Page 97 - The Miraculous Machine that Works for an Entire Lifetime: Enzyme
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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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