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Archive for September, 2011

Do you frequently suffer from complexities of indigestion like gas, acidity, heart burning, pain in the upper abdomen, bloating, diarrhea or constipations and so on? Then you need to do some researches on enzymes. Wondering why enzymes? That is because enzymes are precisely the chemicals that play the most important role in the process of digestion in our body.

In every human cell you can find hundreds and thousands of enzymes. Think about it… E. coli, a bacterium has some 1,000 different types of enzymes floating around in its cytoplasm all the time. The enzymes are defined as biological catalysts. These catalytic reactions of enzymes are due to their extremely interesting chemical properties. The cells have many important functions to perform, they have to store certain things and eliminate others, and they have to grow themselves in number. Now the enzymes make the chemical processes faster, so that the cells can perform these functions easily and quickly. In other words, the cells carry on the system’s chemical process incessantly and this complex chemical process is made possible by the variety of enzymes.

The main composing element of enzymes is amino acids. Amino acids are a basic kind of proteins. Some100 to 1,000 amino acids come together in a string formation to create an enzyme. This stringing together is done in a neat and predefined order. Now a chain of amino acid is formed which then folds into a unique shape. This shape determines how well the enzymes will carry out their specific chemical reactions. Enzymes as catalysts speed up the chemical processes.

Let me explain it by citing the example of a particular enzyme. For example, the sugar maltose is made from two glucose molecules bonded together. The enzyme maltase is shaped in such a way that it can break the bond and free the two glucose pieces. This function of breaking the molecules is done rapidly and efficiently. There are many other types of enzymes that can even put atoms and molecules together. This is precisely the job of the enzymes: breaking molecules apart and putting them back together. Special types of enzymes are assigned to catalyze specific type of chemical reaction so that the cells can carry on with their normal work.

One interesting thing about enzyme is that, it ignites a chemical reaction but it does not get transformed itself as a result of this reaction. It is not even used up in the process. Take the example of fermentation process in which enzyme grow in the yeast cells and convert molecules of sugar into molecules of ethanol. But the enzymes themselves are not finished up by the process.

Consume lots of fresh fruits, vegetables and dairy products to get plenty of natural enzymes inside your body. You can also try the synthetic enzymes which are not only economic, but also very effective in dealing with the digestive complexities.

Every living thing on this planet uses enzymes. They are essential for maintaining proper function of the body, digesting food, and aiding in the repair of tissue. Enzymes are made up of proteins, and the thousands that are known play a vital role in nearly all body activities. Without the presence of enzymes life as we know it could not exist.

Enzymes are the consummate specialists in the body. Each has a specific function that no other enzyme can fulfill. The shapes of some particular enzymes are so specialized that they will initiate specific reactions only in certain substances.

While the body manufactures a supply of enzymes, it can also obtain enzymes from food. To obtain the maximum effectiveness, and to avoid destruction by the heat of cooking, the food must be eaten raw. Cooked foods will be depleted of all enzymes. Those not eating raw foods or supplementing their diets put an undue strain on the body’s enzyme supply.

To ease the body’s burden it is helpful to eat raw foods such as avocados, bananas, and mangos are rich in enzymes, besides tasting good to boot. If coked and raw foods are eaten during the same meal, take several enzyme supplements during the meal – not afterward. If you are one of those who physically cannot swallow a tablet or pill simply open the capsule and sprinkle it on your food. If it is in a tablet forms consider breaking it into smaller pieces to make it easier to swallow. Powdered enzymes are easily sprinkled on food or mixed with water.

Over-the-counter enzymes may be sold in combinations with other enzymes or as separate items. Some products may contain garlic or rose his to help with digestion. Commercial enzymes are made from animal enzymes such as pancreatin and pepsin, or plant enzymes. Animal enzymes aid in digestion in the lower stomach and intestinal tract. Plant enzymes begin their work in the upper stomach.

The majority of commercially available enzymes are digestive in nature. The rest are metabolic enzymes that deal with other various phases of the life process. All the body’s organs, tissues, and cells are run by metabolic enzymes.

Get started as soon as possible on some kind of daily vitamin and enzyme supplement regimen. Basic nutrition can go a long way towards greatly improving your health and well-being.

Enzymes are necessary to all biological organisms; they are catalysts that assist in chemical reactions in the body. Enzymes are made up of proteins and cofactors (vitamins, minerals, ions, RNA). For our purposes of dietary explanation, the main types of enzymes are digestive and metabolic (the six classes are: oxidoreductase, transferase, hydrolase, lyase, isomerase and ligase). The basic thing to know about enzymes is that nothing would move in the human body without them…right on down to the cellular processes.

Most of the time when someone is talking about the need for enzymes in the diet they are speaking about taking digestive enzymes to aid in the breakdown of ingested food. This becomes very important as we age and lose the great response of enzymes that we had when we were younger. There are a number of reasons for this, including the use of things that use up our digestive and metabolic enzymes, like improper food combining.

To add to the problem, when we combine foods that all need different enzymes to be digested the enzymes are used up fighting each other. Then we need to recruit the metabolic enzymes to do the job of the digestive enzymes. That’s when we get into trouble-when we run out of metabolic enzymes, it’s all over. So, if people are taking pills to knock down stomach acid, food does not get digested properly and enzymes are wasted. To remedy the situation, we take digestive enzymes.

The neat thing about some of the digestive enzymes is that they can be used to digest food but also used (when taken on an empty stomach) to digest fibrin clots and things that should not be in the bloodstream. It’s kind of a dual-purpose thing and can help you feel better very quickly. Serrapeptase is usually the enzyme used for that and natto-kinase is used for more serious fibrin (blood) clots.

The enzymes we usually take for food are classed by the type of food meant to be digested: lipase for fats, amylase for carbohydrates, protease for proteins. There are other enzymes for those that have further problems such as lack of bile or pancreatic acid and some digestive enzyme formulas contain those as well. Depending on the formula, most enzymes are recommended to be taken either just before a meal or during the meal. If you are really a bad food combiner, try adding some digestive enzymes and see if you feel better. Then get yourself a food combining book and learn how to conserve your enzymes.

©2010 Dr.Valerie Olmsted All Rights Reserved