Enzyme is a popular hot word on the Internet recently. Input enzymes, and Baidu will find about 1465438+ million related results for you. There are as many as 4.35 million kinds of "enzyme foods". Enzymes can do almost anything, from detoxification, beauty, slimming, improving immunity, and even preventing cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, tumors and other intractable diseases. They are named "oral gold solution". Despite the high price, people still long for health. So, what is an enzyme? Is it really so amazing?
Enzymes and enzymes are the same thing? The word enzyme comes from Japan, that is, enzyme, which is also called enzyme in Taiwan Province province of China. Enzyme is a protein synthesized by living cells, which has a high catalytic effect on its specific substrate. It is the most important catalyst for catalyzing various metabolic reactions in the body. There are many kinds of enzymes in our body, such as pepsin and trypsin, which help digestion. They play a physiological role in all parts of the body.
At present, enzymes used as food or health food in the market are essentially different from enzymes. According to the Health Food Pocket Book edited by Shinichi Yamauchi, Japan, enzyme means plant enzyme extract, or "plant enzyme extract essence", which is a fermented food made of wheat, rice germ, soybean and other plants by lactic acid bacteria or yeast fermentation.
Traditional fermented foods in China, such as bean paste, flour paste, fermented bean curd, pickles, fermented grains and rice vinegar, are also enzyme foods. The health care function of enzyme benefits from its active components such as flavonoids, plant pigments, organic acids, superoxide dismutase (SOD), probiotics such as lactic acid bacteria and yeast, and various amino acids, vitamins and mineral elements. These beneficial components make the enzyme have certain health care functions such as antioxidation, scavenging free radicals, improving gastrointestinal function, regulating intestinal flora and relaxing bowels.
20 16, China Bio-fermentation Industry Association standardizes enzyme products, Guide to Classification of Enzyme Products. Edible enzymes refer to enzyme products that are made from animals, plants, edible fungi, etc., with or without additives, and contain specific bioactive components, which can be eaten by human beings, including fruit enzymes, brown rice enzymes, mushroom enzymes, probiotic enzymes, etc.
At present, the market of enzyme food in China is still in its infancy. Although there are many enzyme foods on the market, only five enterprises with enzyme food production licenses can be found on the website of China Food and Drug Administration, and only three kinds of health products as enzyme foods can be found. China has clear regulations on the registration, production and management of health care products. Health food is a kind of food that claims to have specific health care function or aims at supplementing vitamins and minerals. As a health care product, it must have the following four characteristics: it must be food; It is not a drug, its main purpose is to regulate the body function; Has a specific health care function; There are special ones for the crowd. This is the principle to be grasped when choosing health care products.
Homemade "fruit and vegetable enzyme", is it safe?
With the rapid development of enzyme foods, some homemade enzyme foods have become popular, and fruit enzymes are more common. Usually, commercial enzyme preparations have strict requirements on fermentation substrates, strains, temperature, humidity and technology. Homemade "fruit and vegetable enzyme" is much simpler to make. Generally speaking, all kinds of fruits and vegetables are added with sugar or honey, and allowed to ferment naturally in closed barrels or kimchi cans. In this process, if the quality of fruits and vegetables used for fermentation is not good, the washing is not clean, or the container is not completely disinfected, it will inevitably pollute harmful bacteria.
In the process of fermentation, azurin, pig koji toxin and other zero-bacteria toxins may also be produced. Eating "fruit and vegetable enzymes" containing these harmful ingredients is easy to cause liver and kidney damage and endanger health. In addition, the fermentation process is greatly influenced by the external environment, such as temperature and humidity. Once this process is uncontrollable, harmful substances such as methanol will be produced during fruit fermentation. Some scholars have tested the nitrite content in the self-made "fruit and vegetable enzyme", and its content far exceeds the maximum allowable limit (0.005m9/L) 100-400 times.
The popular "fruit enzyme, is it reliable to lose weight?" Many people have heard a similar saying, "Fruit enzyme contains lipolytic enzyme, which can decompose human body fat and make people lose weight and keep fit. Is it true?/You don't say. The raw materials of fruit enzyme mainly include various fruits and sugars, which are naturally fermented under sealed conditions. The product contains sugar, lactic acid, alcohol, amino acids, vitamins and minerals, as well as a certain amount of lactic acid bacteria or yeast, protease and lipase. Take a look, there is lipase, which is consistent with the product promotion!
Lipase is an enzyme that hydrolyzes oil. It acts on natural oils and fats, and the site of action is the cold bond between fatty acids and glycerol in oils and fats, so theoretically lipase can indeed hydrolyze oils and fats. However, since lipase is an enzyme, its activity is affected by environmental factors (enzyme concentration, temperature, pH, etc.). In addition, lipase is composed of protein, and what we eat in our mouth and stomach is protein. Under the action of gastric acid and pepsin, protein, which constitutes lipase, will denature and decompose, and then lose its activity. Even the activity is gone, how to break down fat? Then why do some people say that they really lost weight after eating enzymes?
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2017 65438+29129, China food and drug administration issued two announcements that sibutramine hydrochloride was illegally added to fruit and vegetable yeast powder and LS slimming enzyme capsules. Sibutramine hydrochloride is a central nervous system inhibitor. It was once used to treat obesity, but it has stopped being used in most countries in the world. At present, only orlistat is a legal diet drug, which can only excrete 30% of the fat in food, but it is ineffective for body fat.