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GCSE Biology: Liver
- Food is absorbed in the small intestine and taken to the liver in the hepatic portal vein
- The Liver produced bile, which is stored in the gall bladder, and released into the small intestine
- Bile is alkaline and reduced the acidity of the chyme (material from the stomach)
- Intestinal enzymes work best in this slightly alkaline environment
- Bile also contains salts which emulsify fats. (emulsify means to break large drops of fat into smaller droplets); this increases the surface area for lipase to work on.