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About Digestive Enzymes?
Digestive enzymes are used by the body and the digestive system to break down the foods that you eat into the nutrients that you body needs to function in a healthy manner. Your body will produce 22 different digestive enzymes that it uses to break down the food that you eat. There are other enzymes that can be found in the foods that you eat, such as grains, fruits, vegetables, and meats. You are able to purchase some digestive enzymes as supplements in the form of plant and animal enzymes. As you are eating your food the digestive enzymes in your body are excreted from the glands in your mouth called the salivary glands, as well as the digestive enzymes that are found in your stomach. The small intestine in your body helps to move the digestive process along by allowing the each of the digestive enzymes to react to a certain type of food. Different enzymes work on different foods, such as the amylases digestive enzymes that help your body to digest carbohydrates.
If you are suffering from a variety of medical conditions involving your stomach your doctor may be able to prescribe digestive enzymes in the form of supplements that will help you find relief from ailments such as indigestion, bloating of your stomach to heartburn. If you are suffering from cancer and have problems digesting your food your doctor may be able to prescribe digestive enzymes to help you with this digestion. Digestive enzymes have even been known to help non-digestive problems such as acne and other skin problems such as rosacea. There are some naturopathic doctors who believe that digestive enzymes should be prescribed regularly to help with the healthy digestive process.
Without enzymes, we could not exist. Our body's reactions would be too slow for life to be possible because enzymes are involved in almost everything that happens in the body.
The human body makes more than 3,000 kinds of enzymes that speed up (catalyze) chemical reactions and save energy. Digestive enzymes, which are only a few of the thousands of known enzymes, break down the foods we eat into basic building blocks that our body then absorbs and reassembles to build cells, tissues, organs, glands, and body systems.
We need digestive enzymes in order to digest our food and get all the nutrients out of them so that we can stay healthy. The are lots of different types of enzymes which digest different types of food. For instance, amylase digests starch, whilst lipase digests fats. Without these enzymes we will suffer from indigestion, malnutrition or even a weakened immune system.
If your diet could be better and is filled with processed food then you'll probably want to take a digestive enzyme. This is because cooking kills the enzymes that are naturally present and our own bodies have a limited supply. Even eating raw fruit and veg may not be enough if they have been grown thousands of miles away or in soil that is poor quality.
Digestive enzymes come from two sources: internal and external. Internally, the digestive system secretes the enzymes found in saliva, the stomach, pancreas and intestines. Externally, raw food is the primary source. Nature endows all food with the enzymes required for its digestion. Chewing raw food releases these enzymes and digestion begins. our own enzymes assist in this process.
Caffeine, alcohol, illness, pregnancy, stress, severe weather and exercise all take their toll on our enzyme reserves. Our bodies also produce less as we age. But, the main reason we don't digest food well is due to the processed food in our diets. Our diets don't contain as much raw food as they once did, and modern food processing techniques and cooking destroy nearly 100% of the enzymes naturally present in food. Even raw food doesn't contain as many enzymes as it once did due to environmental factors, depleted soil, and preservation techniques. The body tries to compensate by producing more internal digestive enzymes to make up for the lack of external plant enzymes.
Our daily diets are composed primarily of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. Digestive enzymes break down these particular food compounds into progressively smaller food particles in order for the body to receive its nutrients. Naturally occurring digestive enzymes are found in raw foods, such as fruits and vegetables. These enzymes increase the level of digestion in the stomach, increasing the amount of food broken down.
The human body makes approximately twenty-two different digestive enzymes. The digestion of food takes place in stages: first our food is partly broken down by the process of chewing and by the chemical action of our salivary enzymes, then the food moves into the stomach, where the stomach produces Hydrochloric Acid (HCl) and other gastric acids to include Pepsin. Then into the small intestine where the bile salts from the gall bladder, the pancreatic enzymes and other digestive enzymes breakdown the food further. At each step, specific enzymes break down different types of food. The final breakdown of remaining small molecules of food occurs in the lower small intestine. Through the whole process, enzymes are critical for proper and complete digestion to occur.
Digestive enzymes are large protein molecules that can be absorbed from the gut, passed into the circulatory and lymphatic systems, then to every cell in the body; as their name suggests, the importance of digestive enzymes pertains to their role in the digestive process. Without digestive enzymes our bodies would be unable to obtain nutrients from food: they are secreted along the gastrointestinal tract to break down food so the nutrients can be absorbed into the bloodstream.
Some foods are rich in digestive enzymes. Fresh, naturally ripened pineapples are rich in the protein splitting enzyme bromelain. Digestive enzymes are also found in fresh papayas. In Asia, soy sauce has been recognized for centuries as a rich source of digestive enzymes. Keep in mind, however, that heating food destroys virtually all of the active digestive enzymes. Most nutritionists recommend a diet of whole foods, containing a variety of mixed raw and cooked plants.
How Do Digestive Enzymes Work?
When you eat proteins, carbohydrates, and fat, the pancreas responds by secreting the proper amounts and concentrations of protease, amylase, and lipase enzymes to digest the foods and transport their nutrients into the bloodstream. Organic raw foods contain the proper types and concentrations of enzymes in their cells to digest themselves. Digestive enzymes are responsible for aged fruit to rot or self-digest. Cooking or heating food kills the enzymes found in live foods.
Digestive enzymes break down food so that it can be absorbed and utilized by the body. Raw food has enzymatic activity, and the body has a limited supply also. When our pets eat the raw food that their physiology is designed to thrive on, they receive plenty of food enzymes, which aid digestion and nutrient utilization. When they eat cooked food, which is devoid of enzymes, they can deplete the body's supply, and the enzyme-producing organs must work overtime to compensate.
Digestive enzymes include proteases/peptidases (break down proteins/peptides), amylase (break down carbohydrates), and lipases (break down triglyceride fats). Proteins are degraded to peptides and amino acids, carbohydrates to sugars, and triglycerides to fatty acids by breaking specific chemical bonds within the compound.
Pepsin is the main gastric enzyme. As it breaks proteins into smaller peptide fragments, it is a peptidase.
Gelatinase, degrades type I and type V gelatin and type IV and V collagen, which are proteoglycans in meat.
Gastric amylase degrades starch, but is of minor significance.
Gastric lipase is a tributyrase by its biochemical activity, as it acts almost exclusively on tributyrin, a butter fat.
The pancreas is the main digestive gland in our body. It secretes the enzymes:
Trypsin, is a peptidase, that breaks down peptides in the small intestine.
Chymotrypsin, also a peptidase
Steapsin, degrades triglycerides into fatty acids and glycerol.
Carboxypeptidase, splits peptide fragments into individual amino acids.
When a person eats proteins carbohydrates and fat the pancreas responds by secreting the proper amounts and concentrations of protease amylase and lipase enzymes to digest the foods and transport their nutrients into the bloodstream. Organic raw foods contain the proper types and concentrations of enzymes in their cells to digest themselves (enzymes are responsible for aged fruit to rot or self-digest. Cooking or heating food kills the enzymes found in live foods. Nature intended for the enzymes within rot foods to assist the body in digestion). Eating organic produce adds little or no stress to the pancreas. Our bodies do not make the enzyme cellulose which breaks down plant fiber however a plant-source cellulose enzyme supplement is appropriate therapy for certain conditions such as green leafy vegetables intact in stools.
Unfortunately many commercially grown 'live' foods have been genetically altered to make them contain fewer enzymes. This allows these fruits and vegetables a longer shelf life. Haven't you wondered how fruit and vegetables at commercial grocery stores stay on the shelves so long without spoiling? This is the reason health food stores usually have smaller produce stocks- they must sell and replace existing stock before the inherent enzymes begin the self-digestive process.
Why to take digestive enzymes
Very necessary for people suffering from gastric problems such as bloating, IBS, candida albicas etc.
To avoid auto-intoxication - when foods are not properly digested they sludge the lining of the intestines. This fecal matter starts to decay, producing bacteria and toxins which seep through the bowel wall and back into the blood stream. This can result in allergies, constipation, stomach bloat, gas, gas, fatigue, weight gain or loss, headache and much more.
The pancreas makes our enzymes, and as we age, especially if we eat a diet that is heavy in cooked foods, our enzyme bank account runs low or even depleted. The pancreas works hard to make more enzymes, but often is just not able to do so.
Do I need digestive enzymes?
Your body cannot digest or absorb nutrients from food without enzymes. Cooking destroys the natural enzymes in foods. You lose approximately 14% of your enzyme potential for every 10 years of life. Up to 51% of all adults do not produce sufficient amounts of digestive enzymes.
The body can make digestive enzymes; however, the more digestive enzymes it is required to produce for digestion, the fewer enzymes it can create to maintain optimal health. It is very important that we preserve the body's ability to make enzymes. If supplemental plant digestive enzymes are taken with a meal, these digestive enzymes begin their work immediately.
Digestive enzymes assist your digestive system in breaking down the food you eat. Sometimes people don't create enough of a certain kind of enzyme (due to genetics, age, leaky gut syndrome, food intolerances, etc.) to digest certain kinds of food substances properly.
Which part of the human gastrointestinal tract produces digestive...?
There is no single part of the digestive system where food molecules are completely digested. The entire GI tract is needed. Digestion starts in the mouth with chewing and the enzymatic action of saliva. The food then moves to the stomach, where it is further broken down. The small intestine is the portion of the GI tract where the most digestive action takes place, and most useful nutrients are absorbed in the small intestine. The large intestine is mostly for the absorption of water and salts.
High strength digestive enzymes with gut soothing herbs.
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