nzyClass 01: Let's try this again...

[Guest guest]

An excellent start that hit a bump in the road

....an unexpected turn of events

....that included me being locked out of the group for a bit.

....so, we will give it another go, and begin again..

.

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Enzymes are a general class of proteins that do work in nature. Enzymes are made

up

of the same amino acids as other proteins in nature. The 'work' they do is all

the

assorted jobs necessary to make life happen: break down food, transport

nutrients,

assembly bone and tissue, remove by-products of chemical reactions, and so on.

Enzymes

do a job without being used up in the process, so they are able to do the same

job over

and over and over. A little bit of enzyme can cause a huge change. Enzyme are

not alive

like bacteria or animals. They are catalysts that cause reactions to happen at a

much

greater speed than happens otherwise.

Enzymes are not nutrients in and of themselves, but they are vital for nutrients

to be

of use. To understand the relationship of enzymes to nutrients, consider what

happens

when building a house.

When a home is being constructed, various raw materials are brought to the

construction site. One truck brings bricks; another unloads a pile a lumber.

Screws, pipes,

and coils of electrical wire are delivered. Plumbing fixtures, cabinets, and

windows all lay

around. All of these are raw materials delivered to the building site in the

same way

vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients are delivered to various sites in our

body through

the bloodstream or other route.

However, all those raw materials just lay there. They do not assemble themselves

to construct the home. They do nothing. What is needed are the workers: the

carpenters,

the electricians, the plumbers, the masons. These workers come and pick up

various

raw materials and connect them together. They assemble and arrange the parts in

the

proper order. Carpenters pick up pieces of lumber, cut them into the right

sizes, and

connect them together. Electricians measure off wire and string it properly to

make

working circuits. Plumbers shape and organize pipes so water will flow in a

certain

direction. The workers also carry off the waste materials and debris, cleaning

up the home

for the new owners.

Enzymes are like the construction workers. They make things happen in biology.

Enzymes handle the raw materials so the vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients

can be of

use. Without enzymes, the nutrients from our food and supplements just . . . do

nothing. On the other hand, enzymes are not vitamins or minerals. Taking enzyme

supplements does not replace the need to have basic nutrition coming in as raw

materials.

You need to have good wholesome nutrients coming into the body, and then you

need

adequate enzymes to make use of those nutrients. They both work together.

It is important to remember that enzymes can only work with the nutrition that

is in

the food or supplements you are consuming. Enzymes cannot create a nutrient

where

there is none. No matter how many enzymes you dump on a highly-processed,

artificially-flavored cupcake, it just isn't going to magically transform into a

healthy green

salad.

An important characteristic of enzymes is that they are highly specialized. Each

enzyme has a certain `job' that it does, and it does only that job. Just like

a carpenter

would not connect wiring. You would need an electrician to do that. Nor would

the

bricklayer install plumbing. Just as each construction worker is very skilled in

his own

area, each enzyme is very efficient at its specific operation. Enzyme activities

are not

interchangeable. You will not have an enzyme which breaks down fats going up to

help

with respiration. Nor will an enzyme that works on dairy abruptly stop working

on milk

and go help the legs build muscle tissue. Not going to happen.

This high degree of specialization also contributes to enzymes being very safe.

Enzymes do not wander around the body doing unexpected things, which is often

the

reason medications or other supplements create unwanted side-effects.

This very specific degree of specialization means that certain enzymes will be

particularly

effective for specific uses. Getting an appropriate enzyme or enzyme blend to

break down

a certain food, or to meet a particular health goal, is critical to seeing

success with

enzyme therapy. If you try an enzyme product and do not see the results you were

hoping

for, it could be the product is not designed for that specific use. Much like

hiring a

carpenter to wire your house. You very likely are not going to be happy with the

results

even if he does attempt the job. He might be a perfectly great carpenter, but he

simply

does not have the skills to do the job you want.

Fortunately, while this does present a little bit of a learning curve in the

beginning, many

enzymes products try to account for this. Companies will try to blend different

enzymes

together in one product so that all the different enzymes needed to accomplish a

certain

goal are included in the blend. This is why you will see a variety of enzyme

products, some

with very specialized target uses.

.