Digestive Enzymes Supplements

Digestive enzymes supplements ...what they are and why you might need them. by Carrie North, a writer specializing in nutrition and health issues

Digestive enzymes are enzymes which help the human body digest and absorb the food that we consume. Digestive enzymes are present in the saliva, the stomach, the small intestine and are secreted by different glands in the body including the pancreas and are also contained in the food we consume.

Vegetable enzymes

Digestive enzymes supplements from plants include:

• protease
  
• lipase
  
• amylase
  
• cellulose
  
• sucrase
  
• ingertase
  
• lactase
  

Bromelain is also one of digestive enzymes, vitamins that are essential for good health and digestion. Protease breaks down proteins, amylase breaks down fats and cellulose breaks down fibers.

What they Do

Digestive enzymes are biochemical catalysts that react with the food speeding up the rate of biochemical reactions. The digestive enzymes facilitate chemical reactions but are not themselves changed or affected by the process. They lower the activation energy of the reaction and accelerate the rate steadily. The function of the enzyme is determined by the structure and this can be monmeric or oligomeric structures. It stimulates chemical changes in substances and break down complex sugars into simple sugars that are easily digested.

Digestive enzyme vitamins contained in food are destroyed when food is cooked at high temperatures. Microwaving or processing food also destroys digestive enzymes and vitamins. Therefore, the food we consume may not actually contain the digestive enzymes that are required by the human digestive system. Degenerative diseases are a direct outcome of the lack of digestive enzymes, vitamins in adequate quantities in the food we consume.

Enzyme Activation

Many digestive enzymes vitamins are plant products. Plant derived enzymes are said to have an active broad pH range of 2-12 and temperature ranges of 75 to 122 degree Fahrenheit—which is within the human body’s normal temperature and pH ranges.

Papain, pancreatin and oxbile are digestive enzymes that are derived from fruits and animals. Animal digestive enzymes have a low pH range and temperature. They do not get activated in the human body until they are warmed up to the required temperatures after consumption and porting into the small intestine. This makes them ineffective for predigestion and for digestion in the stomach. Papain has an activation  temperature of 140-158 degree Fahrenheit, which is too high for the body’s digestive process. Total Balance is a product that provides the body with more than 80 nutrients that include digestive enzymes, vitamins, antioxidants, amino acids, neuronutrients, bioflavonoids, carotenoids, herbal extracts among others.

While digestive enzymes and vitamin supplements are believed to be very safe, it would be in your interest to consult your physician before you include any kind of dietary supplement to your food.

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