Digestive enzymes: what is their task?
Digestive enzymes have many important functions, but what are digestive enzymes? How does it work?
The human body consists of a group of internal organs, and each organ has a specific function important to the body, and the most important compounds that help these organs perform their functions normally and properly are enzymes, including the digestive enzymes that will be mentioned in the following article:
digestive enzymes
Digestive enzymes are protein biological catalysts, which carry out various chemical processes within the body and affect the speed of some chemical reactions by entering them as a factor that speeds up or slows them down without being consumed.
In the human body, there are more than 5000 types of enzymes, and each of them performs a specific function. The enzymes take complex and precise shapes that are proportional to the size of the molecules that join them to start the various reaction processes.
Essential Digestive Enzymes
Digestive enzymes play a pivotal role in the process of digesting food in the body, as they stimulate the chemical reactions necessary for various digestion processes, and these digestive enzymes include the following:
1. Amylase
It stimulates the digestion and conversion of carbohydrates into sugars, and this enzyme is found in the salivary glands, pancreas, and small intestine.
The deficiency of this enzyme affects health as a whole, not just digestion; Because it is also responsible for the breakdown of dead white blood cells, failure to break them down may lead to the formation of pus-bearing swellings.
2. Protease
It is responsible for breaking down proteins and converting them into amino acids, and a protease enzyme is concentrated in the stomach, pancreas, and small intestine.
Any deficiency in this enzyme may cause several problems in the body such as anxiety, lack of sleep, arthritis, and osteoporosis as a result of a lack of calcium in the blood.
And because the protease enzyme works to get rid of some types of bacteria and viruses in the blood, its deficiency may also lead to infections and a decrease in the efficiency of the body’s immune system.
3. Lipase enzyme
The main function of this enzyme is to break down fats and to stimulate the process of converting them into fatty acids in the pancreas and small intestine.
Any deficiency in this type of enzyme may have negative effects on human health, such as:
- High cholesterol and triglycerides.
- Having difficulty losing weight.
- Having diabetes.
- The body's cells get rid of the waste or absorb food with difficulty and after trouble.
- Suffering from muscle spasms, especially in the shoulder area, due to a lack of calcium ionizers in the blood.
4. Papain
It is an enzyme responsible for stimulating the process of analyzing proteins in meat, as this enzyme helps to address digestion problems and gases and to get rid of dead and harmful tissues in the body.
5. Lactase enzyme
The function of this type of enzyme is to break down and digest the lactose in milk sugar.
Its deficiency affects humans when they are old. Its deficiency may cause difficulty in digesting this type of sugar, which is a condition called lactose intolerance.
6. Bromelain
It is an anti-inflammatory enzyme and helps prevent arthritis.
Food rich in digestive enzymes
The lack of enzymes in the body in sufficient and natural quantities may lead to several diseases, so a person should be careful to eat foods rich in digestive enzymes to avoid diseases, and there are types of food rich in these enzymes, such as:
- Fish, vegetables, fruits, seeds, nuts, whole grains, and legumes.
- Uncooked fruits and vegetables are rich in essential enzymes such as protease, amylase, and lipase.
- Papaya fruit contains the enzyme papain, while unpasteurized milk and yogurt contain the enzyme lactase, and the bromelain enzyme is present in the pineapple.
- Special capsules are prescribed to those who suffer from diseases caused by a deficiency of certain enzymes present in the body.
Other functions of digestive enzymes
The effect of enzymes is not limited to the digestion process in the body only. There are enzymes used to synthesize and manufacture different materials, for example, there are certain enzymes in the materials used for washing clothes that help to dismantle and get rid of stubborn fat stains or stains caused by an element of sugar derivatives.
In pharmacies, some capsules may help those who have a defect in the production of enzymes as a result of a disease, but you must be careful that your daily food contains foods that provide you with your need for different enzymes to stay in good health.
Deformation of digestive enzymes
If the shape of the enzymes is changed or distorted, the chemical reactions that he was responsible for or that he was involved in becoming impossible, and the most important reasons for their distortion are:
- Exposure to high temperature.
- Exposure to high acidity (PH).
The effectiveness and activity of digestive enzymes also increase with increasing temperature until it reaches a temperature of 37 degrees Celsius, that is, the normal body temperature, but if the temperature of the medium in which the enzymes are located exceeds this number, the enzymes will suffer distortions and their effect may stop.
As for the pH, any change in it affects enzymes' activity, and the pH that is considered normal varies depending on the region or part of the body we are talking about.