Page 93 - The Miraculous Machine that Works for an Entire Lifetime: Enzyme

Adnan Oktar

need not become involved in such a complex and detailed process as

digestion.
For that reason a glorious mechanism operates constantly inside
the human body. Whenever you see or smell something to eat, or even
if you only think about it, your body triggers the production of diges-
tive enzymes. These stimuli are of great importance, helping ready
your body to deal with food before you have even taken a bite.
The process of digestion begins in the mouth, immediately after
the food has been chewed. Saliva contains special enzymes, and as soon
as they come into contact with food, they start breaking it down. We
break down the exterior walls of foods through the chewing process. If
the food is raw, the enzymes it contains are released and initiate the di-
gestion process. Carbohydrates begin to be digested in the mouth,
when the amylase in saliva breaks the molecular bonds in starch and
adds to them the water molecules in saliva. The reason why you feel an

increasingly sweet taste when you chew a piece of bread is that the en-
zymes in your saliva are converting the starch it contains into sugar.
For digestion in the mouth to take place, the necessary pH value is
between 6.0 and 7.4, and the enzyme
amylase functions best in that pH
range. The stomach, on the other
hand, is a highly acidic envi-
ronment, with a pH level of
between 1.0 and 3.5—which
acidic conditions halt the ac-
tivity of amylase. For that
reason, carbohydrate diges-
tion does not take place in the
stomach.
The process of digestion be-
gins in the mouth, then continues in

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