Relationship between pH and Vegetable DigestionEvan Chen, Karina Zeng, Vivian So, Wilson Li

To what extent does the pH level of vegetables affect the rate of enzymatic activity as measured by time it takes for amylase to digest vegetable juices?

Personal Engagement

Explanation of Starch and Digestion

Bond is broken to make Maltose and Glucose through digestion

Variables-pH-Rate of starch digestion

Setup

Measuring the Digestion Rate – Refractive Index/Brix Index

Results

4 4.5 5 5.5 6 6.5 70.00%2.00%4.00%6.00%8.00%

10.00%12.00%14.00%16.00%18.00%

R² = 0.0429448898051679

pH vs. Starch Concentration for Var-ious Vegetables

pH

Perc

ent

Star

ch C

once

ntra

tion

CauliflowerCarrots Broccoli

Sweet PotatoPotato

Canned Corn

“

”

There is no correlation between pH and rate of vegetable digestion.

Significance

Improvement 1: Vegetable Juice Concentration

Improvement 2: Vegetable Quantity

Improvement 3: Concave Mirror

Improvement 4: pH Measurements too close to 7

Resources

http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/FoodSci_p049.shtml#procedure

http://www.picse.net/GROWSMART/docs/orangeJuicePrac.pdf http://chemwiki.ucdavis.edu/Core/Biological_Chemistry/Carbohydrates/C

ase_Studies/Starch_and_Iodine http://foodsafety.wisc.edu/business_food/files/approximate_ph.pdf http://thepaleodiet.com/fruits-and-sugars/