The most important thing to remember about enzymes are that they are catalysts, which means that they make chemical reactions happen faster.

I know a chemical engineer who used to be in the petrochemical industry. He used to design and build large plants for cracking and separating the components of crude oil then converting them to other useful compounds. The catalysts they used typically only worked at extreme temperatures and pressures. It never ceased to amaze him how biological enzymes did pretty much the same thing at body temperature and atmospheric pressure.


While I agree with dustfromamoth that eating more raw food (well, mainly fruits and vegetables ... and the occasional sashimi) is good for you, there is no medical evidence that your pancreas will die off faster because you cook your food rather than eat raw food.

In fact, there is no evidence whatsoever that the human body has "enzyme potential" that will run out if you don't eat raw food once in a while. In any case, if you eat meat, the only enzymes that the meat will contain are, I assure you, not the kind of enzymes that will digest the meat itself for you. Be wary of disinformation, especially when it's packaged nicely.