DIGESTIVE ENZYMES (REVISITED)
What Is An Enzyme?
Enzymes are proteins produced by all living organisms, and, like all proteins, they consist of amino acids. What makes these proteins different from other proteins is how they behave in the body. By definition, enzymes are catalysts that make many essential biochemical reactions ‘happen’ and are not used up or chemically altered in the process. As a catalyst, they help a chemical reaction take place quickly and efficiently. Some reactions would either happen very slowly or not occur at all without enzymes. So a little bit of enzyme can effect a big change.
The same variety of amino acids that occur in all living things make up enzymes. The amino acids connect in particular sequences to form protein chains. The amino acids in the chain often bond together creating folding patterns and twisting into certain shapes. The particular folding pattern of each enzyme gives it distinct characteristics and functions. When anything disrupts the specific folding pattern, the enzyme often loses its ability to function, becoming inactivated or destroyed.
How Do Enzymes Work?
Each type of enzyme has a special function and works in a particular way. Enzymes are essential to every aspect of life and carry out all the daily biochemical functions. They are the basic elements that activate all functions in the body, facilitate reactions that build compounds from the body’s raw materials, transport elements throughout the body, break down substances, and eliminate many unwanted chemicals in the body.
Enzymes are chemicals that facilitate other chemical reactions. Food itself is essentially just a mixture of chemicals that are broken down by enzymes. The released nutrients are the raw materials. Vitamins and other nutrients cannot work in the body by themselves. They require enzymes to transport them throughout the body and make use of them. Enzymes unlock the benefits of vitamins, minerals, proteins, and hormones and put them to work in the body. Enzymes are the workers and assist many biological, chemical, and metabolic reactions, but are not ‘alive’ themselves.
Sometimes particular enzymes need certain vitamins and minerals in order to function. Magnesium participates in over 300 enzyme reactions. These additional elements are called co-enzymes. A co-enzyme may give the enzyme the three-dimensional structure it needs to create the ‘active site’ necessary to perform its catalytic function. If a needed co-enzyme is not available, the enzyme will not function.
Why Should I Care?
Enzymes run every function in our entire body. Digestive enzymes breakdown the food we eat so it can be used as a source of nutrients and a source of energy. Every cell relies on the raw materials provided to the body by digestive enzymes. If you do not have enough enzymes you can develop a vast myriad of illnesses. All the food and nutritional supplements you consume will not do any good if they are not sufficiently broken down and absorbed by the body.
Digestive enzymes have been found to influence an amazing array of health conditions.
Tags: amino acids, cell, digestive enzymes, energy, hormones, nutrients, PROTEINS
