Pepsin is an enzyme produced by the stomach. Along with a few other enzymes during digestion, it begins to break down protein in the stomach. Protein is found in our diet mainly in the form of meats, eggs and dairy. Pepsin is needed in normal...
Digestion is the process that breaks food down into particles that the body can absorb and use. The break-down uses both mechanical force --- like chewing and the muscle action that moves food through the digestive tract --- as well as enzymes...
Enzymes are organic compounds (made up primarily protein) that act as catalysts to speed up chemical reactions. In the digestive system, enzymes constantly perform numerous chemical reactions. Each plays a specific role in certain sections to...
Pepsin is a key ingredient for a healthy digestive process. Its effectiveness in breaking down food in the stomach relies on a precise system of environmental controls preserving optimal pH levels. Barring certain medical conditions, this system...
When you see, smell or think of food, the salivary glands in your mouth produce saliva, which in turn stimulates the secretion of gastric juices by your stomach. One of the components of gastric juice is hydrochloric acid, which is important for...
Your digestive system has evolved to break down the complex molecules you consume as food into small, simple units of amino acids, sugars and fats. These basic molecules are then used to build organs and tissues throughout your body. The process...
Stomach acid, or gastric acid, is a digestive fluid primarily composed of hydrochloric acid, or HCl. The stomach acid also contains potassium chloride and sodium chloride, which are less significant in the digestive process. The stomach acid is...
Your body requires the regular consumption of food to obtain the nutrients it needs to function. However, before the food you eat can be absorbed and used by your body, it must be broken down into its most basic parts. To do this, the body...
Enzymes are functional proteins, found within each of your cells, which help the cell carry out its specialized function. Proteolytic enzymes all perform similar functions within your cells; they cleave already-existing proteins. This cleavage can...
Proteases, also called proteinases or peptidases, are important enzymes that function by breaking proteins into smaller peptides, defined as two or more amino acids linked together. Meat and eggs contain large protein chains. Proteases occur in a...
Pepsin is the name for a digestive enzyme that's produced by cells in the stomach. The purpose of this enzyme is to help digest proteins in the diet, so that your intestine can absorb the products of protein digestion into the bloodstream. The...
The process of digestion depends on the synchronized teamwork of organs, specialized mucosa, glands and muscles. Each feature of the digestive tract plays a role in the breakdown of the food you eat into a form that your body can use as...
Most mammals cannot drink milk after infancy, including humans. Since most humans stop producing milk-digesting enzymes in their bodies by 5 years old, undigested milk sugar ferments in the colon and causes digestive upset. According to a 2009...
Pepsin is an enzyme -- specifically, it's a proteolytic enzyme, meaning it helps digest proteins. Cells in the stomach secrete pepsin to help you digest the protein that you consume in food. Specialized cells in the intestine then absorb the...
Pepsin, classified as an enzyme, performs important digestive functions. Digestion describes the process by which the digestive tract breaks down food particles into smaller molecules the body can absorb. Digestion occurs through mechanical...
The enzyme pepsin enables the stomach to take filet mignon and break it down into the same amino acids found in the lowly chuck roast. While teeth, saliva, stomach acid and the steady churning of the stomach all contribute to the digestion of meat...
Betaine HCL is a digestive aid that increases acidity in the stomach. This supplement helps to convert the precursor pepsinogen into the protein-digesting enzyme pepsin. Betaine HCL contains both hydrochloride acid and pepsin to facilitate the...
Enzymes are protein molecules that function in your body as catalysts; that is, they speed up the rate of a biological reaction while they themselves remain unchanged. They are active at a pH, or level of acidity, specific to each individual...
Amino acids, linked together in a long chain and then folded into a globule, make up a protein molecule. You require protein in your diet because the amino acids in the protein are necessary for your body to create the muscle tissue, hormones and...
Whey is a nutritional supplement that adds high-quality protein to your diet. In order to reap its nutritional benefits, your body must first digest it. Your stomach is vital to the process of protein digestion because of its gastric juice and...
Ingestion, digestion and absorption of food are the main functions of the digestive system. When a person eats, the food travels down the digestive tract, which includes the mouth, esophagus stomach and intestines. Various organs also secrete...
Virtually all reactions in your body are mediated by enzymes, which are protein catalysts that increase the rate at which these reactions take place. By channeling reactants, or substrates, into appropriate pathways, enzymes direct all metabolic...
Pepsin and trypsin are both proteolytic enzymes, meaning that they digest protein. Specifically, they're both secreted into the digestive tract to help break down the proteins that you consume in food. This allows you to absorb the protein...
Converting the food you eat into usable nutrients is a highly sophisticated manufacturing process enlisting some of the most intricate complex chemical transformations in existence. Your body is like a factory converting the foods you eat into...
Hydrochloric acid, also called HCl, is a clear, highly corrosive liquid. HCl is one of the many chemicals released in our stomach when we eat a meal. The role of hydrochloric acid in the stomach, along with the other gastric juices, is to break...
The components of food can be categorized as micronutrients, including vitamins and minerals, and macronutrients, which are needed in large amounts. Macronutrients include carbohydrates, fats and proteins. These substances provide needed chemicals...
Digestion is a complex process of breaking down foods into components that can be easily absorbed by the body. Digestion begins in the mouth, pit stops in the stomach and finishes with a journey through the intestines. Along the way, a variety of...
The human body is designed to function within a very narrow pH. Your body's pH is a measurement of the amount of hydrogen ions in your blood, which affect the acidity level. Enzymes are protein catalysts that improve the rate at which chemical...
The mouth plays a critical role in mechanical digestion as chewing breaks apart food, which lessens the burden on the rest of the digestive system. But the mouth also secretes amylase, an enzyme that breaks down starches -- long chains of sugar...
