What is the main function of saliva in the mouth during digestion?
It breaks down starch into simple sugar
Saliva secreted by the salivary glands contains the enzyme salivary amylase (ptyalin), which acts on the starch in food and hydrolyses it into simpler sugars such as maltose. This is the first step of chemical digestion in humans and it begins in the buccal cavity itself.
Absorption of nutrients happens mainly in the small intestine, not the mouth; saliva's lysozyme checks some microbes but does not kill all bacteria; and food is carried to the stomach by the peristaltic movement of the oesophagus, saliva only moistening the bolus.
Hence, the answer is It breaks down starch into simple sugar.
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