In earlier posts I have mentioned the importance of proper nutrition. Some of the information I provided has related to digestion. Today I want to focus on some digestive system facts. I believe that eating a nutritionally rich diet is only half of the battle. In other words, what good is putting the right stuff in your body if you can’t absorb it? Or worse yet, it may be causing harm. There are several mechanisms of digestion. Lets get acquainted with them. Not only does food affect digestion, but digestion affects food. Let’s look at how they affect each other.
Digestive System Fact # 1 – Digestive Enzymes are Needed to Digest Food
So what do digestive enzymes do?
Digestive enzymes are used to break polymeric macromolecules down to the smaller building blocks that make them up. This is done in order for them to be absorbed into the body. Digestive enzymes are found in the digestive tract of humans. They are also found inside the cells. This is especially true in lysosomes where they function to maintain cellular survival. There are an array of digestive enzymes. These are predominantly found in the mouth, stomach and small intestine. There are enzymes present in the large intestines as well. Salivary glands produce enzymes in the mouth. Secretory cells produce enzymes in the stomach and the pancreas, Secretory glands produce enzymes in the small intestine. Enzymes are activated and deactivated by different PH levels. This causes different enzymes to be active at different points of the digestive track. Continue reading »
