Benefits of digestive enzymes

Information on Digestive Enzymes

Digestive enzymes are among the most important parts of the human digestion system. Digestion system consists of numerous different glands and organs, but the enzymes are also an integral part of the whole system. Their role is to breakdown the particles of food and help in the process of absorption of numerous different essential nutrients into the human body. All enzymes are actually proteins that are efficient in accelerating and controlling the rates of different types of chemical reactions. Virtually every biological process that takes place in a living cell requires the presence of at least one type of enzymes. Specific enzymes trigger and catalyze differentreactions.

Benefits of Digestive Enzymes

There are numerous different types of digestive enzymes but they are all equally important for the food breakdown and the absorption process of different essential nutrient elements. The classification of different digestive enzymes is commonly based on their individual location in the digestive system. The enzymes of the oral cavity are lysozyme and ptyalin and they get secreted from the salivary glands. Lysozyme is not a digestive enzyme, while ptyalin breaks down the starch so that it can be utilized by the human body in the form of segmented soluble sugars. The digestive enzymes which get secreted in the stomach are also sometimes referred to as the gastric enzymes.

The four gastric enzymes are known by the names of pepsin, gastric lipase, gastric amylase and gelatinase. Pepsin comes from the group of peptidases and breaks down the protein molecules into peptides. Gastric lipase acts only on trybutyrin and it is actually a butter fat enzyme. Gastric amylase serves a purpose of breaking down starch.

Gelatinase is in charge of degrading certain types of collagens and gelatins. Pancreas is actually a gland organ and it secretes numerous digestive enzymes of its own. The list of pancreas secreted digestive enzymes includes trypsin, pancreatic amylase, chymotrypsin, carboxypeptidase and steapsin. Trypsin along with chymotrypsin belongs to the group of peptidases as they break down the peptides. Carboxypeptidase is efficient in breaking different peptide fragments into certain types of amino acids.

Pancreatic amylase serves a purpose of degrading several types of carbohydrates. Steapsin is very beneficial in breaking different types of triglycerides into glycerol and fatty acids. Pancreas is also important for its role of secreting nucleases and elastases. The small intestines are also efficient in secreting peptidases and succus entewricus. Other enzymes include sucrose with is associated with the breakdown of different types of sugar. Lactase deals with lactose in a similar manner.