3. Enzymes

Enzymes are a class of proteins that facilitate and catalyze specific biochemical reactions. The primary function of an enzyme is to facilitate a certain chemical reaction by providing an active site, so reducing the energy and time required for the reaction to occur, a process referred to as catalysis. Cells experience an average of over one hundred chemical reactions per second, with the majority of these events relying on the presence of enzymes. The liver possesses more than one thousand enzyme systems in isolation. Enzymes exhibit specificity by selectively binding to substrates that possess complementary molecular structures to their active sites, analogous to the exclusive unlocking of a lock with a designated key. Almost all chemical reactions require the presence of a specific enzyme. Fortunately, enzymes possess the ability to repeatedly perform their function as catalysts, albeit they undergo eventual degradation and subsequent regeneration. The stomach and small intestine carry out all physiological processes, including the digestion of nutrition and the transformation of nutrients into molecular compounds.