Page 97 - The Miraculous Machine that Works for an Entire Lifetime: Enzyme
P. 97
Adnan Oktar
secreted here. Raw food goes into this section of the stomach. After
swallowing, digestion continues here with these food's own enzymes
for half an hour to an hour. After that, pepsin, the stomach enzyme,
takes over.
If the food has been cooked, it waits in this section of the stomach
for half an hour to an hour, with no enzymes breaking it down. Salivary
enzyme breaks down carbohydrates, but protein and fat have to wait.
These foods are subjected to a different process in the stomach than raw
foods which already contain enzymes, because the body's metabolism
must devote its attention to supplying more metabolic enzymes for the
organs and tissues. In other words, another conscious choice is made
inside the body. After being kept in this stomach region for a while, the
food will start being broken down by gastric enzymes. 59
The process of acid secretion in the stomach is controlled by the
presence of food. In response to food's presence in the stomach, specif-
ic cells go into action, secreting a hormone known as gastrin into the
bloodstream. It then emits a signal to the glands that secrete hy-
drochloric acid and thus stimulates secretion of gastric juice.
The nervous system also has a role in the secretion of gastric juice,
because the glands responsible are under the control of the nervous
system. So, the release of digestive fluids is controlled by both hor-
mones and by the nervous system, which is why increased stress and
high blood pressure may lead to the formation of ulcers. Indeed, that it
is enough that we smell, taste or even think of food for the brain to send
messages to the secretory glands in the stomach demonstrates the effi-
ciency of the nervous system in the digestive process. 60
Pepsin is the active enzyme that breaks down proteins in the stom-
ach. The stomach wall cells produce this enzyme in an inactive form,
known as pepsinogen. As already mentioned, hydrochloric acid con-
verts pepsinogen into pepsin. The secretion of pepsinogen by the gas-
tric secretory glands is at the same time controlled by the activities of
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