-8.03-
More than 4,000 enzymes in BAC
BAC contains more than 4,000 enzymes! No other food or combination of foods
contains so many naturally occurring and live enzymes. Some of these enzymes
are critically important for health, such as superoxide dismutase (SOD).
SOD is an iron-containing enzyme that supports important body-cell
processes and also protects the cells from free radicals.
Fruits and vegetables contains just enough enzymes to support self-breakdown as
in the apple turning brown after falling from the tree.
These enzymes in food are critical for their digestion by the human and animal
that consumes them. Without enzymes in food, our digestive system must work
harder to break down the foods to obtain its nutrients. Often our foods goes
on being undigested due to lack of enzymes.
Very few food contain more enzymes then required for self-breakdown.
Papaya is one of those exception with its large amount of the papain enzyme.
But as far as enzyme goes, nothing comes close to certain microalgae
to contain inexplicably large amounts of enzymes.
Additionally, other than to serve in digestion, many enzymes found in foods
are stored, transformed and used by our body for other important life sustaining
functions.
The combination of microalgae in BAC boast over 4,000 such life sustaining
enzymes including DNA, RNA, SOD, Glycolipids and many other.
In BAC, spirulina is one such alga that contains as many as 2,000 enzymes.
Among other important enzymes identified in spirulina are restriction enzymes.
Restriction enzymes (endonucleases) work like scissors to cut the
DNA of invading enemy microbes. Researchers in genetic engineering use restriction
enzymes to cut DNA at precise locations. A unique restriction enzyme in spirulina
called Spl-1 is not found in any other microbe, bacteria, fungi or algae.
Japanese scientists extract Spl-1 from living spirulina, and sell it as
a reagent for genetic research in laboratories and institutes.
A theory proposed to explain spirulina's long life is the role of
restriction enzymes. By cutting the DNA of invading enemy microbes,
restriction enzymes may have been good weapons against microalgae's
ecological enemies for 3.5 billion years.
Spirulina in BAC contains numerous characteristic peripheral inclusions associated to thylakoids.
Those are: cyanophycin granules, polyhedral bodies, polyglucan granules, lipid granules,
and polyphosphate granules (Balloni, et al., 1980; Ciferri, 1983).
The cyanophycin granules, or reserve granules, are important due to their chemical
nature and a series of pigments. The polyhedral bodies or carboxysomes mainly contain
the enzyme ribulose 1,5-diphosphate carboxylase that allows the fixation of CO2
in photosynthetic organisms and probably carry out a reserve function.
The polyglucan granules or glycogen granules or a-granules are glucose polymers,
small, circular and widely diffused in the interthylacoidal space.
The lipid granules, b-granules or osmophile granules form the reservation
deposit, constituted by poly-b-hydroxybutyrate (PHB), found only in prokaryotes.
PHB acts as a carbon and energy reserve (Vincenzini, et al., 1990).
Many other enzymes present in BAC and their health benefits have not been identified
nor explained yet.
