Enzymes

Enzymes – The Spark of Life

Enzymes are protein molecules which initiate and control nearly every biochemical process in the body. The presence of certain enzymes is what makes it possible for us to digest food, repair tissue, and rid our bodies of dangerous toxins. Every enzymatically controlled reaction is crucial to overall health. A few of the duties that enzymes perform include:

• Breaking down food particles enabling them to pass through the intestinal wall and enter the blood stream.

• Transforming tiny food nutrient particles into tissue found in muscles, nerves, organs, glands, etc.

• Contributing to the process that stores sugar in the liver and muscle tissue.

• Enabling mineral molecules to link up with blood cells.

• Helping to detoxify our blood and tissues by enabling our immune system to attack foreign material.

• Directing metabolism on a cellular level and converting food to energy, which fuels virtually every biological mechanism of the body.

Enzymes are indeed the spark plug of life, yet it is important to understand that the average American diet is enzyme-deficient. Refines and processed foods, as well as cooking at high temperatures, destroy enzymes. A diet which consists primarily of cooked food undoubtedly seriously lacking in enzymes. Raw, uncooked foods are laden with enzymes. They are present to help digest the very food they are found in. Unfortunately, most of the enzymes in food are destroyed when the food is cooked, steamed, microwaved or baked.

When enzyme reserves become deleted, we place large amounts of unnecessary stress on body organs like the pancreas, liver and lymph system. Enzyme deficiency contributes greatly to acidification of the body. Without sufficient enzymes, foods and proteins go undigested, and eventually ferment in the body, causing toxicity and acid overload. Research studies strongly suggest that significant numbers of people with liver disease, high blood pressure, arteriosclerosis, tuberculosis and even obesity have low tissue enzyme levels.

Even if your body has a sufficient quantity of enzymes to operate, these enzymes require specific pH environments in order to function. When the pH of the environment is too acidic, vital enzymes lose their structure and function and electrons cannot circulate, making them unavailable for the chemical reactions required for nutrient digestion and absorption. Without the proper pH, enzymatic reactions fail and the metabolism of cells stops.