Equipping People To Make Sense Of What They Are Told
Lactase is essential for digestive hydrolysis of lactose in milk. Deficiency of the
enzyme causes lactose intolerance.
Lactase human enzymes within the body are utilised to break down milk sugars or disaccharide
lactose. Without this enzyme functioning, the human body can not break down and properly
utilize milk sugars. Lactase is part of the beta galactosidase family of enzymes
that are hydrolases by nature.
Human beings produce lactase beginning in their infancy in order to facilitate the
ingestion of a mother's milk. Normally the production of lactase would cease after
infancy, however milk in many forms is readily available and actively promoted for
consumption. This has changed the duration of lactase production in the body to many
years past the intended biological cycle in infancy.
Lactase activity, like many other enzymes, serves as a catalyst within living organisms
to facilitate the break down of complex sugars that the body can’t use, into simple
sugars that the body can use. This lactase reaction occurs within the small intestine
along its tissue walls.
The condition of lactose intolerance literally means milk sugar intolerance. The
effect of milk sugar introduced into digestive tract of someone with lactose intolerance
is that of severe digestive discomfort including symptoms of bloating, stomach pain
and diarrhoea.
The condition of lactose intolerance is not really one of biological disorder, as
evolutionarily speaking humans are only meant to digest milk fats as infants.
Järvelä I, Torniainen S, Kolho KL (2009). "Molecular genetics of human lactase deficiencies".
Ann. Med. 41 (8): 568–75
Lipase is a water-soluble enzyme used to assist in breaking down complex food molecules
into simpler forms for digestion. This enzyme is produced in the body and has no
source from food.
Lipase is in and of itself not a single enzyme but rather a group of enzymes differentiated
by their internal source.
Each lipase acts to breakdown nutritional fat molecules at specific molecular positions
along the fat molecule's atomic structure. These enzymes aid in the body's absorption
of these nutritional fats while in their respective complex molecular forms.
The most pertinent lipases within the human body are:
Human pancreatic lipase.
Hepatic lipase.
Endothelial lipase.
Which are secreted in the pancreas, liver and blood vessels respectively.
There are over 10 lipases that serve various cellular activities within the human
body. These enzymes are secreted inside cells and outside cells in interstitial space.
The breakdown of fat molecules (lipids) is integral to the functioning of the human
body. Cellular walls are composed of lipids acquired from lipase and complex lipid
bio reactions. The simple function of cells existing within a human would be impassible
without this enzyme.
Simple lipids are also used as dietary source throughout the body for everyday cellular
functioning. Without lipase, these simple lipids would not exist and would be much
harder to transport throughout the body for utilisation.
