In the stomach, hydrochloric acid activates pepsinogen to pepsin, which breaks down protein, and gastric lipase begins the hydrolysis of fats. Without proper enzyme production, the body has a difficult time digesting food, often resulting in a variety of chronic disorders. Poor eating habits, including inadequate chewing and eating on the run, can result in inadequate enzyme production and hence malabsorption of food. And this is exacerbated with aging, since that is a time of decreased hydrochloric acid production as well as of a general decline in digestive enzyme secretion. Saliva is rich in amylase, while gastric juice contains protease.
Animals eating raw food often have no enzymes at all in saliva, unlike humans.
One of America's pioneering biochemists and nutrition researchers, Dr. Edward Howell, in his book Enzyme Nutrition , cites numerous animal studies showing that animals fed diets that are deficient in enzymes suffer from enlargement of the pancreas, as huge amounts of pancreatic enzymes are squandered in digesting foods that are devoid of natural enzymes. The result of this wasteful outpouring of pancreatic digestive enzymes is a decrease in the supply of crucial metabolic enzymes and impaired health. For starters, organs that are overworked will enlarge in order to perform the increased workload. Those with congestive heart failure or aortic valve disease often suffer from an enlarged heart, which is not a healthy condition. The tremendous impact that wastage of pancreatic enzymes can have on health and even life itself has been established in animal studies.