Lipase is an enzyme
capable of degrading lipid molecules. The bulk of dietary lipids are a
class called triacylglycerols and are attacked by lipases to yield simple
fatty acids and glycerol, molecules which can permeate the membranes of
the stomach and small intestine for use by the body. Gastric lipase,
secreted by the stomach lining, has a pH value for optimal activity around
neutrality and would appear, therefore, to be essentially inactive in the
strongly acid environment of the stomach. It is suggested that this enzyme
is more important for infant digestion since the gastric pH in infancy is
much less acid than later in life. Most lipid digestion in the adult
occurs in the upper loop of the small intestine and is accomplished by a
lipase secreted by the pancreas.
Lipase: The Missing Enzyme
Fats are the most difficult component of the diet to digest. Fatty
foods cause more indigestion than proteins or
starches.
Most Americans have crossed-wires when it comes to fats. Because of
bulging waistlines, most Americans battle
between fat-phobia and fat-craving. The human body is programmed to crave
fats. Without essential fats and fatty nutrients
animals and humans cease to thrive. Omega-3 and omega-6 fats from flaxseed and cold-water fish were found to be essential for human
health by physiologists in the 1930s.
The American diet is intentionally laden with saturated fats and hardened
hydrogenated fats, leaving about 80% of the
population deficient in the essential fats required for the maintenance of
the human nervous system, the production of
hormones and the control of inflammation.
Foods actually taste better when they contain fats. A famous fast-food
quarter-pound hamburger actually has a saturated
fat content equivalent to 16 pats of butter! The fast-food engineers
really know how to stimulate our taste buds.
It is worth noting here
that weight loss is a common finding among individuals with chronic heart failure. It is evident that malabsorption of
fats is related to heart failure.
In one study subjects with heart disease had 10 times more fat in their stool
than heart-healthy individuals. This means those
with heart disease weren’t absorbing their fats (Am J Cardiiology 5: 295,
1960). Yet heart patients are typically placed
on low-fat diets! These individuals were leaner, but not healthier.
It was not till 1997 that researchers found that lipase also can help to
control LDL cholesterol and is helpful in
stubborn cases of high triglycerides. (Lipds 32: 1147, 1997).
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