Benefits of digestive enzymes - not from raw foods
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The average person probably does not know much, or anything at all, about enzymes, let alone the benefits of digestive enzymes. In my case, the first time I came across the word "enzymes" was when a read the book, Raw Vegetable Juices, by Norman W Walker.
That was in 1985 and I was 30 years old. Needless to say, I was fascinated. How come all my life I never knew about enzymes and their vital roles in human health?
And gosh! Enzymes are destroyed simply by mild heating. It meant that all the cooked food I had been eating were totally devoid of enzymes. Or, as the author of the book put it, I had all along been eating "dead food". Whoa!
Being totally ignorant about enzymes at that time, I was fully convinced about the importance and benefits of digestive enzymes. I was sold on the idea that eating a raw food diet was THE WAY to health.
Understanding enzymes
It took me many years to understand more about enzymes - and to realise that what advocates of a raw food diet say about the benefits of digestive enzymes is not totally correct. But first, here are the parts that are correct:
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Enzymes act as catalysts that promote chemical reactions in the body - and hence promote body functions.
- Enzymes are destroyed by mild heating, at a temperature of about 118ºF or 48ºC. This is slightly below half the temperature of boiling water. It means that all cooked food have their enzymes destroyed.
When I learned more about enzymes, I realised that the benefits of digestive enzymes have been way exaggerated by raw food diet advocates. Yes, enzymes are important. But they are not so critical that we need to eat a primarily raw food diet.
This is what else I found out:
- There are many thousands of different types of enzymes and they all play different roles. Not all enzymes help in digestion. So just because raw plant foods contain enzymes, it does not mean that eating raw foods will help you disgest better. In most cases, they do not help.
- Digestive enzymes are produced mainly by the body and they include enzymes found in the saliva, stomach and the small intestines.
- The presence of digestive enzymes in the saliva means that the more you chew your food, the more saliva and digestive enzymes you produce. Chewing your food well gives you the benefits of digestive enzymes. This is why it is a healthy practice to chew your food very thoroughly - ideally until your food liquefies before you swallow. The purpose of chewing is not just to break up your food - this can be done with a chopper or food blender. It is to pre-digest your food.
- Digestive enzymes are also produced when foods are pickled. Salt-pickled foods - which are found in practically all traditional cuisines - are especially beneficial because salt enhances the action of digestive enzymes. Don't worry about the salt because if it is natural sea salt and, of course, provided you don't eat excessive amounts, salt is healthy and not harmful.
You may need to worry, however, about commercially produced pickles, particularly those made with artificial vinegar. In natural pickles, such as sauerkraut and kimchi, the vinegar is produced during the pickling process and this vinegar is highly beneficial. Also, most commercial pickles would have been pasteurised and there would have their enzymes destroyed. You won't enjoy the benefits of digestive enzymes from eating pasteurised pickles. It is not difficult to make your own pickels. Click here for some pickle recipe ideas.
- Naturally fermented foods like miso and shoyu, similarly provide the benefits of digestive enzymes. In this case, they are not easy / convenient to make at home. Just make sure you buy unpasteurised products, such as miso that is sold in tubs in the refrigerator, rather than those sold in sealed plastic bags or powdered instant miso.
A dubious contention from hard-core raw food propaganda centers on the need for Enzymes and the claim that cooking heat destroys valuable enzymes. The fallacy that’s promoted here is that the fragile heat-sensitive enzymes held within the plants we consume catalyze chemical reactions that occur in humans and aid in the food digestion. However, this is simply not true.
Benefits of cooking
Finally, if you really need help with digestion, try this - COOKING!
In many cases, cooking makes food easier to digest - by altering and breaking down the structure of plant cells so that our body's own digestive enzymes have an easier job to do.
Cooking also destroys certain substances that might be described as "anti-enzymes", such as anti-amylases and anti-proteases. It means that, in many cases, you need less enzymes to digest cooked food than to digest raw foods.
All this is not to say that digestive enzymes are useless. Sure, they can be helpful. And sure, some people - especially those who had eaten lots of meat and cooked foods in the past - will benefit from eating more raw fruits and vegetables.
There is no need to switch to a diet of mainly raw foods just to enjoy the benefits of digestive enzymes. Eating cooked foods, with maybe a salad and some pickles on the side, will do just fine for most people.
The supposed benefits of digestive enzymes have been over-blown. And now, some health foods companies are making big money selling digestive enzymes - which are basically produced from "rotten" fruits and vegetables - at somewhat exhorbitant prices.
Don't be taken in for a ride. Wasting money on enzymes of doubtful value is just a small price to pay. The greater price is that, if you go overboard with eating raw foods, you may end up becomng weak. Your libido may suffer. Click here to understand more about the problems with being obsessed about raw foods and the benefits of digestive enzymes.
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