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Digestive enzymes

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Digestive enzymes
Molecules that catalyze the breakdown of large molecules (usually food) into smaller molecules.
Mentioned in: Heartburn

digestive enzymes (di·jesˑ·tiv enˑ·zīmz),
n.pl proteins that catalyze reactions between other chemicals by reducing the energy required for the reactions.
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Digestive system.

digestive
pertaining to digestion.

digestive enzymes
include salivary (amylase), gastric (pepsin), pancreatic (trypsin, chymotrypsin, amylase, lipase), small intestinal mucosa (carbohydrases including isomaltase, lactase, maltase, sucrase, trehalase).
digestive inoculant
administered mostly to neonates primarily to provide an inoculum of beneficial bacteria and protozoa essential to proper digestion and usually picked up from the environment. In many commercial products the irresistible temptation to include other materials, including dietary essential vitamins and minerals, clouds the effect of the inoculant, and may, as in iron poisoning in foals, cause disaster.
digestive system
the organs that have as their particular function the ingestion, digestion and absorption of food or nutritive elements. They include the mouth, teeth, tongue, pharynx, esophagus, stomach and intestines. The accessory organs of digestion, which contribute secretions important to digestion, include the salivary glands, pancreas, liver and gallbladder. Birds have an unusual system in that there are no teeth and no soft palate in most. There is a pregastric buffer, the crop; the stomach is separated into two organs, one secretory and one muscular, and the large intestine is replaced by a dual cecum. The rectum empties into a cloaca which is shared with the urogenital tract. The ruminant system is complicated by the presence of the forestomachs, the reticulum, rumen and omasum, and there are no upper incisor teeth. The peculiarities of horses are the greatly distended large intestine and the absence of a gallbladder.
digestive tract
the digestive system less the ancillary organs of salivary glands, liver and pancreas; the luminal organs through which food passes. See also alimentary canal.


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Raw food enhances the functioning capacity of digestive enzymes, supplies oxygen to the organs and tissues, and cleanses the bloodstream mainly through the ingestion of chlorophyll from green, leafy vegetables.
Digestive enzymes are essential for human and animal life.
In Ashcroft's case, an errant gallstone was blocking the flow of digestive enzymes from his pancreas to his small intestine.
 
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