Action of Salivary Amylase on Starch

Action of Salivary Amylase on Starch :-
The act of chewing stimulates the excretion of saliva. Saliva mixes up with the food and helps its digestion. That is, the enzyme ptyalin or amylase present in human saliva hydrolyse the big molecules of food into many molecules. For example starch into mono-saccharides maltose and glucose; proteins into amino acids and fats into fatty acids and glycerol. Thus saliva not only helps in digestion of food but convert it into energy generating substances. Further, enzymes and their activity are very sensitive to temperature and pH. Even a slight variation in these two factors, can disrupt the action of enzymes. In other words, digestion of food by salivary amylase is also effected by pH and temperature and can be verified experimentally. For example, hydrolysis of starch can be verified by testing it with iodine solution. Starch forms blue coloured complex with iodine. If no starch is present in a system it will not give blue colour with iodine.

This video explains how to study the effect of different temperatures and pH on the activity of salivary content, amylase on starch.