SUMMARY
Enzymes are activated when we start to chew our food and break that food down into the nutrients we need to live. While enzymes change the structure of the nutrients we eat, turning them into what our body needs to function, the enzymes themselves remain unchanged.
DETAILS
The Digestive Process: When we eat raw foods, heat and moisture in the mouth activate the enzymes in food. Once active, these enzymes break down the food and make it small enough to pass through the villi (small pores of the intestines) and into the blood.
From the Gut to the Cells: The metabolic enzymes found in the blood then take the digested nutrients and build them into muscles, nerves, bones, blood, lungs and various glands. Every cell in the body depends on certain enzymes to function properly.
Enzyme Specificity: This is referring to the fact that a protein digestive enzyme will not digest a fat, a fat enzyme will not digest a starch (carbohydrate), and so on. Each enzyme has a specific function in the body. This is referred to enzyme specificity.
Staying Unchanged: Enzymes act upon chemicals and change them into other chemicals, but enzymes themselves remain unchanged. Simply stated, enzymes help transform something in our body turning it into something else we need. Without enzymes, nothing in our body could function.
From the Gut to the Cells: The metabolic enzymes found in the blood then take the digested nutrients and build them into muscles, nerves, bones, blood, lungs and various glands. Every cell in the body depends on certain enzymes to function properly.
Enzyme Specificity: This is referring to the fact that a protein digestive enzyme will not digest a fat, a fat enzyme will not digest a starch (carbohydrate), and so on. Each enzyme has a specific function in the body. This is referred to enzyme specificity.
Staying Unchanged: Enzymes act upon chemicals and change them into other chemicals, but enzymes themselves remain unchanged. Simply stated, enzymes help transform something in our body turning it into something else we need. Without enzymes, nothing in our body could function.
