Helps to break food down in order to make it easier to digest. These types of enzyme are present in both the active digestive enzymes and in food enzymes.

1. A Simple Overview of Enzymes

2. • You’ve probably heard people talking about enzymes and you want to learn
more. They’re becoming an increasingly popular topic within health circles,
much like probiotics before them. This is because they’re extremely important
to good health. Here, we have provided you with a very simple guide to help
you to understand enzymes. There are different types of enzyme, and they
play different roles in the body, and so it’s important to understand more about
them, before taking them.
There Are Three Key Types of Enzyme
• Within the human body, there are three types of enzyme:

3. Active Digestive Enzymes

4. • Metabolic enzymes: our body makes these enzymes itself, within the cells. They
play a huge role in the reproduction and nourishment of cells. They are inherent
in the repair and maintenance of the body, and as such, can be viewed as part of
the immune system.
• Active digestive enzymes: again, these are made by the human body. You can
find them in saliva, stomach juices, and within the intestines. We also take them
as supplements, and these are the ones that people are generally referring to
when they talk about enzyme supplements.
• Food enzymes: here, the enzyme is food within the food that we eat. It is usually
found in raw food, such as pineapple.

5. What Do Enzymes Do?
•There are many different types of enzyme, and they all play varying roles. Within
the human body, our enzymes perform the following functions:
•Speed up healing and recovery. These are the metabolic enzymes mentioned
above. They help to ensure that the body recovers quickly from injury. As we age,
we start to produce fewer enzymes, and this is partially why it takes longer for us to
heal following injury.
•Helps to break food down in order to make it easier to digest. These types of
enzyme are present in both the active digestive enzymes and in food enzymes.
Since humans began cooking their food, some of these enzymes have become
less important. This is because cooking has taken over part of the role of the body
– cooking breaks down proteins and other structures, so that our bodies don’t have
to.

6. • It’s funny, but cooking effectively means that we’ve removed part of our
digestive system outside the human body! Animals still make much more use
of their saliva, stomach acid, and various other digestive enzymes. We still
have this capacity, but not as much anymore.
• Reduce inflammation and pain. Certain enzymes help us to tackle pain. This is
largely because they help speed up the healing process. However, it’s also
because they prevent the body from generating too much inflammation.
Inflammation helps the body to a certain extent, but it can become too much.
When this happens, we develop certain types of autoimmune disease, such as
arthritis.
• So, the next time you wonder, “what did the enzymes ever do for us?”
remember that they did a lot. They are implicit in many of our bodily functions,
and they are essential to our good health.

7. • It’s funny, but cooking effectively means that we’ve removed part of our
digestive system outside the human body! Animals still make much more use
of their saliva, stomach acid, and various other digestive enzymes. We still
have this capacity, but not as much anymore.
• Reduce inflammation and pain. Certain enzymes help us to tackle pain. This is
largely because they help speed up the healing process. However, it’s also
because they prevent the body from generating too much inflammation.
Inflammation helps the body to a certain extent, but it can become too much.
When this happens, we develop certain types of autoimmune disease, such as
arthritis.
• So, the next time you wonder, “what did the enzymes ever do for us?”
remember that they did a lot. They are implicit in many of our bodily functions,
and they are essential to our good health.