Enzymes
Enzymes are the sparks that start the
essential chemical reactions our bodies
need to live. They are necessary for
digesting food, for stimulating the brain,
for providing cellular energy, and
for repairing all tissues, organs, and cells.
There are three types of
enzymes: metabolic enzymes, digestive enzymes, and food
enzymes. Metabolic
enzymes catalyse, or spark, the reactions within the cells.
The body's
organs, tissues and cells are run by metabolic enzymes. Without them
our
bodies would not work. Among their chores are helping to turn phosphorus
into
bone, attaching iron to our red blood cells, healing wounds, thinking,
and
making a heart beat. Digestive enzymes break down foods, allowing
their
nutrients to be absorbed into the bloodstream and used in body
functions.
Digestive enzymes ensure that we get the greatest possible
nutritional value
from foods. Food enzymes are enzymes supplied to us through
the foods we eat.
Nature has placed them there to aid in our digestion of
foods. This way, we do
not use as many of the body's "in-house" enzymes in
the digestive
process. This is important to remember. A present theory is
that humans are
given a limited supply of enzyme energy at birth, and that it
is up to us to
replenish our supply of enzymes to ensure that their vital
jobs get done. If we
don't replenish our supply, we run the risk of ill
health. There is a that
theory mentions that the length of life is inversely
proportional to the rate of
exhaustion of the enzyme potential of an
organism. The increased use of food
enzymes promotes a decreased rate of
exhaustion of the enzyme potential."
In other words, the more food
enzymes you get, the longer, and healthier, you
live. As food enzymes are
destroyed at temperatures above 118 F processed foods
contain few, if any
enzymes, and that the typical diet is enzyme-deficient. When
we eat this type
of diet, we could well be eating for a shorter and
less-than-healthy life.
This shows the importance of eating raw fruits and
vegetables because they
are "live foods"; that is, foods in which the
enzymes are active. The more
enzymes you get, the healthier you are. And the
more raw foods you eat, the
more enzymes you get. Enzymes carry out the role of
detoxification --
breaking down toxic substances so that they are excreted and
cannot build up
to possibly cause harm. Although this is done by metabolic
enzymes, research
shows that enzymes found in the foods that we eat, although
not food enzymes
-- may help our bodies do this. Recently enzymes have been
found that can
neutralise chemical warfare agents. The enzymes can be used to
rapidly
decontaminate facilities, equipment, and vehicles. At present a project
is
studying enzymes that catalyse the detoxification of
organophosphate
insecticides. The project is showing that green barley
extract may accelerate
the body's breakdown of malathion, an organophosphate
insecticide used heavily
throughout the world. Six different experiments
measured the ability of barley
leaf extract to "detoxify" this insecticide.
All revealed positive
results. Interestingly enough, one more test was run
after subjecting the green
barley extract to high heat. This, the researchers
believe, denatured and
removed the proteins. Detoxification ability was again
measured, and this time,
did not take place. This indicates that the
detoxifying agent in green barley is
an enzyme, and when heated, the enzymes
are destroyed. It also points out that
green barley extract is "alive" --
that is, that the enzymes are
intact. As enzymes are specific, this is due to
the "shape" of their
receptor sites, this means that one enzyme would be able
to react with only one
substance, the diagram (left) shows the enzyme fitting
exactly in to the
substance just like a lock and key. This can be extremely
useful to commercial
scientists because it is possible to increase the rate
of forming particular
substances, while leaving the rate of other rections
unchanged. The rate in
which enzymes work can be dictated by certain
processes, such as activation
energy, activation energy is the kinetic energy
that particles must possess so
that when there is a collision there is enough
energy to spark a reaction, thus
the particle posses kinetic energy, it would
be fair to say that an increase in
kinetic energy of the particles would lead
to an increase in rate, and so
directly proportionate. Heat can also affect
the rate as heat gives the enzyme
particles more energy as this can effect
the rate at which enzymes work, most
enzymes will work most efficiently at
around 41°c however at greater
temperatures the rate at which the enzymes
will slow and eventually stop
completely, this is because the enzymes
denature.