PROTEASE

PROTEASE is responsible for digesting proteins in your food, which is probably one of the most difficult substances to metabolize. Because of this, protease is considered to be one of the most important enzymes that we have. If the digestive process is incomplete, undigested protein can wind up in your circulatory system, as well as in other parts of your body.

When you take protease in higher quantities, it can help to clean up your body by removing the unwanted protein from your circulatory system. This will help to clean up your blood stream, and restore your energy and balance.

One of the tricks of an invading organism is to wrap itself in a large protein shell that the body would view as being "normal". Large amounts of protease can help to remove this protein shell, and allow the body's defense mechanisms can go into action. With the protective barrier down, your immune system can step in and destroy the invading organism.

Additional amounts of protease are also helpful in fighting such things as colds, flu's, and cancerous tumor growths. Protease helps in the healing and recovery from cancer by dissolving the fibrin coating on cancer cells, and thereby giving your immune system a chance to do its job. It can effectively shrink these tumors by helping to remove the dead and abnormal tissues, and by stimulating healthy tissue growth.

Protease refers to a group of enzymes whose catalytic function is to hydrolyze (breakdown) peptide bonds of proteins. They are also called proteolytic enzymes or proteinases. Proteases differ in their ability to hydrolyze various peptide bonds. Each type of protease has a specific kind of peptide bonds it breaks.

Examples of proteases include: fungal protease, pepsin, trypsin, chymotrypsin, papain, bromelain, and subtilisin.

Proteolytic enzymes are very important in digestion as they breakdown the protein foods to liberate the amino acids needed by the body. Additionally, proteolytic enzymes have been used for a long time in various forms of therapy. Their use in medicine is gaining more and more attention as several clinical studies are indicating their benefits in oncology, inflammatory conditions, blood rheology control, and immune regulation.

Contrary to old beliefs, several studies have shown that orally ingested enzymes can bypass the conditions of the GI tract and be absorbed into the blood stream while still maintaining their enzymatic activity.

Commercially, proteases are produced in highly controlled aseptic conditions for food supplementation and systemic enzyme therapy. The organisms most often used are Aspergillus niger and oryzae.