vitro digestion studies. Journal of Functional Foods (2021).
- Molecular and structural organization of lipids in foods: their fate during digestion and impact in nutrition. OCL - Oilseeds and fats, Crops and Lipids (2017).
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