I love to research things, especially nutritional topics, and my latest project has been digestion. So for part of my research I did an experiment with two brands of food enzymes that I had in my cupboard.
I took 1/2 cup of cooked oatmeal in 3 bowls. The first bowl didn't get anything added. To bowl #2 I added the contents of one capsule of Rainbow Light's Advanced Enzyme System. To bowl #3 I added the contents of two capsules of Nature's Sunshine Food Enzymes.
As soon as I stirred the Rainbow Light capsule contents into bowl #2, the oatmeal instantly became liquefied and broken apart. (You can see the difference between the two bowls.)
After about 30 minutes, the oatmeal in bowl #3 with the Nature's Sunshine capsule contents had softened but was still quite a bit more solid than bowl #2.
Here are the three bowls after sitting on the counter all day. Bowl #2 is definitely the most "digested". Bowl #3 is still about twice as thick as bowl #2. However, bowl #2 is much softer than bowl #1 with no enzymes.
Oh, and I learned how to turn on the date/time stamp on our camera in the middle of my experiment.
4 comments:
That's a great experiment! Very thought provoking. It seems that one of those products may work better than the other. Actual stomach acids could affect the experiment as well. What a great idea to try!
I, too, was wondering how much the actual stomach environment would affect the results.
It depends on the specific enzymes you are adding to specific foods and their compositions. Oatmeal is mostly fiber. So you'd need a fiber enzyme to break it down quickly. NSP Food Enzymes are mostly protein-enzymes. They break down protein great (although I prefer to use protease to break down proteins, that's just me, and some stomachs cannot handle protease, it's too hard on them). The Rainbow brand contains cellulase, which would break that fiber down in a jiffy. NSP Food Enzymes do not contain cellulase. Thus wouldn't attack the fiber as quickly or efficiently. NSP also contains Betaine HCL. Which is essential for support of stomach function and protein digestion in candida yeast and related conditions. It is necessary for adequate absorption of protein, calcium, vitamin B12 and iron. So break down the oatmeal all you want - but if you don't absorb the nutrients from it - doesn't matter. Like my ND says, it doesn't matter what you eat, it matters what you absorb.
It depends on the specific enzymes you are adding to specific foods and their compositions. Oatmeal is mostly fiber. So you'd need a fiber enzyme to break it down quickly. NSP Food Enzymes are mostly protein-enzymes. They break down protein great (although I prefer to use protease to break down proteins, that's just me, and some stomachs cannot handle protease, it's too hard on them). The Rainbow brand contains cellulase, which would break that fiber down in a jiffy. NSP Food Enzymes do not contain cellulase. Thus wouldn't attack the fiber as quickly or efficiently. NSP also contains Betaine HCL. Which is essential for support of stomach function and protein digestion in candida yeast and related conditions. It is necessary for adequate absorption of protein, calcium, vitamin B12 and iron. So break down the oatmeal all you want - but if you don't absorb the nutrients from it - doesn't matter. Like my ND says, it doesn't matter what you eat, it matters what you absorb.
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