Stomach Acid? Enzymes? Mechanical movement? All play an important role!
Our digestive system is a collection of many different organs and biochemicals doing many different things. It helps us to process the food that enters our mouths into the waste that we excrete via our rear ends or the urine that we pee out.
Getting this mishmash of stuff to work properly can be a tall order. Many fad detox processes these days deal heavily with the digestive system. Getting the faecal excrement out properly, for example, requires a good dose of dietary fibre. After all, some of us do eat too much processed, unhealthy foods for our own good.
I have previously illustrated how the carbonic anhydrase enzyme is necessary for regulating crucial aspects of our digestive system in The Effects Of Carbonic Anhydrase On Our Bodily Functions, where I touch on how it affects stomach acidity and urine alkalinity.
There are other enzymes that are important for digestion, and the absence (or lack) of some of them can heavily impact how we feel after consuming certain foods.
The foods that we consume
Broadly speaking, the foods that we consume consist of a few macronutrients, which include carbohydrates, fats, proteins and dietary fibre. Chemically speaking, the hydrochloric acid in our stomachs can break down the carbohydrates, proteins and fats on its own. However, we do have other classes of digestive enzymes in our body to accelerate the decomposition of these macronutrients more efficiently, because these enzymes are proteins that do specialise in these decomposition reactions.
Carbohydrates
The carbohydrates that we consume consist of carbon (“carbo”) and water (“hydrate”). When we heat a spoonful of sugar, for instance, the heat energy supplied to the sugar allows the water in the sugar to be liberated via evaporation, leaving behind a mess of blackened carbon, as illustrated in this Youtube video:
Fats
Fats consist primarily of long hydrocarbon (carbon and hydrogen atoms) chains that are hydrophobic (don’t like mixing with water) and do not mix well with water (hence using just water to clean greasy dishes is never a good idea).
That is also why specialised lipoprotein molecules are required to wrap up fatty cholesterol molecules like a bag and transport it to the rest of the cells via the blood, which is mainly water. Not having the lipoprotein to keep the cholesterol particles wrapped up can result in the cholesterol not being able to get to all the cells, as I have illustrated in Now Seriously, What’s So Tricky About Cholesterol?
Foods that are high in fats are higher in their energy density. It is said in this journal article that the energy content of fat is 37.6 kJ per gram of fat, as compared to 16.7 kJ per gram of carbohydrate or protein.
Proteins
Proteins are necessary for a lot of cell-related functions. We tend to think of consuming more protein when aiming to do some bodybuilding, because the consumption of extra protein does aid in muscle growth.
There are, however, many more functions that require the use of proteins in the body.
Dietary fibre
Dietary fibre is something that the body does not digest. It enters our body and leaves our body almost unchanged, because it is indigestible. Most types of dietary fibre, though, are carbohydrates. However, they cannot be digested by the enzymes in our digestive system, unlike the digestible carbohydrates such as the starch in our bread.
How does the body digest these macronutrients?
We do not have the stomach for dietary fibre. It is more used for ensuring that the food leaving our stomach gets pushed through the intestines and finally excreted through the anus. People who consume insufficient fibre in their typical diet tend to experience some form of constipation. Certain animals, such as cows, for instance, do possess cellulase enzymes that can break down the fibre in the food that they eat, which contains mainly cellulose.
However, we do have enzymes in the digestive system that help to break down carbohydrates, fats and proteins, in addition to the stomach acid that is being produced by carbonic anhydrase activity. Broadly speaking, these enzymes are:
Amylases for digesting carbohydrates. The saliva that we produce in our mouth contains some amylase enzymes already. Hence, if we do retain a starchy grain in our mouth for a while, we might be able to get a taste of sweetness out of it. It’s the amylase at work right there.
Proteases for digesting proteins. These include papain from papaya and bromelain from pineapple, hence papain and bromelain are commonly used in meat tenderising products for the decomposition of some of the tough protein chains found in meat.
Lipases for digesting lipids (fats). Greasy stains on clothing are cleaned down by the lipase enzymes that are present in laundry detergent when we send those clothes for a wash.
There are other more specific enzymes such as lactase, which aid in the digestion of lactose.
These enzymes all play important roles in food digestion.
If our digestive enzymes were to be unable to cope with the workload of food that we are feeding ourselves with, then we would end up with digestive issues.
For example, people who lack lactase production tend to have issues with lactose intolerance — drink a normal milk product and experience the runs.
If we go for a highly calorific buffet meal, we may end up with bloating and indigestion.
Doesn’t that sound familiar to most of us?
I’ve had my days of indigestion when I’ve eaten more than I could chew.
Ensuring that our digestive enzymes are working well, as well as knowing what foods to avoid when we are deficient in certain enzymes, is useful for helping our bodies to function better.
After all, we don’t want stuff to be retained in our bodies for too long, don’t we? We only have one stomach, not like cows that have four! They can chew the cud, and move stuff from one stomach to the other, but… we don’t, do we?
If one were facing digestive issues with regards to the carbohydrates, proteins, fats or even lactose that they were consuming, do have a look at this digestive enzyme product that can aid digestion (only available in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, USA and Canada at this shopping link).
It contains a blend of protease, amylase, lipase, lactase and cellulase enzymes to aid digestion, and is certified to contain only what it is supposed to contain - nothing more, nothing less.
A more complete suite that facilitates a comprehensive functioning of the digestive system can be found at Dr J's Biohack For Optimal Digestion And Detox.
Digestion is not supported just by enzymes, but by cell functions. There are microbial cell populations to be considered within the gut. There are liver cells for supporting detoxification and the elimination of detoxified products via the rectal channel. All these functions come together as pieces of a puzzle to form the overall digestive system.
This article was first published on Medium.
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