Digestive enzymes are the generic name of enzymes involved in digestion and their role is hydrolysis. Some digestive enzymes are secreted by digestive glands and participate in intracellular digestion. Extracellular digestive enzymes are excreted in some inactive zymogens such as pepsinogen, trypsinogen, and carboxypeptidase and then be activated.
It is well known that our food determines our health status, but this is not exactly the case. The fact is that the food we can digest and absorb determines our health. Only when the food is first broken down into components that the body can absorb, can it provide us with nutrients, and this process is done by enzymes. Enzymes are compounds that digest food and break down chunks of food into small pieces of particles. In this process, proteins are broken down into amino acids; carbohydrates are broken down into monosaccharides; fats are broken down into fatty acids and glycerol. Every day, 10 liters of digestive juice enters the digestive tract. They are mainly secreted by the pancreas, liver, stomach, and intestinal wall.
The body needs nutrients to make these enzymes. Malnutrition can quickly lead to enzyme deficiency, which means that the body’s ability to use the nutrient already ingested will decrease, which in turn will exacerbate the enzyme deficiency, thus creating a vicious circle. For example, zinc is required for the secretion of gastric acid and proteases, and people suffering from zinc deficiency cannot effectively decompose proteins, allowing larger food molecules to stay in the small intestine that they should not stay in. If there is damage to the intestinal wall (which is a common defect caused by zinc deficiency), these undigested food molecules will enter the body and be attacked as invaders. This is the basic principle of most food allergies. Once a food becomes an allergic reaction, the bowel reaction causes inflammation to occur each time you eat this food. This reaction will destroy the balance of beneficial bacteria and other microorganisms in the intestinal tract. If you suffer from indigestion, swelling, flatulence, digestive pain, colitis, irritable bowel syndrome, etc., food allergies caused by digestive enzyme deficiency are likely to be a cause of illness.
The main causes of digestive enzyme deficiency are common in chronic pancreatitis, cholelithiasis, liver cirrhosis, liver dysfunction, pancreatic cancer, chronic gastrointestinal disease, pancreatic resection, gastrectomy, biliary resection, radiotherapy or chemotherapy side effects, elderly digestive dysfunction, and long-term drinking. The mechanism of the formation of symptoms of indigestion is very complicated, and insufficient secretion of digestive enzymes or decreased function is an important link in the development of indigestion symptoms.
Digestive enzymes mainly include amylase that digests carbohydrates, proteases that digest proteins, and lipases that digest fats. Many nutritional supplements contain these enzymes to aid digestion. Lyophilized plant enzymes are often used for this purpose. The most common of them are bromelain in pineapple and papain in papaya. Papain is chemically similar to pepsin in that it is a powerful protein digestive enzyme that can digest foods 35 to 100 times its own weight.
The characteristics of digestive enzymes are summarized as follows:
1.Digestive enzymes are substances contained in the digestive juice secreted by the human digestive system and are a protein.
2.The main role of digestive enzymes is to break down food into small molecules that the body can absorb.
3.All enzymes are specific, and one enzyme only catalyzes another or a type of chemical reaction, so there are many kinds of digestive enzymes.
4.Digestive enzymes have biological activity and are highly influenced by the external environment (temperature, humidity, pH, etc.).
Related Products at Creative Enzymes:
Leave a Reply