Question

What are digestive chemicals that speed up reactions called?

Answer 1

The substances or chemicals that are used to speed up the chemical reactions are known as catalysts. These catalysts are present in living organisms that are termed biological catalysts or enzymes. They also act to facilitate the reactions in a living body.

Complete answer:
Catalysts are the chemicals that increase the rate of a chemical reaction without themselves being altered. Similarly, catalysts are present in our bodies that help in speeding up cellular reactions. These are termed the enzyme.
So, Enzyme is a substance that acts as a catalyst in living organisms and regulates the rate at which chemical reactions proceed without themselves being consumed in the process. The processes that occur within living organisms are chemical reactions. Without enzymes, many of these reactions would not take place at a required rate.
Enzymes catalyze almost all of the reactions in cell metabolism. This also includes the digestion of food, in which large nutrient molecules such as proteins, carbohydrates, and fats are broken down into smaller molecules releasing energy.
In most chemical reactions, an energy barrier exists that must be overcome by the reactants for the reaction to occur. The enzyme lowers this energy barrier and this results in the easier formation of products from reactants and the reaction proceeds at a much faster rate.
Hence, digestive chemicals that speed up reactions are called enzymes.

Additional information:
The people who are said to be lactose intolerant usually lack in producing enough lactase, which is the enzyme responsible for breaking down lactose. Lactose is a protein found in milk.

Note:
As food travels from the mouth into the digestive system, it’s broken down by digestive enzymes that turn it into smaller nutrients that our body can easily absorb. This breakdown is known as digestion. Without it, our body wouldn’t be able to absorb nutrients from the foods we eat.