Natural Factors Vegetarian Macrogest (Intensive Strength) - 60 V-Caps

DIGESTIVE ENZYMES
Green vegetables contain active enzymes. Enzymes are catalysts of chemical reactions. This means that they initiate and increase the rate of cellular processes such as metabolism. Without enzymes, reactions in the body would take place too slowly to sustain life. Digestive enzymes are responsible for breaking down the food that we eat into their building blocks, which are small enough to be absorbed in the intestinal tract. Once absorbed, these building blocks can either be used for energy or stored for later use. In order to fully act on our food these enzymes are secreted in our digestive juices such as: saliva, stomach acid, pancreatic juice and bile.

Types of digestive enzymes
The human body produces three main types of digestive enzyme known as: amylase, protease and lipase. Each has a unique function, and all work together to allow us to digest our food and absorb its nutrients properly.

Amylase
This class of enzymes is responsible for digesting the starches and complex carbohydrates that we eat into their simple sugar subunits. Because of their size, our bodies are not capable of absorbing starches or sugars that are larger than one subunit. The most common amylase in our bodies is alpha-amylase, which is in both saliva and in pancreatic secretions. This is the enzyme that allows us to digest foods like potato, pasta, corn, and bread. When we are deficient in amylase, eating these foods will cause gas and bloating, and may cause a number of other symptoms throughout the body. For more information on amylase.

Protease
Protease is another class of enzymes in the body, but these ones are responsible for breaking down protein. Digestive proteases in our body are pepsin, trypsin and chymotrypsin. Pepsin is released in our stomach, and the other two are found in our pancreatic secretions. protein is the building block of most of the structure of our bodies including our muscles, bones, skin and hair. It is also required for most of our bodily processes in the form of cell signalling molecules, hormones and immune molecules. Protein is found in foods like meat, dairy, nuts and legumes. The inability to properly digest protein results in foul smelling gas and stool. For more information on proteases.

Lipase
The third major class of digestive enzyme in the human body is lipase. This molecule is responsible for digestion of our dietary fat into free fatty acids that are easily absorbed in our gut. It is secreted by the pancreas and released in the intestines. Dietary fats that require the presence of lipase can be both unhealthy saturated fats found in french-fries and potato chips, and the health-boosting fats from fish oil and olive oil. The inability to properly digest dietary fat can result in steatorrhea (fat in the stool), or pale floating stools. For more information on lipase.

Lactase
Another digestive enzyme that commonly requires supplementation is lactase. This enzyme is responsible for digesting the primary sugar found in milk, called lactose. Deficiency in this enzyme is a common condition known as lactose intolerance. Symptoms of lactose intolerance are: nausea, gas, cramping and diarrhea when the sufferer eats dairy products such as: milk, cheese, yogurt, butter, and so on. For more information on lactase.

Natural Enzymes
Enzymes occur naturally in all raw foods. When we refer to the "ripeness" of a food we are talking about its readiness to be eaten. Ripe foods become the most abundant in enzymes that are used for our proper digestion. Unfortunately these naturally occurring enzymes are quickly destroyed by cooking or processing. This means that the average person has a diet that is deficient in natural enzymes. This external deficiency forces the body to do more work to compensate and digest the food, or else the foods are not properly digested. When the body cannot properly digest and absorb the nutrients from the food that we eat, it results in a condition called "malabsorption".