Enzyme supplements fill the shelves at health food stores, and you'll hear about the importance of eating foods that contain digestive enzymes in the popular media. However, there are many misconceptions associated with enzyme supplementation. For instance, while pineapple contains enzymes, neither dried nor fresh pineapple contain any pancreatic enzymes.
Enzymes
Enzymes are proteins that help to regulate and speed up chemical reactions, explain Drs. Mary Campbell and Shawn Farrell in their book "Biochemistry." Every living organism depends upon a wide variety of enzymes to help run the chemical reactions associated with life. Your own body cells, like those of other organisms, produce enzymes. Some of these you secrete into the digestive tract to break down your food. Others stay in the cells and assist in communication, energy production, and other reactions.
Pancreatic Enzymes
The pancreatic enzymes are a subset of digestive enzymes. Specifically, they're the digestive enzymes produced by the pancreas and released into the duodenum, which is the first portion of the small intestine. The pancreatic enzymes continue the process of digestion as food exits your stomach, and include amylases, proteases, and lipases, explains Dr. Lauralee Sherwood in her book "Human Physiology." Amylases digest carbohydrate, proteases digest protein, and lipases digest dietary fat.
Pineapple Enzymes
Pineapple, like any other part of a living organism, contains enzymes in its cells. However, the enzymes in pineapple are different from human enzymes; they have different shapes and different functions. Pineapples, because they don't need to digest dietary carbohydrates, proteins, and fats in a duodenal environment -- and because they don't have a pancreas -- don't produce pancreatic enzymes. This is true of both fresh and dried pineapple; neither contains any pancreatic enzymes.
Considerations
If you're trying to enhance your body's ability to digest food, you may wish to consult with a doctor. True enzyme deficiencies are quite rare, though lactose intolerance is an exception to this general rule. If you're truly enzyme deficient, your doctor can make a diagnosis and make recommendations for supplementation. You can't use the enzymes in foods to augment digestion, nor can you make up for a true digestive enzyme deficiency by eating specific food items.
References
- “Biochemistry”; Mary Campbell, Ph.D. and Shawn Farrell, Ph.D.; 2005
- “Human Physiology”; Lauralee Sherwood, Ph.D.; 2004
