The Role of Enzymes in the Digestive System

Your body is made up of trillions of cells and each and every one of these depends on enzymes for proper function. Enzymes are important in initiating all the things that happen to the body from breathing to eating and digesting the food that a person eats. If there are inadequate enzymes, the body experiences weakness and eventually dies. All parts of the body rely on enzymes to perform and function optimally.

A healthy body is capable of producing its own enzymes. There must be enzyme reserves in the body that’s why other organs create more of them for “possible future use”. Glands produce enzymes that the body can use in the future.

Our cells are not the only source of enzymes. We can also get these from the food we eat. Moreover, not every food may contain enzymes. Raw foods contain unadulterated enzymes. In comparison, junk foods and cooked foods contain significantly lesser amounts. The reason why these contain less is because these particular proteins do not retain their chemical composition when they are heated over a certain temperature. They are just like living cells that die when encountered with an excessive amount of heat. Although there are canned and processed foods that are enzyme-fortified.

Why should you eat enzyme-rich foods and what happens if you didn’t? Imagine eating morsels of food. You put it in your mouth, chew it, swallow it and it heads right in your stomach. The food gets prepped and broken down a bit when it is mixed with saliva because of an enzyme present in it. Enzyme in you saliva, called the ptyalin, will make it easier for your body to digest your food. When food is excreted, there is already a good number of enzymes that acted upon on the food that was just digested. The entire process of digestion is made possible only be enzymes. Enzymes will also enable the digestive system to break down all the essential nutrients from food and will be easily absorbed by the intestines. In essence, no nutrients and minerals are wasted.

The body uses spare enzymes to digest cooked food. When this happens, what the stomach does is send signals to other organs for additional enzymes. Imagine the body doing this for years. When it gets abused and enzymes are not replaced, it could just shut down without warning. Eventually, the organs where your stomach borrows enzymes from will tire and until such a time when they can no longer provide additional enzymes. Food and drinks rich in enzymes will help you avoid such an unfortunate circumstance.

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