2.30 Recall that bile is produced by the liver and stored in the gall bladder, and understand the role of bile in neutralizing stomach acid and emulsifying lipids. Bile is made in the liver and stored in the gall bladder. It is a greenish yellow alkaline liquid. The function of bile is to neutralize the acidic contents, which come out of the stomach and enter the small intestine. It also breaks lipids into small droplets to increase the surface area for digestion by lipases.

Bile In the diagram above the lipase enzymes can only digest around the outside of the large lipid drop, this does not provide a very large surface area for them to work on and so digestion will be slow. Lipase - Enzyme Large Lipid drop

Bile In the diagram below the bile is emulsifying the lipid into small droplets. This provides a much larger surface area for lipases to act on and digestion is much quicker. Small Lipid Drop Bile