Lipase
Enzyme & Lipolysis:
Important To Breakdown Fats
The lipase enzyme
is a naturally occurring enzyme found in the stomach and pancreatic
juice, which is also found within fats in the foods that we
eat. Lipase enzyme function is to digests fats and lipids, helping to maintain
correct gall bladder function. As such, these constitute any
of the fat-splitting or lipolytic enzymes, all of which cleave
a fatty acid residue from the glycerol residue in a neutral
fat or a phospholipid. The lipase enzyme controls the amount
of fat being synthesized and that which is burned in the body,
reducing adipose tissue (fat stores).
The lipase enzyme belongs to the esterases family of proteins.
The lipase enzyme is found widely distributed in the plant
world (beans and legumes), as well as in molds, bacteria,
milk and milk products, and in animal tissues, especially
in the pancreas. In sufficient quantities of lipase enzyme
production, lipase can help use fat-stores to be burned as
fuel. Indeed, lipase is a rate-determining enzyme, which not
only activates the burning of stored body fats but also effectively
inhibits fatty acid synthesis, or fat storage!
Hormone-Sensitive Triacyclglycerol Lipase, as it is also known,
actually stimulates lipolysis in fat tissues, safely raising
blood fatty acid levels, which ultimately activates the beta-oxidation
pathway in other tissues, such as liver and muscle. In the
liver, lipolysis leads to the production of ketone bodies
that are secreted into the bloodstream for use as an alternative
fuel to glucose by peripheral tissues. Lipase enzymes contain
sulfhydryl groups (SH) and are activated by substances that
keep SH groups in the reduced state, such as, ascorbic acid
or Vitamin C and L-Glutathione and L-Cysteine.
The lipase enzyme is rather unique in that it selectively
helps in the breakdown of fats but without damaging the fat-soluble
vitamins or unsaturated omega-3, 6 fatty acids like Gamma-Linolenic
Acid (GLA), Docosahexaenoic Acid (DHA), and Eicosapentaenoic
Acid (EPA).
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