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Enzyme Information That You Can Digest:

What is an enzyme?

An enzyme is a protein that catalyzes and regulates all biochemical reactions within the body. Enzymes function by temporarily binding to reactants (precursors) and lowering the amount of activation energy needed to form the product, thus speeding up the reaction. They are key to human health because most reactions in the body occur too slowly or would result in different products if enzymes were not present. They work by providing alternate pathways of lower activation energy for a reaction and this speeds up the reaction, up to several million times faster. Enzymes are very selective and choose only certain reactants to bind to and will produce specific products, thus showing high levels of specificity. Enzymes are similar to most catalysts and are not consumed by the chemical reaction nor do they alter the balance of the reaction by shifting its equilibrium. They are crucial for digestion and help to break down fats, proteins, sugars, carbohydrates, and fiber. They make available the nutrients and energy locked away in foods while removing the toxins and unwanted products.

They Are What They Eat:

Enzymes can be grouped into 3 categories: digestive, metabolic, and food. Food enzymes must be obtained orally from food while digestive and metabolic enzymes are produced by the body.

Metabolic Enzymes : these enzymes drive our metabolism and provide the basic necessities of the body such as hearing, seeing, feeling, thinking, and moving. They are found in every living cell in the body and speed up the reactions for energy production and detoxification. Vital organs such as the liver, pancreas, gallbladder, as well as others play an important role in their synthesis.

Digestive Enzymes: are produced within the digestive system and are secreted to break down food substances to produce nutrients and wastes. This process allows the nutrients to be absorbed within the intestines into the blood stream to be utilized by the body while allowing the waste products to be excreted and discarded. The digestive enzymes include pepsin, trypsin, lipase, protease, amylase as well as others but the enzyme necessary for digesting fiber, cellulase, is not produced by the body.

Food Enzymes: are found within the food substance itself and are introduced into the body through the foods we eat. Raw foods contain enzymes that provide digestive capacity by allowing for the breakdown of that particular food item. Enzymes are particularly sensitive to heating and cooking; food processing and cooking destroys these enzymes by altering their shape, making them unable to function. Our bodies must produce the necessary digestive enzymes to break down our food. We often cook our food and eat processed foods thus destroying these enzymes and the enzymes contained within raw foods is only enough to digest that food substance.

Am I in need of Enzymes? Enzyme Uses:

Enzymes may be used to support digestion, assist with metabolism or provide treatment for disease. The most common form of enzyme used for these purposes are derived from plants or produced by microorganisms. Plant enzymes include protease, lipase, amylase, and cellulase. Plant enzymes are the most active or potent resulting in the highest active units capable of breaking down more protein, fat, and carbohydrates in the broadest range of conditions than other sources. They are used to maintain proper digestion and allow the body to produce more metabolic enzymes by reducing the need to produce digestive enzymes. Alternately, animal sourced enzymes are typically from the pancreas of harvested animals and are used to support digestion. Some microorganisms produce important medically significant enzymes that work towards disease prevention or reversal such as with cardiovascular disease, infection, and sinus or airway conditions. In all, these enzymes may be used to decrease inflammation, reduce clot formation, prevent tumor growth and improve infections, sinusitis, bowel disease, arthritis, lung conditions, wound care, and multiple sclerosis.

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