Stomach the small intestine, where the extraction of nutrients begins. Depending on the quantity and contents of the meal, the stomach will digest the food into chyme within anywhere between forty minutes and a few hours. The average human stomach can comfortably hold about a litre of food. Gastric juice in the stomach also contains pepsinogen. Hydrochloric acid activates this inactive form of enzyme into the active form, pepsin. Pepsin breaks down proteins into polypeptides. Although the absorption in the human digestive system is mainly a function of the small intestine, some absorption of certain small molecules nevertheless does occur in
Phytic acid in 1903. Phytic acid, mostly as phytate in the form of phytin, is found within the hulls of seeds, including nuts, grains and pulses. In-home food preparation techniques can break down the phytic acid in all of these foods. Simply cooking the food will reduce the phytic acid to some degree. More effective methods are soaking in an acid medium, sprouting and lactic acid fermentation such as in sourdough and pickling. No detectable phytate (less than 0.02% of wet weight) was observed in vegetables such as scallion and cabbage leaves or in fruits such as apples, oranges, bananas, or pears.