Final answer:
The statement that fats are mostly digested in the stomach by hydrochloric acid is false. Lipids are primarily digested in the small intestine with the aid of pancreatic lipase and bile salts.
Step-by-step explanation:
The false statement about fats is: a. Fats are mostly digested in the stomach by hydrochloric acid. Hydrochloric acid in the stomach plays a role in digestion by providing an acidic environment that denatures proteins and activates certain enzymes, but it is not primarily responsible for the digestion of lipids. The bulk of lipid digestion occurs in the small intestine, facilitated by enzymes like pancreatic lipase and bile salts that emulsify fats.
Bile, produced in the liver and stored in the gallbladder, contains bile salts that are amphipathic, which allows them to break down large lipid globules into smaller droplets called micelles during the process of emulsification. Pancreatic lipase then acts on these emulsified fat droplets, breaking them down into fatty acids and glycerol.
Glycerol and short-chain fatty acids are absorbed directly into the blood capillary in the villi of the small intestine. Lastly, larger lipid components like triglycerides are resynthesized in the intestinal cells into new triglycerides and packed into lipoprotein transporters called chylomicrons, which are absorbed into the lymphatic system.