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This page is a reproduction of file xxxxx.chapter03.06.b.aboutus.enzymes. This file and
content was not included in my original training manuals and is posted to the
public section of the website so that anybody who has learned with me can
find it. A Microsoft Word version of the file can be found by
clicking here. The Recommended The learning point for energy healers is that
physical health conditions caused by enzyme deficiency need to be addressed
by increasing the level of undamaged enzyme intake in the diet. Energy
healing will not do anything to solve the root cause of enzyme deficiency
related health conditions. Enzymes
As will be seen later in this chapter, the physical
body is dependent upon chemical reactions for its physical creation and for
the ongoing operation of body processes. Enzymes have a critical role to play
in the nearly all the chemical reactions that take place within a body. They
help to digest food, help the processes that provide cellular energy, support
the functioning of the brain as the command centre for the body, play a key
role in the repair and healing processes within the body, break down toxins,
cleanse the blood, and so on. Enzymes act as catalysts. This means that they help
to speed up chemical reactions in the body but do not become consumed by the
chemical reactions themselves. Without the speeding up effect, most of the
chemical reactions that would take place would be too slow to sustain
life. Enzymes are proteins and are found as long chains of
amino-acids that are folded or shaped into three dimensional structures. They
are in the body either because they have been ingested in the food or because
they have been created within the body by organs such as the saliva glands,
the stomach, the pancreas and the small intestine. There are hundreds of
types of enzyme in each human body. The chemical engineering in our bodies is such that
each enzyme has a specific role to play in a particular chemical reaction and
cannot be substituted by any other enzyme. Enzymes have been found to act as
catalysts for around 4,000 chemical reactions within the body. The substances
which enzymes are catalysts to are called substrates. The unique relationship
between enzymes and substrates is influenced by a number of factors such as
the shape of both enzymes and substrates to allow physical ‘locking’
together, relative energy charges, solubility in water, etc.. The
physical locking or binding of the enzyme and substrate initiates changes in
the electron distribution in the substrate’s chemical bonds, resulting in the
chemical reactions need to sustain the body. We look at electron bonding
later in this chapter. Once the reactions have taken place, the enzymes break
the physical locks with what were the substrates. Essentially, nearly all the
chemical reactions that take place within the body are started, controlled
and ended by enzymes.
To understand a little about how enzymes work, we
can look at the digestive system where three examples of enzymes made by the
body can be found – amylase enzymes, protease enzymes, and
lipase enzymes. ·
Amylase enzymes are found
in the saliva and in the juices of the pancreas and intestinal tract and help
the digestive process by breaking down carbohydrates. There are different
kinds of amylase. For example, the enzyme sucrase breaks down the sugar
sucrose found in cane and beet sugar. The enzyme lactase breaks down the
lactose sugar in milk. The enzyme maltase breaks down the malt sugar maltose. ·
Protease enzymes are found
in the juices of the pancreas, the stomach and the intestinal tract and help
with the breakdown and the digestion of proteins. ·
Lipase enzymes are found in
the juices of the stomach and pancreas and help to break down fats. An example of problems that occur in the digestive
system when there is a deficiency of enzymes is lactose intolerance: ·
Lactose intolerance results
from a deficiency in the presence in the digestive system of an enzyme called
lactase. The role of lactase is to break down lactose which is the main sugar
in milk. If lactose cannot be broken down within the digestive system,
symptoms such as nausea, cramps and bloating can result. We can understand a little more about the role of
enzymes elsewhere in the body processes by looking at some different
examples: ·
The blood in the body is
continually passed through the kidneys where it is filtered to remove water,
nitrogen-based compounds produced when proteins have been broken down, salts,
acids and alkalines. After filtering, some of these substances are reabsorbed
back into the blood to keep its water, salt and pH levels reasonably constant
as required for the body to function properly. Adequate blood pressure is
needed also. If blood pressure is dropping, the kidneys will secrete an
enzyme called renin that works alongside this process to increase the level
of salt and water reabsorbed. ·
An enzyme called Coenzyme A
is the most important food processing enzyme in the human body and is needed
to create energy at the cellular level from the metabolic processing of fat,
carbohydrate and protein. ·
Hyaluronic acid helps to
hold water in connective tissue within the body and is a key component within
synovial fluid which acts as a bone joint lubricant. An enzyme called
hyaluronic acid synthase is used to make hyaluronic acid molecules within the
body and so helps to facilitate physical movement in the body. ·
Blood clotting is the
body’s natural way of stopping the loss of blood from wounds. When blood
clots are no longer needed, fibrinolytic enzymes help to dissolve them. This
prevents them from moving around the blood system where they could be come
stuck and in some parts of the body cause serious damage. ·
Later in this chapter there
is some commentary about how the body repairs damage to the DNA. This repair
damage is facilitated by enzyme activity. Examples of problems that occur elsewhere
in the human body there is a deficiency of enzymes:
·
The DNA in cells is constantly getting
damaged but it has its own repair abilities in the form of repair enzymes. If
there is a reduced presence of these enzymes, the level of DNA repair
required will not take place with the potential for health conditions to
develop. ·
If there is enzyme deficiency within the
reproductive system, there develops the potential for the splitting and recombination
of chromosomes process not to work correctly with the resulting potential for
defective genes to be passed on through the hereditary line with an impact
upon the health of successive generations. Most enzymes can be unfolded and inactivated in a
number of ways including exposure to high temperatures. The destruction of
the three dimensional nature of the enzymes means that they can no longer
lock physically with the substrates and the catalytic relationship cannot
take place. Although the body produces its own enzymes, as a
generalisation it is considered that these are not sufficient to meet the
needs of the body and that additional enzymes need
to be ingested with the food. Enzymes can be damaged by high temperatures and
so cooking processes often destroy enzymes in the food. If there is enzyme
deficiency within the food that we eat, the body will have to fall back on
enzymes which it produces itself. If this enzyme production is not
sufficient, then various body processes will not function as they should. For
example, food passing through the digestive system might not be digested
properly with good nutrients passing out in the faeces. In western societies
where there tends to be a high proportion of processed food in the average
diet, the issue of enzyme deficiency in the body and the subsequent impact
upon physical health starts to take on a serious perspective. Solutions
include taking enzyme supplements in much the same way as vitamin pills would
be taken and by increasing the amount of raw food eaten. There are clearly
health issues surrounding eating raw meat and unpasteurised dairy products
due to the risk of bacterial ingestion. Similarly, raw vegetables will have
grown in soil where bacteria are present. However, consideration given to
increasing the amount of raw food taken in the diet in a safe way is likely
to result in increased enzyme intake in the food and will support better
physical health. Please
note that some raw foods contain what are called enzyme inhibitors which will
inhibit the functionality of enzymes within your body. Raw seeds, nuts and wheat
germ are very high in levels of enzyme inhibitors and peas, beans and lentils
are moderately high in enzyme inhibitors. These foods contain coatings to
protect them before they have sprouted. These coatings contain the enzyme
inhibitors. As a general rule, the sprouts from such items are high in
nutritional value but it is consumption before sprouting that is problematic
for enzyme functionality. It is recommended that detailed research is
undertaken by people considering switching to a raw food diet so that you can
develop a high level of understanding of the benefits and disbenefits
of various raw foods in your diet. There seems to be a lack of extensive medical and
scientific research in this area and most of the information and commentary
available on the internet about raw food diets seems not to be referenced
back to acceptable research findings. Some caution might be appropriate
therefore when searching for information about enzymes in the diet on the
internet. Date of posting :
September 2007 |
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