Enzymes are just as essential to the human diet as proteins, vitamins and minerals. Enzymes are the agents that break down food into usable components and are involved in repair and maintenance of all our organs.
Enzymes are energy protein molecules. They are found in all living cells they catalyse and regulate chemical reactions and are an essential part of every activity in the body. Enzymes turn the food we eat, into energy and unlock this energy for use in the body. They are needed for every chemical reaction that takes place in the body. Simply stated without enzymes, no life can exist.
No wonder Enzymes are often referred to as the “Fountain of Youth” and a “True Yardstick of Vitality”.
Our bodies naturally produce both metabolic and digestive enzymes, as they are needed:
Metabolic Enzymes speed up the chemical reaction within the cell for detoxification and energy production. They enable us to see, hear, feel, move and think. They are produced by the liver, pancreas, gallbladder & other organs.
Digestive Enzymes are secreted along the digestive tract to break food down into nutrients and waste. Digestive enzymes allow nutrients to be absorbed into the bloodstream and the waste to be discarded. Digestive enzymes include pepsin, lipase, protease & amylase.
Enzymes are also introduced to the body through the raw foods we eat. However, raw food contains only enough enzymes to digest that specific food, not enough to be stored in the body for later use. Cooking destroys enzymes and since most of the foods we eat are cooked, our body must produce sufficient digestive enzymes to break down the food, in order to get the essential nutrients within that keep our bodies healthy.
We are born with the ability to produce a finite number of enzymes during our lifetime. This enzyme-making potential gives our body’s organs the ability to produce either metabolic or digestive enzymes. When we eat a meal, the requirements for digestive enzymes becomes a high priority. Our body’s enzyme-making machinery must work overtime and often still cannot meet the demand for all the body’s requirements, that is why we often get tired shortly after eating large meals!
Since digestion always takes precedence over nearly anything else, many body functions requiring metabolic enzymes are often short-changed during these times. The result is lower disease-fighting capability and a general weakening of the body’s ability to mend itself. Because, over the years we use up so much of our enzyme potential making the digestive enzymes necessary to digest our food, as we age, we begin to run short.
This means our ability to keep up with the digestive enzyme requirements begins to suffer. This deficiency leads to malabsorption and poor nutrition, plus the many digestive problems suffered by all ages and in particular the elderly, mainly because of our fast-food society. Undigested foods collect in the colon. Poorly digested protein putrefies, fats turn rancid and carbohydrates ferment. These undigested food particles leak back into the bloodstream from the colon and create further toxicity.
As we use up and abuse our enzyme potential, we begin to lose energy, lose our ability to fight disease, and lose the ability for our body to remedy its own naturally occurring malfunctions.
According to Dr. Edward Howell, one of the pioneers of food-enzyme research, an 18-year-old may produce 30 times more amylase (carbohydrate digesting enzymes) than a 69 year old person. Dr. Howell states... “The more lavishly a young body gives up its enzymes, the sooner the state of enzyme poverty, or old age is reached”.
To minimise strain on the body to produce digestive enzymes continually, we should in an ideal world eat uncooked and unprocessed foods. However, the next best thing is to supplement our cooked meals with enzymes which reduce the quantity our bodies need to produce reducing stress on our bodies organs thus reducing the likelihood of premature ageing and disease.
Eating uncooked and unprocessed foods and supplementing cooked foods with enzymes reduces stress on the body organs and probably slows or stops the ageing process.
A classic example is the enzyme lipase which breaks down (digests) fat. When added to your meal as a supplement lipase does this job in the digestive tract. This takes stress off the gallbladder, liver and pancreas. When taken between meals, it will be stored in your liver and called upon when needed. If we can correctly digest our food and deliver the nutrients to keep the endocrine and nervous systems “in sync”, we can rebuild a healthy body our lifestyle and energy levels.
Although the pharmaceutical companies would like us to believe that indigestion is the result of excess stomach acid, the true culprit is often an insufficient supply of digestive enzymes. For decades, nutritionally oriented doctors have prescribed digestive enzyme supplements to alleviate symptoms like heartburn, acid reflux, wind, diarrhoea and constipation, because this improves the body’s ability to digest foods and absorb nutrients in turn reducing these irritating problems.
The discovery of certain plant-based enzymes has now resulted in formulations that are many times more effective than the animal-based enzymes that have long been standard. Researchers have also made exciting new discoveries about the use of plant-based enzymes to treat diseases such as gastric problems, rheumatoid arthritis, coeliac disease, food allergies, cardiovascular disease, and particularly I.B.S. and constipation.
Pancreatin supplements, derived from the glandular tissue of animals (usually pigs), have long been used to supply additional digestive enzymes. Enzymes secreted by the pancreas are designed to function in the alkaline (non-acid) environment of the small intestine. When taken orally, however, enzymes must travel through the extremely acidic environment of the stomach in order to reach the small intestine. Up to 90% of the enzymes in pancreatin supplements can be destroyed by stomach acid before they reach their destination.
Certain plant-based enzymes, on the other hand, remain stable and active through a wide range of acidic and alkaline environments. Unaffected by the high acidity of the stomach, these enzymes can begin digesting proteins, fats and carbohydrates there, and continue their work throughout the small intestine.
Enzymes derived from fungi - Aspergillus oryzae & Aspergillus niger have been found to be particularly stable, heat resistant, and active in a wide range of acidic and alkaline environments. Studies have shown that A. oryzae is up to 12 times more effective than pancreatin plus it is acceptable to vegetarians.
Taking these specific fungi enzyme supplements with meals greatly increases digestive efficiency, breaking down potentially irritating food compounds eliminating bloating, wind and heartburn, providing greater nutrient absorption to the bloodstream and hence good all-round health. Your body is more able to absorb and use the nutrients in your food and more able to eliminate non-nutritive waste matter.
In addition, plant-based enzymes have been shown to be effective in treating other digestive disorders, including lactose intolerance, food allergies, and coeliac disease (a disorder in which foods containing gluten found in wheat, rye, barley and oats cause serious damage to the lining of the small intestine) and can often reduce symptoms of an irritable bowel.
Extensive research has been done with enzyme treatment for rheumatism and arthritis. Austrian Professor of Medicine Dr. George Klein reported that enzymes were superior to gold as a treatment, with no side effects.
Doctors Berker and Meyers tested a group of older people averaging 77 years of age for blood enzyme levels. The results showed that they had half the number of enzymes of a normal 25-year-old. Those with arteriosclerosis, high blood pressure and high cholesterol were deficient in the enzyme, lipase.
Vascular and circulatory disorders also respond well to enzyme supplementation. This includes arteriosclerosis, thrombosis, coronary heart disorders, phlebitis, oedema, serious varicose veins and other circulatory problems that affect the brain, lungs, kidney and liver.
Dr. J. Valls-Serra, Professor of Medicine in Barcelona, reported that enzyme supplementation was superior to all methods of vessel dilation and anticoagulant therapy previously used.
Dr. H. Dench, Austrian Professor of Medicine conducted similar tests on patients who had problems with blood clots. Ninety-three percent of the patients were significantly improved after enzyme treatments.
In published reports in several medical journals, 141 physicians participated in multicentre controlled studies treating 1004 patients with plant enzyme mixtures. Depending on the type of disorder, 76-96% were classified as considerably improved. The enzymes reduced stiffness, joint swelling, and slowed down or completely halted deterioration of joints.
Professor Raas of the University of Innsbruck, who was responsible for the health of Austrian athletes at a Winter Olympic Games stated that “a good portion of the success achieved by athletes under his care would not have been possible without enzyme preparations.” He advises even casual athletes to take enzymes to lessen the effects of potential injury. Another benefit of enzymes is that they regulate your metabolism. The less enzymes in your body, the lower your energy level, even those with chronic fatigue often improve with enzyme supplementation.
Doctors elsewhere have found that enzymes taken before surgery accelerate healing and allow patients to be discharged from hospitals quicker and resume their daily routines sooner.
Poor digestion allows partially digested food particles to leak through the lining of the intestines and enter the bloodstream. The presence of these particles, triggers an allergy-type reaction by the immune system.
People who suffer food allergies frequently develop ‘leaky-gut syndrome’ in which the intestinal wall will gradually become increasingly more permeable, allowing more particles to penetrate through the intestinal wall and enter the bloodstream.
Digestive enzymes help prevent & reverse this problem in 2 ways:
They decrease the number of undigested and partially digested food antigens entering the bloodstream, preventing the immune reactions that can lead to wind, diarrhoea, headaches and joint pain.
Scientists have found that a certain portion (25%) of digestive enzymes are actually absorbed intact into the bloodstream. In the case of food allergies, enzymes absorbed into the bloodstream can continue to break down and remove food particles that should not be present. The leakier the gut, the more easily the enzymes are absorbed into the bloodstream - so the enzymes are best absorbed by those who need them most.
Lipase is an enzyme that aids the body in breaking down fats and removing fat from storage. Without enough of this enzyme, fat stagnates and accumulates not only in the obvious places, but also in the arteries. These fats in the arteries contribute to cholesterol and arteriosclerosis.
Enzymes have so many functions in the body that it takes an encyclopaedic-size volume of books just to cover all that is known today. And enzymes operate in some places you would never expect.
For example, enzymes are in the pheromones that cause attraction, sexual excitement and arousal between men and women. Sperm also contains an enzyme that dissolves a spot on the female egg so the sperm can enter.
There is an enzyme that controls our sensitivity to alcohol. Genetically, women and some Asian men have much less of this enzyme than the average man, so they cannot handle as much alcohol. Enzymes really are the fountain of life. As you age, the reduced ability of your body to produce the required amounts of enzymes from the limited sources in foods makes you more and more vulnerable to illness and disease.
Dr Jesse Stoff (author of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, The Prostate Miracle, The Hidden Epidemic and others) often gets asked the question... “How is it possible that I am sick even though I eat organic foods and I am very careful with my diet?”
The answer tends to be the same each time ENZYME DEFICIENCY!
How is it possible to have illness even though one mainly eats organic foods and is careful with one’s diet? Hopefully, I can convince you that it is often due to one cause - enzyme deficiency.
From conception to digestion, enzymes are involved in every process in the body. They digest our food...break it down...carry it through the walls of our intestines into the bloodstream, transport its nutrients to all muscles, cells, nerves, tissues and glands of the body...to ensure the growth of new cells, tissue and bone. Is it any wonder deficiency leads to illness?
There are over 2700 different enzymes in the body which help our body grow, generate immune responses, repair damage, break down and digest our food, and even fight cancers. Enzymes working in tandem operate like a construction crew on a conveyor belt, A becomes B which is converted to C and D etc. The sum of all these enzymatic reactions is metabolism.... i.e. life.
Our bodies contain millions of enzymes which continually maintain, protect and repair us. Most people however, have never heard about enzymes and are unaware of their importance in regulating and controlling our health.
People with these typical chronic diseases have a low reserve of Digestive Enzymes:
Every activity in our body requires energy which comes from the activity of enzymes. Without sufficient enzyme energy cells become disorganised, resulting in many degenerative diseases.
There are only a couple of products I am aware of, that provide the full spectrum of requirements, and have been specifically tested for their effectiveness. The one I recommend the most in my books, and to my patients is eN-ZYME+.
In certain instances, such as those of you who suffer with acid reflux, I guarantee you will see relief within 48 hours, and for most other symptoms within 4 weeks. You are what you truly digest (properly) not what you may eat as you can now understand.
Joseph Weissman, M.D., is a board-certified allergist, board-certified immunologist, author of the best seller, Choose to Live, and a long-distance runner who has completed 56 marathons. “The extensive research and successful clinical tests of enzyme supplementation are certainly convincing proof that staying healthy may be relative to the number of enzymes in our bodies. The best insurance for accomplishing that is taking a multi-enzyme plant formula.”
Dr. Hans Kugler, author of the best-selling book, Slowing Down the Ageing Process, and editor of the medicinal journal, Preventive Medicine Update, reported: “Earlier in medical history, doctors knew some of the importance of enzymes in bodily functions but didn’t believe that the body could absorb them orally. Apparently, the unsophisticated testing techniques of that time misled them. With the technology we have today, tests show that there is no doubt that enzymes can be absorbed orally, and that enzymes can have a profound effect on preventing and relieving many afflictions.”
Dr. Howell, a pioneer of food-enzyme research states...“The more lavishly a young body gives up its enzymes, the sooner the state of enzyme poverty, or old age is reached”. He says, “I’ve seen with my own eyes…how people over 40 can experience a resurrection of health – when they STOP taking remedies or drugs that MASK their health problems – and START experiencing real relief when they focus on the root source of the problem – and so many times that begins with enzyme supplementation”.
“I was born with various digestive problems and until I discovered eN-ZYME+ nothing helped. A friend gave me some after a heavy thanksgiving meal when I felt awfully bloated. Within 3 minutes of taking it my discomfort dispersed and I have been taking it ever since.”...Richard A. Passwater, Ph.D., Biochemist - Director of Nutrition, Solgar Supplements.
“If you are looking for a new approach to better health, don’t neglect enzymes. No amount of vitamins and minerals can do their work...special enzymes capable of working in an acid alkaline medium are required. eN-ZYME+ is effective in this treatment.”...Dr. James B. Summer, Nobel Prize Winner, Prof. Biochemistry Cornell University, Author of The Secrets of Life Enzymes
“eN-ZYME+ routinely does what I wanted other digestive enzymes to do for my clients: decrease indigestion improve digestion and improve absorption of nutrients, thus all the benefits of decreasing the load and providing irritation on the GI tract and increasing tissue nutrient levels.”...Dr. Ray W. Bayley D.C., Nutritionist.
Former Fordham University Professor of Medicine, Dr. Max Wolf, reported that tests on 347 patients with circulatory disorders showed 87% either completely free or almost free of any symptoms after taking enzyme supplements.
German scientist, Dr. Karl Maehder, reported that a multicentre study of 216 patients suffering from various vein disorders were given enzymes. Their typical problems noted were oedema and serious varicose veins. Ninety-four percent either completely recovered or had significant improvement.
Dosage:Take 1-2 capsules with a large glass of water 15 minutes before meals, or as directed by a health care practitioner as a food supplement. The same quantity can also be taken again after meals for any post-meal digestive discomfort.
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