Page 94 - The Miraculous Machine that Works for an Entire Lifetime: Enzyme

Harun Yahya

the stomach and the intestines, all of which are rather different from

one another in their working conditions. They therefore harbor appro-
priately different enzymes.

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S Special Enzymes in the Stomach
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Along the digestive route that starts with the mouth, the next ma-
jor station is the stomach. As with all organs, the stomach contains en-
zymes that perform special functions. Their very presence in the rather
harsh environment of the stomach, which dissolves and breaks down
everything that enters it, is of course very surprising. Yet in any case
these assistants are specially equipped for working in the stomach, and
are another part of this great miracle inside the body.
The stomach is a highly acidic environment, whose walls need to
be protected against its own acid. The digestive enzymes also need to
be able to survive within it. The stomach meets both conditions. The in-
ternal lining of the stomach wall, covered in a mucous layer that comes
into contact with food, contains three kinds of cells. One of these se-
cretes hydrochloric acid (HCl), a very powerful acidic solution, strong
enough even to dissolve stone. This powerful chemical also plays an
important part in the digestive process by breaking down all proteins,
particularly meat, entering the stomach, and kills all microbes. Another
important characteristic of this acid is that it sets into action pepsino-
gen, also present in the stomach and which breaks down proteins.
Pepsinogen is not secreted when the stomach is empty. Yet when any
food reaches the stomach, pepsinogen is converted into the enzyme
pepsin by an activator protein, literally as if someone had told it to, and
breaks down the foodstuff there.
How can we account for the way that pepsin initiates digestion by
recognizing a piece of meat consisting of protein and fats, but does no
harm to the stomach, which consists of basically the same protein and
fats? Again, how are we to explain the way that hydrochloric acid does

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