Enzyme, English name enzyme, is the old name of enzyme. [1] Enzyme is another name for enzyme in Japan and Taiwan Province Province, which refers to a kind of high molecular substance with biocatalysis function. Almost all cell activities need the participation of enzymes to improve efficiency. Similar to other non-biological catalysts, enzymes speed up the reaction by reducing the activation energy of chemical reactions (expressed by Ea or δ G). Most enzymes can increase their catalytic reaction speed by millions of times; In fact, enzymes provide another way with lower activation energy requirements, so that more reactive particles can have kinetic energy not less than activation energy, thus accelerating the reaction rate. As a catalyst, the enzyme itself is not consumed in the reaction process, nor does it affect the chemical balance of the reaction. Enzymes have both positive and negative catalytic effects, which can not only accelerate the reaction rate, but also reduce the reaction rate. Different from other non-biological catalysts, enzymes are highly specific and only catalyze specific reactions or produce specific configurations.

2 Current situation of fruit enzymes

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Recently, a wave of "fruit enzymes" swept through China. The efficacy and practice of "fruit enzyme" has become a hot topic on various network platforms. Entering the word "fruit enzyme" on the Internet can return more than 8 million search results in an instant, which is not red. Fruit enzyme has many functions, such as slimming, beautifying and detoxification, which makes it the object sought after by beauty lovers. Coupled with the "natural" and "homemade" production methods, it seems that the production of "fruit enzyme" is out without getting a few bottles and cans at home.

So, where is the "fruit enzyme" and what are these magical effects?

Enzymes can accelerate chemical reactions because they can reduce the activation energy of the reactions. Because any enzyme has strong selectivity to the reaction it can catalyze, this selectivity determines that each cell has a specific chemical reaction at a specific time. The enzyme molecule is protein, and each protein has a specific three-dimensional shape, which determines the selectivity of the enzyme. The reactants in enzyme-catalyzed reactions are called substrates, and enzymes can only recognize one or a class of specific substrates and catalyze specific chemical reactions, which is called substrate specificity of enzymes.

3 What does "fruit enzyme" contain?

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It can be seen that the production mode of "adding sugar to raw materials and sealed storage" is essentially a natural fermentation. The so-called natural fermentation is a fermentation process that does not artificially add strains, but only relies on microorganisms carried on the surface of raw materials to reproduce and form a certain colony structure. Fermentation process is a complex physiological metabolism process of microorganisms, and the kinds of substances it produces are also diverse.

According to the online production method, the "fruit enzyme" obtained should be "sweet and sour". The source of sweetness is well understood, that is, the sugar added in advance and the sugar released by the fruit itself. Sour taste comes from the activity of lactic acid bacteria. In fact, the sour taste in kimchi and kimchi is also due to lactic acid bacteria. Lactic acid bacteria are sugar-loving bacteria, and the added sugar in fruits provides them with a comfortable living environment, which multiplies in large numbers and continuously converts sugar into lactic acid.

However, many people report that the "fruit enzyme" made by themselves smells of alcohol. This is the result of the activity of another microorganism-yeast. Yeast also has a soft spot for sugar and grows rapidly in fermentation environment. Some people say that when making "fruit enzyme", bubbles will be produced, which is the carbon dioxide produced by yeast. However, when the oxygen in the container is exhausted, the yeast begins to produce alcohol, and the smell of wine is thus produced.

It can be seen that a bottle of "fruit enzyme" is essentially a mixture of sugar released and added by fruits, lactic acid produced by lactic acid bacteria or alcohol, amino acids, vitamins and other metabolites produced by yeast, plus a large number of bacteria of lactic acid bacteria or yeast. Its composition is not essentially different from sauerkraut juice or fermented wine.

Wait, there seems to be something missing: where is the "enzyme" in the "fruit enzyme"? In fact, enzymes, as one of the existing forms of protein, are released from plant cells and quickly decomposed and absorbed by microorganisms-after all, in the eyes of microorganisms, the enzymes of these fruits, like other protein, can be used as nutrients. Therefore, among the "fruit enzymes", the content of enzymes from fruits is extremely low. And more enzymes are secreted by microbial activities, or released after microbial death and cracking. Perhaps it is more appropriate to rename "fruit enzyme" as "bacterial enzyme" or "bacterial enzyme". Even so, the proportion of total protein in the whole fermentation broth is only about 0.02%, and the amount of active enzymes is even less.

4 making "enzymes" by yourself is a big health risk.

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So, since those good wishes can't be achieved, why don't you do it yourself and have a sweet and sour drink? Although this is a personal hobby, the risks are worth considering.

First of all, a lot of sugar needs to be added to make "fruit enzyme". According to online data, the proportion of sugar, fruit and water varies from 1: 3: 10 to 1: 1: 5. That is to say, the sugar content of "fruit enzyme" is above 10%. So much sugar makes the taste "delicious", at the same time, it also increases the sugar intake invisibly.

If eating more sugar can be solved by exercise, then the next problem is worthy of vigilance. Because the "fruit enzyme" is naturally fermented, the composition of colonies in the fermentation process is greatly influenced by the initial conditions. In nature, the microbial composition on the surface of fruits is very diverse. In addition to yeast or lactic acid bacteria needed for fermentation, there are other microorganisms, including pathogenic bacteria, ready to move. Once there is a slight carelessness in the production process, the "fruit enzyme" produced in this way can not only play a health care role, but also pose a threat to health.

Among the miscellaneous bacteria pollution, the most important thing to pay attention to is mold pollution. Some molds, including Penicillium and Aspergillus, produce a substance called patulin (also known as patulin). In animal experiments, patulin shows neurotoxicity, embryotoxicity and carcinogenicity, and can inhibit the immune system of animals. Although there is no clear conclusion about the harm to human body, the tentative maximum daily intake is 0.4 μ g/kg body weight, in other words, a 70 kg adult should not consume more than 28 μ g per day. But for fruit products (especially apples) contaminated by mold, the content of patulin can reach 1 μ g/g. According to the ratio of fruit to water in "fruit enzyme" of 3: 10, drink 100 ml every day, which is close to or even exceeds the tentative maximum daily intake. Therefore, if you see that your "fruit enzyme" is hairy, you'd better throw it away as soon as possible!

In addition, even if there is no mildew, there are many substances that are not beneficial or even harmful to human health. Nitrite is a harmful substance produced in the process of fruit enzyme fermentation. Because of natural fermentation, the strain is not easy to control, so it will produce more nitrite than inoculation fermentation. In the process of lactic acid bacteria fermentation, nitrite first rose and then decreased, and the peak concentration reached the peak around 1 week, and then decreased. A week or so is the recommended drinking time for some "fruit enzymes" on the Internet. Although the content of nitrite will decrease with the extension of storage time, the increase of fermentation time will increase the production of other substances. Fruit contains a lot of pectin, and methanol is the main product of pectin fermented by microorganisms. In the process of yeast fermentation, the content of methanol can reach nearly 20 mg/ml, and in the "fruit enzyme" with light alcohol taste, the content of methanol can also reach several mg/ml. In the process of lactic acid fermentation, butyric acid is also produced-the special fishy smell in kimchi and "fruit enzyme" comes from the butyric acid produced.

In the process of industrial production of pickles and pickles, through the selection of strains and the control of production conditions, the production of these substances that are not beneficial or even harmful to human body can be reduced as much as possible. For homemade "fruit enzymes", pickles and pickles, these unpopular substances will inevitably be produced because of the inability to control the strains and production conditions. Although the content of these substances is not enough to make people sick in a meal (except for miscellaneous bacteria pollution), it is not worth the loss to drink "fruit enzyme" in pursuit of unreliable "health care" effects, thus increasing the real health risks. Today, when we advocate eating less pickles, it is undoubtedly ironic to pursue the "fruit enzyme" that changes the soup without changing the medicine.

Does "fruit enzyme" have those magical effects?

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The biggest selling point of "fruit enzyme" is to claim that "enzyme" can play the role of "slimming", "beautifying" and "detoxification". But the fact is that it is only a beautiful imagination to achieve these effects by "enzymes", or enzymes. From the previous analysis, it can be concluded that the content of protein in the whole fermentation broth is very low. Not to mention the rumored "drink 100 ml a day", even if you drink one kilogram of "fruit enzyme", you will get only 0.2g—— of protein-you might as well eat a medium-sized apple. Besides, even if you eat that poor enzyme, it won't work-because they lack protection, when passing through the digestive tract, the protease in gastric juice and intestinal juice will cut them into small pieces and become oligopeptides and amino acids to be absorbed.

The enzyme in the "fruit enzyme" can't be counted on, so can other ingredients have the above effects? The situation is not optimistic. Lactic acid and alcohol, as the main fermentation products, do not have the effect of "fruit enzyme" propaganda. For substances such as vitamins, due to the activities and utilization of microorganisms, they will also be decomposed and destroyed. For example, after one week of fermentation, the content of vitamin C can be reduced to110 of the initial value. However, due to the limited ability of yeast and lactic acid bacteria to decompose fibrous plant tissues, if you only drink "fruit enzyme", then cellulose substances that can really have some benefits to health cannot be ingested by the human body.

Then, can the yeast and lactic acid bacteria contained in the "fruit enzyme" play a health care role? Although the research on intestinal flora has gradually deepened in recent years, the effect of improving intestinal flora through the flora obtained from daily diet is still very unsatisfactory. The reason is that, first of all, the microorganisms ingested in the diet are not protected by auxiliary materials such as intestinal bacteria, but directly face the harsh environment of gastric juice and intestinal juice, and whether they can enter the intestine smoothly is a big problem. Secondly, even if it can enter the intestine, facing the huge intestinal flora of up to 10, the microorganisms that rely on diet intake are really "strong dragons but difficult to crush local snakes", so it is difficult to colonize and play a corresponding role.

To sum up, it is unlikely to achieve health care by drinking "fruit enzymes". Sealed in plant cells that have not been completely destroyed. However, if you need to eat the solids in the "fruit enzyme", why not eat the fruit directly?

6 abstract

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The essence of "fruit enzyme" is a natural fermentation product, which can not achieve all kinds of magical effects claimed by "fruit enzyme" in principle or in actual composition. At the same time, because natural fermentation is not easy to control, it is easy to cause mixed bacteria pollution and produce toxins and other harmful substances. Drinking this "fruit enzyme" will increase health risks. If you really want to get beneficial ingredients from fruits, eating them directly is the most direct and effective way.