What Enzyme Breaks Down Fat?
Medically Reviewed by Vincenta Faulkner, RD, CNSC, CCTD
The human body is one of the most incredible, intricate systems constantly at work to help you live the life you want to live. When it comes to how the human body operates, certain key elements of human biology are fundamental to life. We are taught about some of these vital processes from the moment that we begin our educational journeys as children.
For instance, it’s probably hard for you to remember the first time you learned about the human heart or lungs, and even the brain and its importance. These parts of our anatomy and biological makeup are dramatically important for human survival. Still, as we get older, we start to become aware of other aspects of our health that we need to learn more about and less about the powerhouse of the cell.
Heart health is one of the most pressing areas for most people to start looking into as they age. Heart-related disease and health issues affect more people each year than any other medical condition. But taking your first steps toward understanding heart health and what you can do to take control of it doesn’t have to be daunting.
Let’s look at one part of our biology that is vitally important and can affect our cardiovascular health: fat-eating enzymes.
What Are Enzymes?
Enzymes are proteins that act as catalysts throughout the entire body. There are thousands and thousands of proteins in our body that all do vital work to make biological processes possible. These proteins are unique because they are some of the most important for any kind of life to exist.
Enzymes are used for everything from helping the body make its energy in the form of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) to processing oxygen through tissues to helping break down large molecules like carbohydrates, lipids, and fats.
The Different Classes of Enzymes
If our bodies didn’t produce enzymes to support biological processes throughout the body, life wouldn’t be sustainable. Different enzymes carry out different roles, but most notably, enzymes support our metabolism and help carry out crucial chemical reactions.
For the human body to do all the things it needs to do on a biological level, it takes seven classes of enzymes. Each of these classes represents several different kinds of enzymes with different fundamental purposes.
Those classes and their functions are:
- Oxirductase
- Transferase
- Hydrolase
- Lyase
- Isomerase
- Ligase
The hydrolase class specifically includes enzymes that help the body break down potentially dangerous fats that could impact your heart health.
The Hydrolase Class
The hydrolase class is an enzyme that uses water to help break apart larger molecules like fats and lipids. Whereas a lyase enzyme helps break apart molecules, the hydrolase enzymatic class is responsible specifically for breaking down larger molecules like fats and lipids.
In this class, we find three specific enzymes:
- Protease
- Lipase
- Amylase
Each of these hydrolytic enzymes breaks down a specific molecule in the human body. The protease targets proteins that need to be broken down, the lipase targets fats and lipids, and the amylase helps digest food and break down sugars and starches.
Our bodies naturally need to break down all kinds of substances to harvest their nutritional qualities and get the energy we need from them. These three hydrolytic enzyme types are crucially important for helping the human body process and metabolize.
Lipase
The lipase enzyme is of particular interest to anyone looking to improve their cardiovascular health because of its unique ability to help break down fats and lipids. Lipase enzymes do the vital work of breaking down dietary lipids into their key components, glycerol and fatty acids.
This is important for your body to properly absorb the fats that it needs to function. A lot of this absorption occurs in the small intestine; however, lipase is typically produced in the mouth, stomach, liver, and pancreas.
These enzymes are so important because while the body needs to be supplied with fats and lipids to survive, it also needs a way of breaking those molecules up and metabolizing them. Without lipase, this process would not be possible.
Why Are Fats Important?
One of the most important molecules for the human body to simply exist is fats. All forms of fats play crucial roles in everything from cell membranes to long-term energy storage and disease prevention.
The reality is that there are such things as harmful or bad fats, but there are also beneficial fats that we need in order to maintain our health.
Processing those important fats and lipids is a key part of maintaining your health. When these vital fats are not broken down correctly, they can be stored in damaging ways — this is where lipase enzymes come in. Lipase enzymes help our bodies process and digest fat-soluble vitamins like vitamins A, D, E, and K.
These vitamins play key roles in several of our biological processes, and without the enzymatic activity of lipase, we would be deficient in them.
What Happens When We Don’t Have Enough Lipase?
People who suffer from an enzymatic deficiency in their lipase enzymes can face several health complications.
Several conditions like Celiac disease, indigestion, or even rare genetic disorders may affect a person’s ability to digest fats properly. A person who cannot digest fats properly may risk certain health issues like higher cholesterol, and may even struggle with heart disease later in life.
Making sure that your body is not only getting the right amount of healthy fats but is also able to process them is a preventative measure you can take now to help preserve your health later.
But how exactly can you do this?
Lipase Supplements
A lipase supplement can be a powerful tool for people who struggle to produce the right amount of enzymes to help their bodies stay healthy and process the fats and lipids they need.
Lipase supplements are a way of introducing the much-needed enzymatic activity that it’s lacking in a safe, natural way to help boost your preventative care efforts.
These supplements have the same effect that pancreatic enzymes or other natural lipases would have on the body by helping to process large molecules and absorb nutrients, and can be very helpful for individuals who are low in their natural lipase levels.
Heart Disease Is Serious, and So Is Prevention
Finding supplements that help you get the healthy fats your body needs doesn’t have to be complicated.
Zizi believes that you deserve to pursue your best heart health the way you want to do it. While there are medications that can help and you should consult your doctor when making a serious medical decision, we believe the power of preventative care should be in your hands.
That’s why our Heart Health Reset program was made to be easy, affordable, and accessible. We truly believe every person can achieve preventative care when it comes to heart disease, and it starts with Zizi.
Our 3 step, 6 month program is designed to help you reach your health and wellness goals and give you special insight into your cardiovascular health. With monthly lipid testing, you can keep track of how your body processes fats you need.
We provide top-of-the-line heart health supplements designed to give your body the boost it needs. Helping people achieve their highest health goals ensures they have the best in preventable supplements that we deliver right to your door.
A huge part of preventative health is making sure that your routines are built to help sustain and promote the healthiest version of you possible. This doesn’t have to look like a miserable time either. A diet that is designed to be heart-healthy and enjoyable paired with our workout plans are two powerful resources that can help you put your heart health back in your hands.
With cardiovascular disease being one of the most prominent challenges to millions of individuals on their health challenge, making your heart health a routine priority today can help prevent issues later in life.
Signing up for Zizi means that you get to make lipid testing, heart-healthy supplements, and an easy-to-follow heart health course all a part of your daily routine.
All made easy with Zizi.
Sources:
Fat-Soluble Vitamins – Diet and Health | NCBI
Enzymes: What Are Enzymes, Pancreas, Digestion & Liver Function | Cleveland Clinic
Cell biology of fat storage | NCBI
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