Why is surface area important in the digestive system?

The chemical and mechanical digestion process of food particles aids in increasing the surface area of the food particles to allow proper functioning of enzymes. A set of enzymatic reactions helps in breaking down the complex food compounds into small compounds such as amino acids, sugars, or other vitamins and minerals. When the food particles are broken down into smaller particles- the surface area of it will be higher so then the enzymes can react efficiently and facilitate the absorption in the digestive system.

Therefore, the surface area of the food components are important in digestion.

In addition, the digestive system also has features to increase the surface area, which will help in efficient digestive process. For example, the small intestine has microvilli which are finger-like structures which helps in increasing the surface area for a proper digestion.