At this point, everyone has a pretty good idea of what carbohydrates, proteins, fats, and even the intestinal microbiota are. Other common vocabularies in the digestive field are still unknown outside the environment of nutrition and digestion professionals. This is the case of digestive enzymes.
What are enzymes
The role of macro and micronutrients in the digestive process is as important as the function of these substances. Adriana Duelo, dietitian-nutritionist and member of the Spanish Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, remembers that “thanks to digestive enzymes we can absorb nutrients from food or eliminate molecules that we do not need. Its main function is break down large substances that we ingest through our diet into small ones to be able to take advantage of them”.
Types of enzymes and their role in nutrition
Although the main function of enzymes is the one mentioned by the expert, there is not a single group of this type of molecules. In fact, we can classify them into three categories:
- Proteases or peptidases
- Amylases or carbohydrases
- lipases
Each of them is responsible for the evaluation of a specific type of nutrient. “In the case of proteases or peptidases, their function is to break down the proteins we ingest into very small particles known as amino acids. Amylases or carbohydrases – continues the dietician-nutritionist – break carbohydrates into easily absorbed sugars. It happens, for example, with starch, which breaks down into maltose and isomaltose so that we can use and absorb glucose. Finally, lipases are responsible for breaking down long-chain fats. This is what happens with triglycerides, which are transformed into free fatty acids, such as oleic acid.”
Do we make enough enzymes or do we need to ingest them?
Our body is self-sufficient and produce all the necessary enzymes to properly metabolize foods in the diet. However, “most foods, both animal and plant, contain their own enzymes. Our body could use them for digestion, but the reality is that stomach acids inactivate a large part of their activity,” says Duelo.
The enzymes that our body produces “are formed within our cells throughout the entire digestive tract. The first organ that releases enzymes is the mouth (glands of the oral cavity) through saliva, such as lysozyme and salivary alpha-amylase. Then we have enzymes in the stomach, released together with gastric acids, such as pepsin or gastric lipases. We also produce them in the pancreas, such as amylase and trypsin, and in the enterocytes of the small intestine (especially in the duodenum), such as lactase to degrade lactose, or diamine oxidase (DAO) to degrade histamine.»
Foods that contain digestive enzymes
In addition to synthesizing our own enzymes, which are the ones we mainly use for the digestion of food and the absorption of its nutrients, most foods also contain enzymes. However, its effect on food digestion is limited, and it may have a role in the initial digestive process, since upon reaching the stomach, most of it would stop working. In the following list, Duelo includes some of the richest in these substances:
- Papaya. It contains papain, an enzyme found in this fruit that is used both in research and in industrial processes. Its activity is quite stable over a pH range between 3.0 and 9.0, although it is unclear whether it could facilitate the assessment of dietary protein once it has been ingested.
- Pineapple. It contains bromelain, a complex enzyme that consists of a mixture of different proteases, but its physiological effect is very limited, since its stability is above a pH of 5.0.
- Avocado. It contains lipases, although it is not clear that we can benefit from them when we eat foods rich in fat, such as avocado itself.
- Honey. It contains invertase, which breaks sucrose into fructose and glucose, hence its richness in this type of free sugars.
- Asparagus. It contains glutathione peroxidase, an enzyme that plays an important role in antioxidant defense, but with the effect of heat or stomach acids its activity is reduced.
- Ginger. It contains zingibain, an enzyme found in this root that improves protein digestion, although its physiological effect is very limited.
- Mango. Its amylases could facilitate the digestion of carbohydrates, but their effect is residual in the digestive process.
- Pea shoots. They carry diamine oxidase (DAO), which metabolizes dietary histamine. However, to achieve its function it would be necessary to ingest it with gastro-resistant protection.
Foods with enzyme inhibitors.
Just as there are foods that promote the defragmentation of nutrients, others contain enzyme inhibitorsThat is, they contain molecules that bind to enzymes and decrease their activity.
“They are some polyphenols or flavonoids, such as quercetin, which we find in foods such as apples or onions. They have a blocked capacity on alpha amylase, a digestive enzyme whose function is to break down carbohydrates and which is generated in the salivary glands and the pancreas (pancreatic enzymes). When quercetin binds to the center of the enzyme, it prevents the proper degradation of carbohydrates by trying to bind as well. However, this effect, which could be seen clearly in laboratory conditions, is not significant in a healthy diet.”
Others are trypsin inhibitors, an enzyme present in legumes and beans that helps digest proteins. “In this group are Kunitz antitrypsin or the Bowman-Birk inhibitor,” says Duelo. «In any case, the action of these inhibitors is inactivated by soaking and exposure to high temperatures, so they are deactivated and the proteins in the food are absorbed without problems.»
What happens if we take too many or too few enzymes?
The lack of natural digestive enzymes makes the metabolization of certain nutrients difficult “and favors the appearance of symptoms, normally of a digestive nature. One of the best known deficits is that of lactase, leading to lactose intolerance..
Another deficiency that is increasingly talked about is the enzyme diamine oxidase (DAO). Its care causes an accumulation of dietary histamine in different tissues, which can generate not only digestive symptoms, but also skin symptoms (itching or redness), neurological symptoms (migraine, headaches and ADHD), cardiovascular symptoms (vertigo, hypotension or tachycardia), as well as respiratory symptoms. . , constitutional or locomotive.
All these adverse symptoms are aggravated and accelerated if alcoholic beverages are consumed. “Ethanol is a molecule that indirectly saturates the DAO and causes higher levels of histamine to circulate through the bloodstream,” says Duelo.
Regarding the increase in some digestive enzymes at the blood level, although there may be small amounts, the expert warns that in high quantities it could be indicating “organic inflammation or tissue injury. In any case, a doctor’s assessment will be essential.»
The entry The magic behind digestion: enzymes and their role was first published in Nutriiendo.
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