Enzymes and Nutrition, Part I

Written by Loring A. Windblad


This compilation of information is Copyright 2005 by http://www.organicgreens.us and Loring Windblad. This article may be freely copied and used on other web sites only if it is copied complete with all links and text, including this header, intact and unchanged except for minor improvements such as misspellings and typos.

It is important in understanding enzymes and nutrition to really have a firm grasp of what enzymes are, where they come from, what role they play in nutrition. So lets ask a few key questions about enzymes and look atrepparttar answers. This will give us a much better perception ofrepparttar 113764 importance of enzymes to our nutrition and our overall health.

What isrepparttar 113765 role of enzymes in nutrition?

To better understand digestive enzymes, we must first understandrepparttar 113766 role of NUTRITION in our health. The Oxford American Dictionary defines “nutrition” as simply “nourishment”. Another definition of Nutrition isrepparttar 113767 body's ability to use and metabolize food.

There are 45 known essential nutrients required in specific amounts in order forrepparttar 113768 body to function properly. The term "essential," as used here, meansrepparttar 113769 body cannot synthesize them internally. Therefore all essential nutrients must come from outsiderepparttar 113770 body – from food and other vitamin and mineral sources. In addition to carbohydrates, fats (lipids), complete proteins, and water, there are at least 13 kinds of vitamins and at least 20 kinds of minerals required for proper metabolic function.

Once consumed,repparttar 113771 food containing these nutrients must be digested, meaning they must be broken apart and reduced to a state thatrepparttar 113772 nutrients can be absorbed into and transported byrepparttar 113773 blood stream to all parts ofrepparttar 113774 body.

Our cells are genetically programmed to direct these nutrients to combine and interact with other nutrients and chemicals to create still other chemicals and compounds which, in turn, are used to build and repairrepparttar 113775 body's cells – bones, tissue, and organs. This process is called metabolism. Each metabolic reaction is started, controlled, and terminated by enzymes.

Without enzymes we will have no metabolic activity. A body that does not consistently and efficiently metabolizerepparttar 113776 essential food elements necessary for life will be unhealthy, out of balance, and this condition will result in a severe susceptibility to disease. Many illnesses arerepparttar 113777 result of a dietary problem that causes toxemia inside ofrepparttar 113778 body, a natural condition resulting from malnutrition – whether from a malfunction ofrepparttar 113779 body or from a lack of proper dietary intake.

How many different kinds of enzymes are there?

For our purposes, there are three major types or categories of Enzymes:

•DIGESTIVE ENZYMES •FOOD ENZYMES •METABOLIC ENZYMES

The two kinds of enzymes we are concerned with here are DIGESTIVE ENZYMES and FOOD ENZYMES. These two are active only within our digestive system. They have one main job — to digest our food.

Butrepparttar 113780 third type is important. They arerepparttar 113781 Metabolic enzymes which runrepparttar 113782 body. They exist throughoutrepparttar 113783 body inrepparttar 113784 organs,repparttar 113785 bones,repparttar 113786 blood, and insiderepparttar 113787 cells themselves. They are “genetically programmed” to regenerate and maintain their host. These enzymes do a great job carrying out their metabolizing mission as long as they are health and there are enough of them.

Digestive enzymes are manufactured within our body's organs. Digestive enzymes are secreted byrepparttar 113788 salivary glands, stomach, pancreas, andrepparttar 113789 small intestine. Technically, digestive enzymes are also considered to be metabolic enzymes whose metabolic role is to digest food. We are specifically distinguishing these particular enzymes here because they deal with digestion and they can be supplemented from an outside source.

In fact, these digestive enzymes become depleted when we eat too many overcooked foods, when we eat foods which are laced with antibiotics, when we eat foods which have traces (or more) of artificial fertilizers, fungicides and pesticides. Nor do those foods contain any systemic replenishing enzymes. Our body’s stock of beneficial organisms (metabolic and digestive enzymes) also becomes depleted when we are ill and must take antibiotics. In these instances we must have outside sources of enzyme replenishment.

Organic: What does that mean?

Written by Loring A. Windblad


This compilation of information is Copyright 2005 by http://www.organicgreens.us and Loring Windblad. This article may be freely copied and used on other web sites only if it is copied complete with all links and text, including this header, intact and unchanged except for minor improvements such as misspellings and typos.

I stopped byrepparttar local Safeway store yesterday (23 Mar 05) and among other items picked up a quart of milk. I couldn’t help noticing a new item onrepparttar 113763 shelf – “organic” skim milk in 2-quart bottles. Regular price for regular skim milk $3.19 andrepparttar 113764 new “organic’ skim milk was $4.99. So I carefully checkedrepparttar 113765 label. Hah! No information, absolutely nothing, indicating why or how it was organic, whether it was certified or not, what standards it complied with to be “organic” – nada, zilch, a big fat ZERO.

So what we have here is a “claim” of “organic” backed up by nothing! I started wondering and got right ontorepparttar 113766 Internet to do a little research. Here’s what I came up with.

Back in 2000repparttar 113767 US Department of Agriculture (USDA) gotrepparttar 113768 results of a poll: “A new poll, conducted by International Communications Research (ICR) of Media, PA on behalf ofrepparttar 113769 National Center for Public Policy Research, findsrepparttar 113770 U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) proposed rules for labeling organic food products will seriously mislead consumers into thinkingrepparttar 113771 products are safer, better in quality or more nutritious.”

So what wererepparttar 113772 results of this survey? The ICR found that “two-thirds ofrepparttar 113773 public would be misled byrepparttar 113774 proposed USDA seal on several key issues: ‘68 percent said they would interpret a product labeled ‘USDA Certified Organic’ to be safer to eat than non-organic foods’; ‘67 percent believed ‘USDA Certified Organic’ to be better than non-organic foods; and, ‘62 percent believe "USDA Certified Organic" to be healthier for consumers than non-organic foods’.”

So just what does this mean to me,repparttar 113775 consumer public. Well, here’s what it said: “According to bothrepparttar 113776 USDA andrepparttar 113777 leadership ofrepparttar 113778 $6 billion organic industry, organic certification is only an accreditation of production methods used by farmers and not an assurance of food safety, quality, nutrition or health. USDA Secretary Dan Glickman, in announcingrepparttar 113779 proposed rules, stated thatrepparttar 113780 USDA organic certification does not mean food labeled organic is ‘superior, safer or more healthy than conventional food’.”

Further, Katherine DiMatteo,repparttar 113781 Director ofrepparttar 113782 Organic Trade Association (OTA), in a recent interview on 20/20, stated that organic products are neither safer nor more nutritious than other foods. She noted particularly that "Organic agriculture is not particularly a food safety claim. That's not what our standards are about."

And, in another national consumer pollrepparttar 113783 results were “seven out of ten (69 percent) saidrepparttar 113784 USDA label would imply these products are better forrepparttar 113785 environment and four out of ten (43 percent) believe these would be more nutritious. In fact,repparttar 113786 label provided no information on either of these qualities.”

WOW! So, then, just what is allrepparttar 113787 hoohaw over “organic” all about? Just what kinds of laws and regulations and/or guidelines on “being organic” are we protected by? As it turns out, not very much. Taken right out ofrepparttar 113788 report, we have: “The proposed USDA rules, developed in response torepparttar 113789 Organic Food Production Act of 1990, are to help consumers distinguish products grown using national standards for organic production methods. Today, no national standards exist, and, according torepparttar 113790 Organic Trade Association, as much as 50 percent of all foods sold as organic lack any certification on which consumers can rely to inform their purchase choice.”

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