The Ultimate Enzymes

Nick Mutt asked:


Wheatgrass has several health benefits. It is young wheat plant of 1 to 2 weeks of age and is widely used as health supplements. It is highly rich in vitamins, minerals, enzymes, protein and chlorophyll. It contains almost every amino acid, vitamin and mineral necessary for human nutrition that makes it a complete food for us. The high chlorophyll content make it acts as a magnet in drawing out toxins from the body.

Now doctors recommend eating green leafy vegetables. Wheatgrass is an ultimate way to increase dark green leafy vegetables in our diet. Its just surprising to know that just 15 pounds of wheat grass is equivalent to 350 pounds of vegetables. A 16×16 tray of wheatgrass yields about 15 to 22 ounces of juice, depending on its length.

Wheatgrass is available in market in various forms like wheatgrass juice, tablets and powders. When wheatgrass reaches a height of 12 to 20cm it can be cut and then juiced. Wheatgrass is considered as an ideal food to nourish the body and rid it of toxins. It is also very beneficial for those who suffer from pain and illness.

Benefits of wheatgrass

• It fights against infections and improves the body’s ability to heal wounds.

• It helps in scalp treatment for lusterless hairs.

• It helps in removing heavy metals from the body.

• It also act as a cleanser and astringent for all types of skin

• It absorbs 92 out of the known 102 minerals from the soil.

• It also helps in treating skin problems like eczema or psoriasis.

• Chlorophyll present in wheatgrass helps to improve blood sugar disorders.

• It helps in preventing tooth decay.

• It also helps in eliminating body odors.

• It helps in boosting sexual stamina. The high magnesium content in chlorophyll builds enzymes that restore the sex hormones.

• It aids in the prevention and fight against cancer.

• Chlorophyll in wheatgrass also helps to purify the liver.

• It stops the growth of harmful bacteria.

• It is an ultimate energizer for body and mind.

• It is useful in treating constipation and keeping the bowels open.

Usually it is recommend to start with 30mls of wheatgrass juice followed with a glass of water, for the first few days. Once we get comfortable with this we can increase the amount up to 60mls, eg 30mls twice a day. As it has a strong cleansing effect, it may make us nauseous if we start with too much. It can also be taken by mixing it with other juices.

Disclaimer: This article is not meant to provide health advice and is for general information only. Always seek the insights of a qualified health professional before embarking on any health program.

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Barney Garcia asked:


And there was this boy called Bill, one of my best friends in the Graduate School. Even if you are not an artist of a sort, you can easily draw up the full figure of him. Wondering how? Simple; draw a bamboo stick and now add a large vessel on the top of it and you get the exact picture of Bill. Thinking that this unique kind of the physique was the result of frugal food intake over a long period of time? Just the opposite! It was his extraordinary habit of devouring on everything that he could put his hands on that actually made him famous in the campus. Anytime of the day you catch the boy and you’ll find him munching on something. Well, this poor boy, Bill helped me to learn an important lesson of life and that is: not everything that you swallow nourishes your body, only those elements that are absorbed in your body through proper digestion work for the nourishment of your body. And proper digestion would have been impossible had there been no enzyme.

Not only digestion, for every function of our system we are indebted to variety of enzymes. In fact the human biological system is often described as the sum total of a number of enzymatic reactions taking place inside the body every moment! Enzymes are important for digesting food because they act as catalysts in the chemical reactions necessary for breaking up the food elements. In the absence of sufficient enzymes, these chemical reactions lose their momentum and the digestive organs are faced with several problems that manifest themselves in gas, acidity, bloating, diarrhea, burning sensation and like.

However, modern researches have found out a direct link between the aging process and diminishing functions of enzymes in the system. Also the sources of several types of modern-day degenerative diseases can be traced in this diminishing level of activity of enzymes in the blood. These studies have established: as we grow older, the amount of enzymes and levels of their activities gradually decrease.

The role and importance of enzymes in the metabolic process were known to medical researchers for long. Long back the medical scientists came to know about the proteins that can be found in all kinds of living things. Either the cells or the fluids surrounding the cells contain these proteins. The scientists coined the term, ‘enzyme’ for these proteins. Have you ever felt exhausted after gorging on some really rich foods? It is because system demanded greater supply of enzymes to digest them and greater amount of energy was expended in the procedure and hence this feeling of fatigue. On the other hand, have a great amount of salad and even then you will not get the same feeling. It is because; the fresh vegetables in them contain lots of enzyme that make the digestive procedure much easier.

Thus body’s metabolic process is managed almost single-handedly by the enzymes and we get the required energy to carry on with the journey of our life.

Part II

So now you clearly know about the importance of enzyme in our lives. Let us next discuss about the different categories of enzymes present in our body.

In fact, you can find over thousands different types of enzymes in a human body. Actually, there are so many enzymes in the body and they perform such a complex network of activities that it is often said that the life itself is depended on the activities of variety of enzymes. There can be no single chemical reaction in the body, in which some type of enzymes does not participate.

For the purpose of better understanding, all thousands of enzymes can be broadly categorized into two primary groups, namely, the metabolic enzymes and the digestive enzymes.

The metabolic enzymes can be found in every cell, tissue, and organ in the body. They are like biochemical catalysts in nature and participate in all functioning of the living cells. Their activities never stop for a moment. These enzymes are under charge of controlling almost all chemical reactions associated with metabolism.

Hence metabolic enzymes are described as the very basis of the life process.

Then come the digestive enzymes. This category of enzymes is however further divided into two groups of enzymes: intrinsic and extrinsic digestive enzymes.

Intrinsic digestive enzymes are naturally produced inside the body and secreted from several organs to break down food elements. The food we consume contains the basic elements of the proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. The enzymes secreted from such organs as the salivary glands in the mouth, the gastric glands in the stomach, and specific cells in the pancreas work for digesting these elements present in the foods. As for instance, the starch portion of the food is digested by the help of amylase enzyme. Protease breaks down proteins and lipase digests fat.

Most of us have a fetish for cooked and processed foods and often tend to avoid fresh fruits, vegetables and salads. But you should know that these raw forms of foods are extremely rich in active enzymes that considerably help in digesting the proteins, starches, or fats that are present in those foods. Thus these foods are easy to digest. You have often been told about the nutritious value of papaya. Well it contains helpful Papain enzyme that works for breaking down small and large proteins. Then there are variety of nuts that contain Lipase which breaks down fats contents of dairy products, nuts, oils, and meat.

Thus enzymes are the inseparable parts of the healthy human life as the two most important biological functions—digestion and metabolism are managed by the enzymes.

Stefanie K asked:


What are the individual functions of secretions of digestive enzymes (amylases, proteases, nucleases, lipases), stomach acid, and bile salts?

Danna Schneider asked:


33 year old woman, I have struggled on and off with digestive issues, including bouts with IBS, or Irritable Bowel Syndrome, and various types of indigestion, but mainly “acid indigestion” which is basically just a sour stomach from eating various different kinds of foods. Hey, even if you don’t suffer with stomach issues, there are bound to be times when you could benefit from the help of either digestive enzymes or the nearest bottle of Pepto Bismol or some other stomach soother, right?

We’ve all been there, and there are now tons of products on the market that can help those of us with digestion problems, namely one we are going to talk about today which I have recently experimented with myself, and that is digestive enzyme supplements. It just so happens for me that the foods which set my stomach into a frenzy are now deep fried and high fat content foods, as well as certain kinds of meats and sauces.

Red meat is one of the worst culprits, and fattening, buttery and creamy sauces such as alfredo sauces (which of course is one of my favorites, go figure), and other heavy creams also tend to not sit well. Sometimes I happen to be especially sensitive to dairy foods with high fat content as well, like ice cream and other desserts that are made with very fatty dairy bases.

Whatever it is that happens to be for you individually, your problem could be helped by a variety of supplements that now are out which have various types of digestive enzymes that are found naturally in the stomach acid “mix”. Usually they are in powdered form and encapsulated, and are taken before a meal with water. They are also usually designed To break down all types of different nutrients that we consume, including fats, starches, vegetables and fibrous substances, dairy, meats or proteins, and sugars.

The three enzymes that help to break these down in the pancreas are amylase, trypsin and lipase, and they go to work digesting, or breaking down starches, fats and proteins, which are some of the harder foods to break down. Lactase, as you may guess, is the enzyme that breaks down dairy products like milk, cheese, eggs and other various milk and dairy based products.

A good digestive enzyme aid supplement will supply all enzymes that work in unison to help the body break down these complex nutrients, and spares the enzymes that help to break these down, which means that your white blood cells in essence are spared, since many of these enzymes are contained within white blood cells. However, if you only have problems with digesting dairy, for example, you may be able to narrow your search down to a supplement that only contains dairy digestive enzymes. Your local natural foods or vitamin store can assist you with finding what you need personally.

The supplement that I purchased was very comprehensive, and contained all of the following digestive aids : Amylase, Protease, Lactase, Cellulase, Lipase, and Phytase. These are the “big ones” that will assist your stomach and other digestive organs with properly breaking down various foods, especially when these foods are combined together, which can cause havoc on your digestive system since it must pull all sort of various enzymes to digest say, a cheeseburger.

A cheeseburger assaults the system with not only starches from the bun, but also with one of the hardest meats to digest - red meat, and cheese, and then if you throw some lettuce and tomato in there, you’ve got cellulose that needs to be broken down as well. The American diet is chock full of traditional foods that are absolutely horrendous from a digestive perspective, so it’s no wonder many Americans suffer digestive disorders ranging from IBS to acid reflux, to more severe disorders such as Crohn’s disease.

If you are one of the millions of people that suffer digestive discomfort, or even if you think you could benefit from adding these digestive enzymes to your diet, it’s worth looking into. I for one have experienced greater comfort and ease in digesting foods that normally would have made my night miserable since I began taking them, so I can speak from experience that they can be a real life saver.