Why can we digest starch, but not cellulose‪?‬ Chemistry in Everyday Life

Both starch and cellulose are made of glucose, one of the main sources of energy for the human body. Yet... we can digest starch that we find in things like potatoes or flour, but we cannot digest cellulose, a compound that is found in virtually every plant... Why?!?

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Sources

Chemistry of glucose linkages

· https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycosidic_bond

· https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anomer

· https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polysaccharide

Glycogen & Starch metabolism

· https://findanyanswer.com/can-glycogen-be-digested-by-humans

· Biochemistryby J. M. Berg et al. 9th Ed. 2019 ISBN 978-1-319-11465-7; p. 679ff

· https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starch

· https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycogen

· https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycogenolysis

Cellulose digestion

· https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruminant#Digestive_system_of_ruminants

· https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumen

· https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellulose

· https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellulase

· https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindgut_fermentation