Enzymes in Food are Aids to Digestion
Main Point 2: The enzymes present in raw foods provide significant help for the digestion of foods themselves once the foods enter the human digestive system.
Dr. Howell states,
Upon reflection, it becomes obvious that enzymes exist in all living things and become food enzymes when the food is eaten. But until I found out how ultrasensitive enzymes are to heat, I did not realize that the human race had been trying to get along without a whole category of food ingredients since cooking began. (page 121)
I tried to find research that supports the theory that the enzymes contained in the raw food we eat actually become digestive enzymes once we consume the food. This is a very common belief. But, I was unable to find any scientific proof for it.
There are two types of enzymes. Those that exist within the cells of living organisms, and in the case of organisms that have complex digestive systems containing stomachs and intestines, there are digestive enzymes. I could not find confirmation that the enzymes in our food will become digestive enzymes once the food has been consumed.
I suspect that the enzymes in food are actually destroyed by stomach acid. I also wonder about the very small amount of naturally occurring enzymes that are contained in many leafy vegetables. Are there really enough enzymes to produce a digestive effect? The enzymes in vegetables help the plant decompose in the natural environment. But, I cannot find any scientific evidence that the natural plant enzymes digest food in the stomach. This appears to be speculation.
Dr. Howell states,
The aging of meat and game to promote its tenderness and enhance its flavor has been practiced for a long time. The aging process consists of keeping the product at the proper environment of moisture and temperature. This allows the enzyme cathepsin within the tissues to slowly digest the hung meat by a process not unlike that which occurs in the digestive tract and which is known as autolysis. This is a good example of the operation of food enzymes. In those carnivores swallowing an entire animal, the catheptic enzymes of the prey become food enzymes and act the same way in the stomach of the host as they do when aging meat. (page 41, Enzyme Nutrition)
The enzymes in plants and animals certainly work in the natural environment to degrade the organisms (to recycle it) after it dies. However, do enzymes work that way in the human digestive system? Once again this is speculation. The natural function of the human digestive system is to breakdown and digest all parts of the food we eat. The enzymes in food are not somehow selectively preserved so that they can digest food. They are digested by the body along with all the other components of the raw food that we eat.