Final answer:
Digestion of carbohydrates begins in the mouth where the enzyme amylase starts breaking down starch into simpler sugars. This process is halted in the stomach due to acidity.
Step-by-step explanation:
Carbohydrate digestion starts in the mouth. The salivary enzyme amylase works to begin starch digestion by breaking down the complex carbohydrates into simpler sugars like maltose. As food travels through the esophagus to the stomach, the amylase continues to act, although it becomes inactivated in the acidic environment of the stomach, where carbohydrate digestion halts due to the lack of specific digestive enzymes for carbohydrates.
Carbohydrate digestion begins in the mouth where salivary a-amylase attacks the a-glycosidic linkages in starch, the main carbohydrate ingested by humans. Cleavage of the glycosidic linkages produces a mixture of dextrins, maltose, and glucose. The a-amylase mixed into the food remains active as the food passes through the esophagus, but it is rapidly inactivated in the acidic environment of the stomach.