The county jurisdiction includes the island of Santa Rosa south of Pensacola; it is not part of Santa Rosa County proper. Escambia County is part of the Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent Metropolitan Statistical Area.
It secretes juices containing enzymes that are capable of digesting all major types of food -- carbohydrates, fats and proteins. The pancreas is the first organ to begin digesting fats. It secretes pancreatic lipase, esterase and phospholipase, which break down chemically complex fats into simple, easy-to-absorb fats. Similarly, trypsin and carboxypolypeptidase break down proteins, and pancreatic amylase breaks down carbohydrates.
Colipase is a protein co-enzyme required for optimal enzyme activity of pancreatic lipase. It is secreted by the pancreas in an inactive form, procolipase, which is activated in the intestinal lumen by trypsin. Its function is to prevent the inhibitory effect of bile salts on the lipase-catalyzed intraduodenal hydrolysis of dietary long-chain triglycerides.