Enzyme Questions and Answers
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Enzyme Questions and Answers |
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I've heard that enzymes are destroyed by the acid environment in our stomach. Is that true? Wright State University, School of Medicine, Dayton, Ohio did an extensive study on digestive enzymes using patients with ileostomy (a surgical procedure where the large intestine is removed from the patient) and the digestive tract ends at the lower part of the small intestine. Using these patients, the contents of the small intestine can be analyzed to dissect the efficiency of the digestive process for any diet. The findings revealed enzymes from raw foods still available and when plant enzyme supplementation was provided the food stuffs interacted directly with enzymes in the human body to support maximum thermodynamic energy release. This research provides evidence that enzymes in food do in fact survive during digestion and can indeed add significantly to the nutritive value of ingested food stuffs. Destruction of our enzymes in the stomach is a theory held by many researchers. Recent research now reveals that our enzymes are only deactivated in the lower part of the acidic stomach (pylorus). However, when our enzymes leave the lower portion of the pylorus, and enter the alkaline environment of the small intestine, nearly all become reactivated which aids in the completion of the digestive process. When we eat cooked food, all the food enzymes have been destroyed and the entire burden of digestion is placed upon the body's ability to make digestive enzymes from the limited reserves that are stored in the body. When our body is called upon to make digestive enzymes, this takes away from the normal process of making metabolic enzymes. The resulting low supply of available metabolic enzymes will have an adverse effect on our ability to keep our immune system ready to fight disease as well as to run the body's cells, tissue, and organs efficiently.
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