The
Essentials of Enzyme Nutrition Therapy
Food enzymes in raw food are vital for digesting that food,
but their destruction during cooking is a key factor in
today's rising levels of allergies and chronic degenerative
diseases.
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Extracted
from Nexus Magazine, Volume 10, Number 6 (October-November
2003)
PO Box 30, Mapleton Qld 4560 Australia. editor@nexusmagazine.com
Telephone: +61 (0)7 5442 9280; Fax: +61 (0)7 5442 9381
From our web page at: www.nexusmagazine.com
©
2003 by Mark Rojek
785 N. Dancer Road
Dexter, MI 48130, USA
Telephone/fax: +1 (734) 433 9267
Email: mrojek1@earthlink.net
Website: http://www.radianthealth.cc
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In
August 1971, the US Department of Agriculture published
"An Evaluation of Research in the United States on
Human Nutrition; Report No. 2, Benefits from Nutrition Research".
The US government spent approximately $30 million analysing
the relationship diet has to disease. According to the study:
• Major health problems are diet related;
• The real potential from improved diet is preventative;
• Benefits would be shared by all…especially by lower economic
and non-white population groups;
• Major benefits are long range… Early adjustments of diet
could prevent the development of undesirable long-range
effects;
• There exist geographical, regional differences in diet-related
problems.
It's now known that within a very short time after its release,
all copies of the report were seized by the federal government.
It was not until the campaign in 1993–94 for the Dietary
Health Education and Supplement Act that a copy was mysteriously
forwarded to the grassroots organisation, Citizens for Health,
to help in its fight to prevent the Food and Drug Administration
from classifying food supplements as drugs.
Within any group that seeks control and power over a population,
even health is a legitimate target. If you can manipulate
the population's health or induce disease by modifying what
they consume, you can create a pseudo healthcare system
that seems to care but is busy making billions off disease
that is relatively easy to prevent or cure through diet
alone. With the multimillion-dollar backing of an industry,
you can also discredit any alternative to current, popularly
accepted treatments by labelling them "old wives' tales",
"quackery" or "unscientific".
In 1988, "The Surgeon-General's Report on Nutrition
and Health" addressed the overwhelming evidence of
the connection between diet and chronic disease. In his
report, then Surgeon-General C. Everett Koop wrote: "For
the two out of three adult Americans who do not smoke and
do not drink excessively, one personal choice seems to influence
long-term health prospects more than any other: what we
eat… The weight of this evidence and the magnitude of the
problem at hand indicate that it is now time to take action.
In the cause of good health for all citizens, I urge support
for this Report's recommendations by every sector of American
society." (Italics added.)
As reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association
(vol. 280, November 11, 1998), a nationwide survey on the
use of alternative medical therapies revealed that "[e]stimated
expenditures for alternative medicine professional services
increased 45.2% between 1990 and 1997 and were conservatively
estimated at $21.2 billion in 1997, with at least $12.2
billion paid out of pocket". The article concluded
that "[a]lternative medicine use and expenditures increased
substantially between 1990 and 1997, attributable primarily
to an increase in the proportion of the population seeking
alternative therapies, rather than increased patient visits
per patient".
Not only in America but in other countries, the populace
is demonstrating a preference to what are referred to as
"alternative therapies". People are seeking natural
therapies, drawing upon cultural heritages of healing aligned
with their own philosophies and beliefs. These therapies
include acupuncture, herbal medicines (both Eastern and
Western botanicals), homoeopathy, Reiki and other so-called
energy treatments, and nutrition.
It has become overwhelmingly clear that diet and lifestyle
influence health and disease. Yet, within the field of nutrition,
there are differing opinions on just what constitutes a
healthy diet. This is most evident with popular books on
diets which flood the market. Is the low fat/low protein,
high complex carbohydrate diet that Pritikin advocated correct?
Or is the Atkins diet with high protein/fat, low carbohydrate
the one we should favour? Should we eat according to our
blood type? What about raw versus cooked foods? Is soy good
for you, or is it harmful? Do the media drive our choices
through advertising? What about the "friendly"
doctor staring from your television set, telling you how
dangerous this herb or that vitamin is? Are nutritional
supplements effective or not? The debate seems endless.
Over the last decade, sales of nutritional supplements have
generated a US$4 billion industry worldwide. Almost every
month, new companies claim to have the "magic bullet"
for what ails us. Multi-level/network marketing companies
are quick to get on the bandwagon, knowing how much profit
is available thanks to members of the baby-boomer generation
who pride themselves on "looking good" and staying
healthy, no matter what the cost. The rush to discover new
drugs from medicinal herbs in Third World countries keeps
pharmaceutical companies abreast of all that is under the
sky.
Pioneers
in Enzyme Nutrition Therapy
Within the field of nutrition, enzymes have become the buzzword.
Every company now has its own "super-concentrated enzyme
formula", and boasts how powerful it is and how it
contains 10 times the enzyme power as the other company's
product.
Yet, understanding enzymes and their role in human nutrition
requires more than just knowledge of the chemistry. We also
need to be familiar with the history and pioneers behind
the development of enzyme nutrition therapy and the rationale
behind its clinical use.
Historically, there is recorded evidence of diverse cultural
groups developing foods high in concentrated enzymes. Many
of these cultures discovered the health benefits of enzyme-rich
foods because of trial and error and probably just plain
luck, by leaving them out in the open for bacteria to work
on them. Among these foods are fermented dairy products,
such as yoghurt, kefir and various soured-milk products;
fermented vegetables, such as European sauerkraut and Korean
kim chi from cabbage; and soy products like miso and tempeh,
which were first developed in Asia. In tropical countries,
certain fruits such as papaya and mango were found to contain
very high concentrations of enzymes, and have been used
traditionally for the topical treatment of burns and wounds.
Nonetheless, it was not until the early 1900s that Dr John
Beard, a Scottish embryologist, filtered the pancreatic
liquid of freshly slaughtered young animals for the active
enzyme content. He reasoned from observation that young
animals had to have greater and more powerful concentrations
of enzymes because the energy required for growth was greater.
Dr Beard injected this concentration into veins, gluteal
muscles and sometimes directly into tumour sites of cancer
patients. He observed the rapid shrinkage of tumour masses
and cancer cell growth inhibition. Some patients experienced
allergic reactions because the unpurified juice contained
foreign proteins. In spite of this, more than half of the
cancers completely disappeared, while other patients' lives
greatly improved and were prolonged far beyond what was
expected.
Dr Beard's enzyme treatment caused turmoil in the allopathic
medical community in England. He was called a charlatan
and received threats to close down his practice. However,
patients of other doctors requested Dr Beard's enzyme treatment.
To satisfy them, doctors ordered pancreatic juice from local
pharmacists who, in turn, ordered it from the slaughterhouses.
Doctors were sold pancreatic juice from older animals whose
enzyme content was inactive. Unfortunately, the results
were not successful and patients were very disappointed.
In all, Dr Beard treated 170 cancer patients and recounted
his enzyme therapy in his book, The Enzyme Treatment of
Cancer and its Scientific Basis, published in 1907.
Not much followed from the early part of the 20th century.
Indeed, it was not until the 1930s that clinical use of
enzymes began to pique the interest of a few physicians.
In 1930, at the First International Microbiology Conference,
held in Paris, Dr Paul Kautchakoff, a Swiss doctor, presented
a paper entitled "The Influence of Food Cooking on
the Blood Formula of Man". In it, he explained how
digestive leukocytosis occurred every time cooked food was
ingested by subjects of differing age and sex. This phenomenon
was observed in patients as early as 1843 and was considered
a normal occurrence.
Digestive leukocytosis is the dramatic increase in the amount
and activity level of white blood cells (leukocytes) in
the blood due to a stimulus—that stimulus being undigested
cooked food crossing the gut wall. With canned and cooked
foods, the increase was moderate. With heavily processed
foods such as packaged meats, the increase was identical
to food poisoning! The only difference was the absence of
the bacterium associated with food poisoning. Cooked foods
are missing essential enzymes which prevent adequate digestion.
Dr Kautchakoff made note that there was no increase leukocyte
count/activity in subjects who ate only raw food. This is
because all raw food contains food enzymes which completely
digest what we eat.
From 1932 to 1942, Dr Francis Pottenger, Jr, of Monrovia,
California, began one of the most intriguing clinical studies
undertaken in the field of nutrition. His study ran for
10 years, covering four generations of over 900 cats. In
this groundbreaking study, Dr Pottenger simply controlled
the food cats were fed. The original group was fed raw,
unpasteurised milk, cod liver oil and cooked meat scraps.
The other two groups were fed uncooked meat/pasteurised
milk and cooked meat/pasteurised milk respectively. The
fourth group was fed uncooked, raw meat and raw, unpasteurised
milk.
Dr Pottenger's observations should have shaken the foundations
of modern medicine. Nonetheless his work, like that of so
many others, has largely been ignored. He meticulously recorded
his observations with exacting measurements and photographs.
Here is a brief summary of his discoveries. In the group
of cats fed only raw food, there were no chronic degenerative
diseases! The cats lived to grow old and were easily handled.
They primarily died of old age, living much longer than
cats from the other groups.
In the first generation of the combination cooked-food groups,
cats showed symptoms of chronic degenerative disease that
we are familiar with: allergies, asthma, arthritis (both
rheumatic and osteo), cancers, heart disease, kidney, liver
and thyroid disease, dental disease and osteoporosis. The
second generation manifested the same diseases, albeit even
more severely. Most kittens were stillborn or born with
disease, and died within six months in the third generation.
By the fourth generation, the study ended because the cats
were infertile and could not reproduce.
In drawing his conclusions, Dr Pottenger reported the underlying
nutritional factor had to be a "heat-labile substance".
Unfortunately, he had not deduced them to be enzymes, because
so little was known about them at the time.
In the early 1930s, a "special substance" was
discovered in the blood of healthy individuals which was
proficient at attacking and destroying cancer cells. However,
this substance was found only very slightly or was missing
altogether in patients suffering from cancer. Working during
those years in New York, Dr Max Wolf became one of the most
celebrated doctors of his time. He was fascinated to hear
of this substance and began investigating on his own. He
convinced Dr Helen Benitez to join him from her post in
the neurosurgical department at Columbia University, and
they performed thousands of tests to determine exactly what
this substance was. They concluded it had to be enzymes.
Dr Wolf then had to isolate which of the many dozens of
known enzymes were responsible for several activities, i.e.,
controlling inflammation, correcting degenerative disorders
and breaking down cancer cells. After years of testing various
enzyme mixtures on animals, with no harmful reactions, he
was able to offer his enzyme therapy. It soon earned him
a reputation with many famous clients in politics and the
arts. Even a few Presidents and European leaders sought
him out. He developed one of the most widely used enzyme
products available—Wobenzyme™.
At the same time that Dr Pottenger was overseeing the clinical
study in California and Dr Wolf was researching in New York,
Dr Edward Howell of Chicago was questioning the use of cooked,
processed food for human consumption. He found that heating
food to 118°F (47.78°C) for more than 15 minutes
destroyed all the enzymes. Obviously then, heating foods
at higher temperatures for shorter periods also destroys
enzymes. The current technology of "flash pasteurisation"
of milk and juice is an example.
Enzymes are the only substances capable of digesting food.
They exist in raw food in order to digest (break down) that
food.
Enzyme
Deficiency and Degenerative Disease
In 1940, Dr Howell posed the question, "Is chronic
degenerative disease a matter of severe enzyme deficiency?"
To this end, he spent the rest of his life researching and
documenting clinical work throughout the world, and he answered
his query with a resounding "Yes!"
In the early 1940s, Dr Howell created the first manufacturing
facility for the production of plant-based enzymes. While
Drs Beard and Wolf used animal-based enzymes produced from
the pancreas of animals, Dr Howell used certain species
of fungus to "grow" highly concentrated plant-based
enzymes. This is where animal- and plant-based enzymes become
markedly different in their clinical use. And this is where
Dr Howell's observations and research have made all the
difference in the world of enzyme nutrition.
Dr Howell wrote two books reporting his life's work: Food
Enzymes for Health and Longevity and Enzyme Nutrition. Some
of the most important revelations about enzymes, nutrition
and physiology are contained in these pages. He noted that
all mammals have a pre-digestive stomach; he called it a
"food enzyme stomach". In humans, it is the uppermost
portion of the stomach—the fundus or cardiac portion. It
is here that enzymes found in raw food pre-digest what has
been ingested. Enzymes secreted from saliva and other glands
will likewise pre-digest some of the cooked food consumed.
However, when cooked food is eaten, enzymes will be supplied
from other organs to digest the cooked food. This produces
a constant drain of enzymes from the immune system and other
important organs. When this happens over a lifetime, organs
fail and are overcome with "disease".
Howell discussed organ hypertrophy, noting that any organ
or gland will grow more cells, becoming larger because the
demand placed on it exceeds its ability to function. He
found that, in particular, the pancreas in humans was 2–3
times heavier and larger in proportion to body weight as
compared to the pancreas of other mammals. He attributed
this to consumption of an excessive amount of cooked foods.
When enzymes are not present in the stomach for digestion,
food passes into the duodenum, the upper portion of the
small intestine, where enzymes secreted from the pancreas
digest the food. This is the common teaching in medical
schools. But what if the pancreas was not meant to be the
major digestive enzyme organ? What if digestion was meant
to take place in the stomach, with enzyme-rich food?
Dr Howell cited studies suggesting this to be the case.
Because food is not digested in the stomach as Nature intended,
the burden then falls to the pancreas, causing it to hypertrophy.
If the burden continues for long enough periods, it may
lead to pancreatitis or other more serious ailments.
Howell referred to what he called "the law of adaptive
secretion of digestive enzymes"—that the body will
secrete exactly the right amounts and types of digestive
enzymes depending upon what type of food is ingested. Eating
a piece of cheese will produce more fat-digesting enzymes
than would be produced if eating a piece of bread, which
is primarily a starch and requires a starch-digesting enzyme.
Dr Howell remarked that during the early part of the 20th
century when zoos were being developed to house captured
wild animals, the death rate was very high. It was found
that animals in their natural habitat ate everything raw.
They were now being fed cooked foods and experiencing many
new diseases unknown to their counterparts in the wild.
It was found that the enzyme content of saliva from animals
in the wild was either hardly there or missing altogether.
On the contrary, captured animals fed cooked foods had very
high enzyme content in their saliva. The animals were being
forced to secrete enzymes from other organs to digest the
cooked food. When their diets were changed back to mostly
raw foods, the enzyme content in their saliva was reduced
and the death rate dropped significantly.
Before Dr Howell passed away in the late 1980s, Dr Howard
Loomis journeyed to Florida to spend time with him. He had
been asked by Dr Howell's original manufacturing facility
to formulate a professional line of enzymes. Dr Loomis had
become frustrated with the use of nutrition in clinical
practice. There seemed to be no rhyme nor reason in administering
minerals, vitamins or herbs to those in his care. As he
said: "A patient comes in with a cold and you give
him vitamin C, and within a week he's feeling better. Another
person comes in with a cold and takes nothing. Seven days
later, she's fine." Everywhere one looks, the common
discussion centres around deficiencies. "Oh, you have
this or that mineral or vitamin deficiency: take some of
these."
Nutrition today is practised much like pharmacology is.
For every symptom, there is a corresponding deficiency.
The solution, then, is to take more of a particular mineral
or vitamin. It is a matching game, much like with pharmaceutical
drugs. And while it is true that in certain cases a deficiency
can relate to a symptom, it is not rock-solid evidence of
a deficiency. "I have a deficiency in relation to what—another
mineral or vitamin? Isn't it possible I have an excessive
amount of something?"
Making
Sense of Decades of Misdiagnoses
The progression of differing diagnoses over the last few
decades is an example of how symptoms alone can be misleading
when it comes to finding root causative factors in disease.
In the 1960s, one of the common diagnoses in Western societies
was hypoglycaemia or low blood-sugar levels. Blood sugar
is composed of glucose which is metabolised from protein
by the liver. Doctors told their patients simply to eat
more protein. And while it is true that low blood sugar
can be the result of inadequate protein intake, no one ever
suspected it could be the result of an inability to digest
protein completely, i.e., a protein digestive enzyme deficiency.
So even if you increase the patient's protein intake, what
good is it doing if they cannot digest it adequately? Was
it a protein deficiency or a protease deficiency which caused
the low levels of protein leading to hypoglycaemia?
In the 1970s, vitamin B12 deficiency was a popular diagnosis.
Many of the symptoms of B12 deficiency match those of hypoglycaemia.
These include fatigue, inability to concentrate, irritability,
headaches, confusion, tremors and even cold sweats. Patients
were given vitamin B12 shots to alleviate the symptoms.
A major concern with vegetarianism is the high incidence
of vitamin B12 deficiency that's been documented.
One of the functions of protein in the blood is that of
a "universal carrier". Protein transports vitamins,
minerals, enzymes and hormones throughout the body. Not
having enough blood protein to transport these substances
would lead a doctor to diagnose a patient with a particular
imbalance or illness. The underlying assumption in the medical
world is that patients' digestions are working fine—unless,
of course, they complain to the contrary. Nevertheless,
if patients have inadequate protein levels, even though
blood tests are within reference range, they still may not
be transporting or utilising vitamin B12.
Moving into the 1980s, most everyone had become infested
with yeast/fungal organisms and/or parasites. Normally,
various micro-organisms inhabit the digestive tract and
are kept in balance by "friendly" micro-organisms
like Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium. Many of the symptoms
of this new diagnosis were, again, very similar to hypoglycaemia
and vitamin B12 deficiency.
When it comes to immune system function, protein is the
most essential nutrient. White blood cells, cellular complements
and many other aspects of this system are dependent upon
protein. Enzymes themselves are composed of protein and
minerals. Additionally, Dr Howell reminds us of this "vital
force" inherent in enzymes. These microscopic entities
we are dependent upon have something of an almost mysterious
nature. Various white blood cells use enzymes literally
to digest what they come up against in our bodies. These
processes are known as pinocytosis and phagocytosis. After
engulfing an offending pathogen or allergen, white blood
cells secrete enzymes that destroy and digest it. If the
majority of enzymes from the immune system are being redirected
to digest food, how is it possible to maintain healthy immune
system functions?
As the 1990s progressed, patients were told they must have
an environmentally induced illness, which could include
allergies and hypersensitivities. Patients were told to
avoid everything they were allergic to and take enormous
amounts of supplements. Usually this resulted in extremely
limited diets and very expensive bills. New "energy"
techniques were developed supposedly to remove blocked energy
and rewire the nervous system to allow for accepting the
allergen into the body without the overt reaction.
If we look at allergies from an enzyme point of view, it
becomes apparent why so many of these techniques work only
temporarily. Allergies are the body's reaction to something
entering via the blood, skin, nasal cavity or other source.
When something enters the body in a healthy person, the
immune system is called upon to investigate and clear the
allergen (substance) from the body. This happens without
any notice. Because there are enough enzymes available in
a healthy person, the allergen can be cleared unobtrusively.
In someone with an allergic response to the same substance,
the immune system is called to do the same work but finds
it cannot handle the request. In a person who exhibits an
allergic response, there are not enough enzymes available
for the white blood cells to break down the allergen and
rid the body of it. They then experience the typical histamine
response, including reddening of the eyes or local tissue,
heat, runny nose and pain.
People with allergies of an airborne source are typically
those with a history of excessive sugar and simple carbohydrate
intake. Someone with this problem has depleted their reserves
of the enzyme amylase. Amylase is an IgG histamine blocker.
Like bioflavonoids, amylase stabilises the mast cells and
basophiles that release histamine as a reaction to the damaged
area. Antihistamines are what these types of patients get
from their doctors.
Finally, in the last five years or so, patients were tested
for something called "Syndrome X", which happens
to bear a striking resemblance to type II diabetes. Syndrome
X patients exhibit excess weight, cardiovascular issues,
lightheadedness and elevated glucose levels, among other
symptoms. If this is actually another name for diabetes
II, it should be apparent how symptoms are only one aspect
of proper diagnostics.
What the examples above point to are signs and symptoms
of distress in the body. Looking more deeply, one finds
the same phenomenon exhibited in Pottenger's cat study and
Howell's life research: namely, that signs and symptoms
of disease are proof of chronic enzyme deficiencies! It
is like coming upon a car accident and seeing the wreckage,
but not knowing exactly how it happened. The medical profession
is seeing evidence of enzyme deficiencies but is unable
to correlate them to the actual disease. Governed by their
training in schools biased towards pharmaceutical drugs,
surgery, radiation and the latest in genome biotechnology
and nanotechnology, doctors today are further away from
realising the truth of how the body can go out of balance
and end up in a diseased state.
When Dr Loomis asked Dr Howell what the symptoms were for
a particular enzyme deficiency, Howell did not have an answer.
He had not linked up the signs and symptoms of enzyme deficiencies.
Dr Loomis left with many unanswered questions and began
the work that has developed into Enzyme Nutrition Therapy.
After 20 years of clinical work in the field of enzymes,
Dr Loomis is considered the foremost living authority. His
trained associates continue adding to the body of work he
pioneered. Enzyme Nutrition Therapy is a scientifically
sound system of assessing enzyme deficiencies in patients.
Loomis has taken Howell's baton, carried it to the next
stage and continues to push it to a higher level.
Over time, as Dr Pottenger observed in his study of cats,
the continued use of cooked, enzyme-deficient food not only
leads to enzyme deficiencies but also to subsequent generations
of subjects with disease that's more intense with each generation.
Could this explain why 40 to 50 years ago childhood asthma
and allergies were rare, but today they affect the majority
of children? What about obesity? Or infertility? The percentage
of infertile couples has risen sharply in the last several
decades. And while environmental toxins may play a part
in this, are we now not seeing the results of generations
fed excessive amounts of cooked food—as Drs Howell and Pottenger
foresaw?
Without ever knowing it, Drs Howell, Pottenger and Wolf
confirmed each other's work and left a legacy upon which
Dr Loomis has demonstrated the solution to humanity's many
ills—that enzymes are the key factors in health and healing,
but their destruction by heat leads to chronic degenerative
disease.
Enzymes
– the Vital Labour Force
Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary (28th edition)
defines an enzyme as "a protein molecule that catalyses
[increases the velocity of a chemical reaction…] chemical
reactions of other substances without itself being destroyed
or altered upon completion of the reactions". While
this may seem to be definitive, it does not clarify why
an enzyme can do what it does, nor how a protein can become
an active enzyme. In other words, if an enzyme is simply
a protein molecule, why not manufacture enzymes synthetically?
The trouble begins here because, to date, no one has successfully
created an enzyme from synthetic material. Enzymes can only
be created from living, organic material. It is evident
that there is something more to enzymes than can yet be
accounted for scientifically.
Dr Howell observed enzymes giving off a "luminescent
glow" when actively working. He is famous for his statement,
"Life itself could not exist without enzymes".
He surmised that there is a "vital force" inherent
in all living beings, as demonstrated by enzymes. For ages,
humans have observed and deduced a "divine innate force"
common to all living things. Animation of animals and plants
separates us from the soil, dust and rocks on which we move
around.
Enzymes are considered the "labour force" in living
things. They are the only substances capable of doing work.
They are busy putting things together or splitting them
apart. They initiate, speed up, slow down or stop all biochemical
processes in living beings. Enzymes are very specific in
how they work on a substrate (the component upon which they
work). This has often been referred to as a "lock-and-key
system". The substrate is the lock, while enzymes are
the keys that fit precisely into the lock. They can only
work on the exact substrate.
Enzymes are classified into several groups. Hydrolytic enzymes
are the most relevant in clinical nutrition, and they are
of three major groups:
1) Digestive enzymes—manufactured by digestive organs to
assist in digesting food;
2) Food enzymes—found in all raw, uncooked food;
3) Metabolic enzymes—manufactured by all cells to carry
out their respective functions.
Although there are many classes and sub-classes of digestive
enzymes, there are four general enzymes considered here:
• Amylase—digests starches, including grains and starchy
vegetables;
• Cellulase—breaks down plant fibre;
• Lipase—splits apart fats and oils into fatty acids;
• Protease—breaks down protein into amino acids and small-chain
peptides.
Probably the most familiar of the amylases is lactase. People
who are lactose intolerant are both deficient in and lack
the ability to manufacture this enzyme.
All the above, except cellulase, are manufactured in the
human body. Cellulase must come from the plants themselves,
which is why it is so important to chew one's food thoroughly.
Cellulase is trapped inside the fibre itself and must be
liberated in the chewing process—otherwise, one experiences
the gas and bloating common to those, especially the elderly,
who cannot digest raw foods. Juicing fruits and vegetables
also extracts cellulase from the fibre. But the need for
plant fibre in a world where many are dependent on laxatives
cannot be overstated and may outweigh unnecessary juicing.
All raw, uncooked foods contain the exact types and amounts
of enzymes necessary for their breakdown (digestion). Fruit
ripening is the consequence of enzymes slowly breaking down
the fruit's contents. If it has gone too far before we consume
it, we say it is "rotten". There are optimal times
when fruit should be harvested and consumed. But due to
"shelf life", fruit is picked unripe and left
to ripen in the warehouse or grocery store. In this case,
the vitamin, mineral and enzyme content is inadequate and
not desirable from a nutritional point of view. One study
found that plants gave up their enzyme structures to return
the mineral portion of them back to the soil since it was
lacking in minerals.
Enzymes are the most heat-sensitive nutrients. As mentioned
earlier, food enzymes are generally destroyed when heated
at 118°F (47.78°C) for longer than 15 minutes, and
this happens whether the food is baked, boiled, broiled,
canned, fried, pasteurised, roasted, steamed or especially
microwaved. Dr Howell observed this and reasoned that enzyme-deficient
food must force the body to use up metabolic enzymes to
digest food. He compared it to a bank account. If you continually
drain your resources and never replenish your holdings,
at some point you are bankrupt. In the case of enzymes,
degenerative disease occurs, with old age following soon
afterwards. We are told all the time, "Oh, your symptoms
are related to old age; better get used to it". Culturally,
this seems true because we have observed it since childhood.
We even expect to grow old with the accompanying health
issues associated with old age because we have been told
so.
Granted, our progression from infancy through adolescence
and adulthood involves changes and the appearance of "ageing".
But what if there were substances naturally occurring in
the food and within our bodies that were responsible for
the rate at which we grew older? Dr Howell equated that
the length of life was proportional to the amount of enzymes
exhausted in digestion. In other words, one's length of
life is influenced by how much our metabolic enzymes are
used to digest cooked food. Since enzymes are shifted from
their metabolic uses, especially from the immune system,
to digest cooked food, we will age faster. Could this be
what Ponce de León was looking for in his legendary
"fountain of youth"? Some researchers may have
given us a clue.
In the 1980s, Dr Roy Walford of UCLA conducted numerous
laboratory experiments on animals. He reduced their food
intake and found that their length of life extended beyond
what was considered normal. He suggested that all one had
to do was not eat so much in order to have a healthier and
longer life. Walford stated the obvious, but he may have
missed the real point.
Dr Howell found that in fasting there is an increase in
available enzymes in the body due to the lack of food, especially
cooked food. In the absence of food, the body has more enzymes
for repair and healing. As an example, there are approximately
64 different types of enzymes circulating in the blood to
clear waste and prevent the build-up of plaque. When the
body is short-changed of these enzymes, there will be an
unnatural build-up of plaque. Why would there be a lack
of these enzymes in the blood? When cooked food is eaten,
enzymes for digesting it must be found somewhere in the
body. It is here that metabolic enzymes are shifted from
their normal functions to the role of digestion, leaving
the body primed for future disease.
Signs
of Enzyme Deficiencies
Symptoms of mineral and vitamin deficiencies occur relatively
quickly. They are recognised to cause specific illness.
Enzyme deficiencies, outside of genetic or birth defects,
take longer periods to be noticed and have only begun to
be recognised in some circles of the medical community.
What, then, are typical signs and symptoms of the more common
enzyme deficiencies?
• If you have problems digesting carbohydrates, you may
experience airborne-sourced allergies, diarrhoea, fibromyalgia
or attention deficit disorder (ADD or ADHD).
• If you cannot digest fats, you may experience constipation,
gallbladder problems, heart disease or hormone imbalances.
• If you cannot adequately digest protein, you may experience
constipation, arthritis or other inflammatory conditions,
anxiety or panic attacks, premenstrual syndrome or immune
system disorders.
• If you are unable to break down plant fibre, you may experience
constipation, eczema or other skin-related problems, recurrent
yeast/fungal infestations or excessive weight gain.
The above conditions are also the result of diets high in
those foods associated with the enzyme deficiency. In fact,
the foods one craves are those that create dietary stress
due to one's inability to digest them completely. They are
also the foods one has either allergies or hypersensitivities
towards because of the failure to be able to digest them,
i.e., because of the deficiency of that particular enzyme.
People may crave certain foods because of the enzymes found
within the food, which the body needs. But being cooked
and destroyed, those enzymes do nothing for the craving—so
we eat more of the same thing, telling ourselves we should
not.
THE
CHALLENGES OF OUR MODERN WORLD
Dr Edward Howell, the pioneer in the clinical use of plant
enzymes, began working at Dr Henry Lindlahr's nature cure
sanitarium in the 1920s near Chicago, Illinois. Dr Lindlahr
is considered by many to be the "Father of Naturopathy",
introducing the modality to the public after his own diabetes
was cured by Father Sebastian Kneipp, a nature cure doctor
in Bavaria. Father Kneipp used his "cold water cure"
and herbs to restore the health of his patients.
Dr Howell's research and observations led him to believe
that if he could replace the enzymes lost in cooked and
processed food, the nutrients could be better utilised.
In 1932 he founded the National Enzyme Company to produce
food enzymes to help in digestion. During his clinical practise,
he witnessed hundreds of patients' cures from chronic degenerative
disease.
Dr Howell advocated at least a 75% raw food diet and taking
digestive plant enzymes with the remaining cooked food.
In an interview conducted towards the end of his life, he
remarked that even if someone ate a mostly raw food diet,
it still would be important to use concentrated plant enzymes.
Replenishing what he referred to as the "enzyme bank"
was a sure way to maintain one's health into old age and
prevent disease.
While eating an entirely raw food diet would seem ideal,
in most cases it would not be realistic for the majority
of people at this time. Even the vegetables of the cruciferous
family (broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower
and kale) should not be eaten raw. They contain thyroid-inhibiting
factors that should be destroyed by cooking.
Though there is a growing awareness of diet, nutrition and
alternative medicine, the average person leaves it to someone
else to "fix" them. Thanks to the media's flood
of advertisements, they usually rely on over-the-counter
drugs. The combination of propaganda and naïveté
allows the average person not to take full responsibility
for their own health.
Changing the system so that raw food was the main staple
of society would demand a complete alteration of the food
and medical industry and require re-education on food preparations.
It might even challenge belief systems in many cultures.
It would confront the largest and most powerful industry
in the world: the pharmaceutical/petroleum cartel. Monsanto
would be the first to sue anyone having anything to do with
it because it would invalidate the corporation's push for
global market control of worthless genetically engineered
seeds. Only organically cultivated seeds could be used because
of the greater enzyme content inherent in the plants once
they were grown. All food would be organically grown, not
only to prevent the pesticide/herbicide interference with
normal bodily enzyme functions but because mineral content
in organic food is far more abundant, minerals being necessary
co-enzymes. Appliance companies selling microwave ovens
would be driven out of business unless they developed new
products. All those cooking shows on cable television would
have to reinvent themselves by coming up with novel ways
to prepare raw food.
There would be an ongoing debate, as there is now, on whether
to be vegetarian, since eating raw meat would probably be
seen as abhorrently barbaric. Nonetheless, Dr Howell specifically
discussed how the Eskimo culture ate raw autolysed meat.
Howell points out the original meaning of the American Indian
word "Eskimo": "he who eats it raw".
The technique of autolysis involves keeping meat in the
proper conditions of temperature and moisture for the enzyme
cathepsin, found in meat tissue, to break it down slowly.
It has been practised for centuries. Traditionally, Eskimos
survived brutal winters in the northern tundra living on
raw, pre-digested meats and blubber, without any fruit or
vegetables or degenerative disease! When they began eating
a "regular" diet of cooked foods high in carbohydrates,
they experienced an increase in degenerative disease.
Howell explains there is no evidence that humans can live
on an exclusively raw meat diet, but he does make the point
for autolysis. The hygienic conditions of those animals
raised as food supply would have to be updated so that they
lived in extremely clean environments without cages and
were free to roam. They in turn would not eat grains but
would be pasture fed. Antibiotics and other drugs would
be used only in rare instances. This would cost several
billion dollars or more to change worldwide. It is doubtful
the food and pharmaceutical industry would go along with
it. Since the bottom line in any industry is profits, there
would be far less profit if farmers and the populace suddenly
did not need the majority of pharmaceuticals.
Traditions and cultural implications aside, the socio-economic
structures of today's world make it difficult to achieve
this change towards eating raw food on a grand scale. Nonetheless,
there are small groups around the world who are practising
this way of eating. They mostly advocate vegetarianism.
Whether being a vegetarian is the most appropriate approach
to health is still debatable; it is not to be addressed
here. Even vegetarians have major health issues, sometimes
far worse than non-vegetarians. What the author is addressing
is the clinical use of enzymes as therapeutic tools for
preventing and reversing disease and maintaining optimal
health.
The therapeutic use of enzymes reveals significant differences
between enzymes resulting from animal sources and those
of plant origin. Today, animal-based enzymes are primarily
derived from the pancreas of freshly slaughtered pigs. They
contain the highest enzyme concentrations from animal sources
that we know of to date. They have been used since the early
1900s and have been very effective under certain conditions.
Some enzymes are obtained from plants, including bromelain
from pineapple, papain from papaya and nanokinase from soy
fermentation. Other plant-based enzymes are produced from
different fungus/mould species by "growing" them.
Various enzymes can be cultured from these fungi/moulds
in very high concentrations. Contrary to popular belief,
these enzymes do not contain any of the substances they
were grown from; laboratories manufacturing plant enzymes
have independent laboratory assays available to verify this.
ENZYME
ACTIVATION DEPENDENT FACTORS
Vitamins and minerals are considered essential nutrients
and the symptoms of their deficiencies are well documented,
often occurring soon after depletion. Signs and symptoms
of enzyme deficiencies take much longer to manifest and
are very often missed in clinical evaluations.
Enzymes are usually bound to either a mineral or a vitamin,
which are co-enzymes. Unlike most vitamins and minerals,
enzymes are unique, requiring four specific conditions for
activation in order to function:
• moisture (water);
• ideal temperature range;
• the exact pH (alkalinity or acidity);
• a specific substance (substrate) to work on.
Water:
The Gift of Life
In order for enzymes to be active, moisture must be present.
Enzymes will not work in a dry environment. They must have
moisture.
All legumes, nuts and seeds contain enzyme inhibitors. The
inhibitors prevent those foods from spontaneously growing,
and also nullify the body's own digestive enzymes from working
on them. This is why they are so difficult to digest and
why we feel tired after eating them. It costs the body great
amounts of energy to digest them. Heating will destroy enzyme
inhibitors but will also destroy the enzymes themselves.
Soaking these foods for at least 12 hours not only destroys
the inhibitors but activates the enzymes. Once activated,
enzymes will begin breaking down proteins, fats and carbohydrates
within the legume, nut or seed, giving the body pre-digested
food.
In his book, Your Body's Many Cries For Water1, Dr Fereydoon
Batmanghelidj documents chronic dehydration as a causative
factor for many health problems such as asthma, arthritis,
allergies, back pain, hypertension, migraine headaches and
other degenerative diseases. Coffee, alcohol, manufactured
beverages and many of the pharmaceutical drugs dehydrate
the body. He believes dehydration to be the root cause of
many degenerative diseases.
Enzymes are the only substances capable of doing work in
the body, but they need adequate moisture in order to accomplish
this.
Is it possible that dehydration for extended periods inhibits
or slows normal enzyme functions which could lead to disease?
It may be an academic point of argument. When the body is
dehydrated, the blood becomes thick, making normal bodily
functioning difficult. Taking aspirin will thin the blood,
but not without side effects. Drinking more water will also
thin the blood. Supplemental enzymes will thin the blood,
but large amounts are required to accomplish this.
There are several ways to view any health crisis and there
may be more than one way to remedy it. Finding the safest,
most natural and medically sound way of supporting the body
to achieve resolution of any health crisis can be challenging
for the average person. Having the media thrusting advertisements
at them and at the same time spewing propaganda about questionable
safety issues of natural remedies, it is no wonder most
people are confused and leery.
Some will say: "What about vitamin and mineral depletion
in the soil and our food as causative factors in disease?
What about our polluted environment—the pesticides, herbicides
and industrial waste?" Frankly, it should not take
a rocket scientist to conclude how health-damaging our waste
and chemical toxicity have become. It is essential to eat
organically grown food, while avoiding junk food and food
that has been genetically modified, microwaved and/or irradiated.
Yet if you eat cooked food, the body will still suffer from
enzyme deficiencies. When there is enough of nature's "labour
force"—namely, metabolic enzymes and fluid circulating
throughout the body—digestion, tissue repair, growth, immune
function and detoxification will proceed normally.
Dr Loomis includes a 24-hour urinalysis in his system of
evaluation. "Volume" represents how much fluid
intake there is and how well the body eliminates it. In
relation to chlorides and specific gravity, volume reveals
sodium chloride (salt) intake and kidney function respectively.
Does one ingest too much salt or not enough? Does the patient
drink enough water or too much?
Many people drink too many liquids (not necessarily water)
in the belief that they are doing their bodies good by flushing
out toxins. While elimination of toxins is beneficial and
to be encouraged, excessive fluid intake can deplete and
change the electrolyte balance, resulting in numerous other
health issues. Rather than guess how much water your body
needs, you are advised to follow the recommendations in
Dr Batmanghelidj's book.
In addition, utilising Dr Loomis's 24-hour urinalysis will
prove to the patient if they are drinking excessive amounts
of water, too little water or just the right amounts daily.
Adjusting water intake based on a 24-hour urinalysis is
a clinically sound method of correcting electrolyte levels
and balancing acidic/alkaline conditions.
Temperature
Temperature plays a crucial role in how active enzymes are
within the environment in which they are working. Bromelain
and papain are two protein-digesting enzymes common in commercial
and industrial use. Bromelain is utilised in the meat industry
as a meat tenderiser because its ideal temperature range
is 120–160°F (48.89–71.11°C). Papain is used in
the tanning industry to soften leather. Its optimal temperature
is around 105°F (40.56°C). Bromelain and papain
have had some success in clinical use as anti-inflammatory
agents. However, their limited results might be due to the
body's temperature of 98.6°F (37.0°C), which is
not ideal for them. Enzymes produced from mould/fungus organisms,
however, have an ideal temperature range of 95–105°F
(35.0–40.56°C). At the normal body temperature of 98.6°F,
plant enzymes from mould/fungus origins are perfect. This
will be seen when we discuss fever in part three of this
article series.
Animal-based enzymes (pancreatin) are heat labile, as are
plant enzymes. Dr Howell noted that heating food at 118°F
(47.78°C) or greater, for any length of time, destroys
all the enzymes.
Pancreatin, which has been used most extensively over the
last 80 years, is subject to the same problems faced when
manufacturing enzymes in the form of tablets or capsules.
Whether the enzymes are from animal or plant origins, when
they are produced as a tablet the heat involved in the processing
causes a loss of at least 50% of the enzyme activity in
those products. Encapsulating enzymes is more advantageous
because there is no heat involved and consequently no loss
of enzyme activity. There are also no binders, fillers or
excipients as in tablets; these have the potential to cause
allergic reaction in some people.
Acidity
and Alkalinity
One of the other major differences in using animal and plant
enzymes is what is known as the pH factor. In chemistry,
pH is a measurement of the acidity or alkalinity of a substance.
Vinegar is somewhat acidic, while hydrochloric and sulphuric
acids are highly acidic. Sulphuric acid is contained in
car batteries. Hydrochloric acid is used commercially and
is produced in the stomach. Lye, on the other hand, is extremely
alkaline; it is an ingredient in most commercial products
used to unclog plumbing drains. Interestingly, many of the
newer plumbing and septic tank cleaners use concentrated
plant enzymes.
Animal-based enzymes like pancreatin are limited, as they
can only work in a pH range of 7.2–9.0, which is alkaline.
Stomach acid concentrates down to about 2.0–3.0 during digestion.
This is why animal-based enzymes can never digest food,
since they are limited to the alkaline end of the pH spectrum.
One of the body's most important functions, monitored by
the hypothalamus, is that of keeping the blood pH between
7.35 and 7.45—which, as indicated above, is alkaline. The
slightest deviation from this narrow range will throw the
body into crisis. Since animal-based enzymes work only in
an alkaline environment, they have been shown to work best
when taken in between meals to break down unwanted protein
such as undigested food remnants, viruses, bacteria and
other pathogenic micro-organisms. They are also clinically
proven in reducing inflammation.
Most of the original clinical studies using enzymes were
done in Europe, particularly Germany. These were primarily
performed using animal pancreatic enzymes. A library search
of literature dating back to the early 1900s shows that
most studies were written in French, Italian and German.
Very few studies were presented in English until the late
1930s, as found in the Index Medicus. Even today, most clinical
studies recorded in the medical literature still employ
animal-based enzymes (pancreatin) and are from Europe.
Common usage for pancreatic enzymes is in the treatment
of pancreatic insufficiency diseases such as steatorrhoea
(excessive amounts of undigested fat in stools), cystic
fibrosis and pancreatitis. Results are mixed, but generally
some help is obtained from pancreatin. While some of the
inflammation is reduced to a degree, digestion is very little
affected due to the fact that pancreatin does not work in
the acidic pH of the stomach.
Plant enzymes, on the other hand, are known to have a much
greater effect in these conditions due to the advantage
of their broad pH range. A study out of England observed
that a small amount of an acid-stable lipase from plant
sources was as effectual as a 25-times larger dose of animal
pancreatin.2
One experience of the author involved a gentleman diagnosed
with pancreatic cancer, due in part to his alcoholism. His
doctors prescribed pancreatin to aid with digestion and
relieve inflammation. He was given six weeks to live. He
had not found any relief with the pancreatin. Four weeks
after he started a plant-based enzyme program, he lost touch
with the author. The author succumbed to thinking he would
never see this client again, due to his death. One year
later, he ventured into a restaurant and there was the former
client with his wife and son, enjoying a meal. The author
asked in disbelief how he had survived. He explained he
had continued taking plant enzymes, having purchased some
from a health food store. He was still alive after several
years, to the amazement of his doctors.
Plant-based enzymes work in a very broad pH range of about
2.0–12.0. This covers both the acidic and alkaline ranges
and makes them ideal for digesting food. Remember, Dr Howell
found a pre-digestion stomach in mammals, including humans.
Based on the observations of Beazell et al. as well as other
researchers, Howell reasoned that most digestion takes place
in the stomach. Since plant enzymes survive extreme pH conditions,
this makes them perfect for digesting protein, starches
and fats in the stomach. This digestion in the stomach also
relieves the pancreas of its enzyme-producing burden.
Plant enzymes are active in both acidic and alkaline environments,
giving them greater access to digesting substances in blood,
lymph and tissue that do not belong there.
Substrates:
The Lock and Key
Lastly, enzymes need a specific substrate (substance) on
which to work. The analogy most commonly used is that of
a lock-and-key system. Enzymes are very exacting in what
they can work on: if the key does not fit the lock, nothing
can occur. Protease works only on splitting protein down
into smaller protein peptides and amino acids. Lipase cleaves
fats and oils into fatty acids. Cellulase breaks down cellulose,
which is plant fibre. Pectinase works on pectin (fibre)
from fruit. Fructase breaks down fructose, the sugar found
in fruit. Sucrase breaks down sucrose, the sugar obtained
from beets or sugar cane.
One of the most commonly discussed enzyme deficiencies is
lactose intolerance—the inability to digest the sugar component
of milk. It has been observed through associates of Dr Loomis
that when someone is lactose intolerant, they are also usually
intolerant of other sugars including maltose from grains
and sucrose.
The enzymes necessary for digesting these sugars are produced
by the villi of the small intestine. When someone overconsumes
sugar in its many forms over time, they exhaust their body's
ability to produce the specific enzymes necessary to digest
those sugars. This is also the case with fructose when it
is used as an additive derived from synthetic or even natural
means, if enzymes are not present to digest it.
People who consume too much sugar also end up not being
able to digest fats properly. This is especially true for
women. The complex endocrine system of women warrants the
ability to digest fats and proteins to ensure necessary
hormone production throughout life, especially during menopause.
Hormones are primarily produced from fats, proteins and
minerals. In fact, the major steroid hormones (aldosterone,
cortisol, oestradiol and testosterone) are derived from
cholesterol.
Due to excessive sugar consumption during their lifetime
and the inability to digest the sugar, so many women experience
difficult menopause because of mineral deficiencies brought
about by the sugar. Difficult menopause also stems from
long-term problems of protein and fat digestion. The body
uses food not only for energy but for tissue repair (which
requires protein) and production of essential hormones.
The above example is true of any food that is consumed exclusively
for long periods. Excessive consumption and the concurrent
inability to digest those foods are known as dietary stress
factors. Everyone is subject to dietary stress factors due
to the repeated overconsumption of particular foods. The
base of the food pyramid advocated by the medical community
is built upon carbohydrates. It has become clear to many
that this is a faulty representation of the ideal diet.
The rapid rise in the incidence of diabetes, obesity and
cardiovascular disease, especially in children, is the result
of excessive carbohydrate and sugar intake and lack of exercise.
The new kid on the block, insulin resistance syndrome (IRS),
is just another example of the body's inability to digest
and utilise sugar and simple carbohydrates properly. It
is believed by many to be the precursor of type II diabetes.
It is further evidence of enzyme deficiencies, specifically
of the sugar and carbohydrate digesting enzymes.
Another group of enzymes, anti-oxidant enzymes, works on
what are termed free radicals. Free radicals are the result
of living in an industrial society. Externally they are
caused by radiation, pollution and toxins, while internally
they are the result of normal metabolism. They are molecules
without a paired electron in their outer ring. Electrons
hold molecules together. Normally, a stable molecule has
a pair of electrons. It will become unstable and reactive
if there is an unpaired electron in the outer ring. Very
often, free radicals are composed of an unstable oxygen
molecule which will cause damage to the lipid portion of
the cell membrane. It can also affect the protein and DNA
of the cell. Antioxidants, including enzymes, can prevent
or stop the damage caused by free radicals.
Glutathione peroxidase splits hydrogen peroxide into water
and a single stable oxygen atom. The main symptoms of excessive
peroxide free radicals include heart and liver disease,
premature ageing, and skin disease such as age spots, cancer,
dermatitis, eczema, psoriasis and wrinkling. Glutathione
peroxidase is dependent on the mineral selenium. If there
is a deficiency of selenium in the soil and thus in the
food consumed, there may be a hindrance in the body's ability
to produce adequate amounts of glutathione peroxidase. Interestingly,
epidemiological research in the United States and China
shows areas with the lowest concentrations of soil selenium
have the highest cancer rates, with the converse being true.
This was first known in 19883 and later confirmed in the
latter 1990s.
Superoxide dismutase (SOD) is an anti-oxidant enzyme responsible
for cleaving the highly reactive superoxide radical O2¯
into hydrogen peroxide and protecting cells from dangerous
levels of superoxide. Working in tandem with SOD is the
enzyme catalase. It breaks down the hydrogen peroxide that
is created by SOD's action on superoxide radicals. SOD/catalase
deficiencies have been observed in inflammatory conditions,
especially arthritis, bursitis and gout. In the field of
anti-ageing medicine, it is believed that supplemental anti-oxidant
enzymes can slow the ageing process. By curbing free radical
processes, one may stop the damage done to cell membranes,
strengthening the permeability of the cell and making it
less prone to invasion by pathogens or environmental pollutants.
ABSORPTION
OF EXOGENOUS ENZYMES
One of the arguments against using supplemental enzymes
is that they are protein macromolecules and therefore are
denatured or destroyed by the action of hydrochloric acid
produced inside the stomach and, as such, they cannot cross
the brush-border of the intestine intact. Another argument
is that even if they did cross over, they are nothing more
than a trigger for the production of endogenous enzymes.
As described below, these and other arguments have been
proven incorrect.
A macromolecule is a compound of 1,000 or more atoms bound
together. There is overwhelming evidence that macromolecules
do, in fact, cross the gut lumen intact. In 1904, Drs Ganghofer
and Langer demonstrated that large protein molecules were
absorbed across the intestinal gut without being degraded
and were still capable of functioning.4
Morris documented the intact absorption of gamma globulin
in newborns. He recounted how infants' first milk is colostrum,
which sets up the infants' digestive immune function.5 Both
gamma globulin and colostrum are proteins. Professor Seifert
of the University of Kiel not only demonstrated the absorption
of gamma globulin but proved by means of immunological testing
that the proteins were intact, entering the bloodstream
unaffected and in full molecular size.6–8
Walker and others documented extensive work on the intestinal
uptake of macromolecules in relation to immunisation.9–11
Gardner specifically wrote about the gastrointestinal assimilation
of intact proteins.12, 13 Other animal and human studies
have described numerous intact proteins including animal-based
and plant-based enzymes being absorbed into the bloodstream
following oral administration.14–17
In one study, cancer patients with known inflammatory conditions
(deep and superficial thrombophlebitis of the extremities)
were given doses of proteolytic enzymes either orally or
intramuscularly of trypsin and chymotrypsin. Measurements
of blood levels of both enzymes showed marked increases
within 30 minutes, with a decline to base levels at the
end of 24 hours. These results occurred with both orally
administered and intramuscularly injected enzymes. Since
the orally administered enzymes did increase the blood esterase
substantially, it was concluded that "orally administered
chymotrypsin and trypsin resulted in specific esterase activity
changes in blood, indicating absorption of the enzymes given,
rather than release of other enzymes from the intestinal
tract".18 Unfortunately, this study was only interested
in whether or not proteolytic enzymes could be absorbed
across the gut wall. There was seemingly no interest in
what the effects might be from the enzymes themselves on
the inflammation or cancer.
In another study, lipase was found to be circulating from
across the intestinal lumen into the lymph system and back
to pancreatic acinar cells, where the cycle repeated itself.19
This circulation of enzymes via the lymph and blood systems
is similar to the recycling of bile salts by the liver.
YOU
ARE WHAT YOU CAN DIGEST!
Over the last century, doctors have sought to treat human
ailments with a variety of natural and not-so-natural methods.
Driven by the financial gains of pharmaceutical companies,
research scientists have tried to unlock the secrets of
nature to synthesise active ingredients of plants and animals.
The amount of money spent on health care in the United States
per person based on per capita income far exceeds any other
country—yet there is rampant illness, with always the promise
from pharmaceutical companies of yet another discovery just
around the corner. Most people have come to expect the "magic
bullet" pill that will do everything for them. Even
in the natural health food industry, the latest vitamin/mineral
supplements have everything except the kitchen sink thrown
in for good measure.
In the early 1900s, radiation and surgery became the mainstays
of treatments. By the 1940s, pharmaceutical drugs had turned
into the miracle cures. We've moved into an entirely new
and uncharted territory, becoming cocky with the analysis
of genomes and the ability to tamper with life. Cloning
of animals and production of genetically modified drugs
are the next promise for the future. We are told that irradiated
and genetically modified foods will feed the world, but
at what cost?
All of the above factors will provide continuing evidence
of enzyme deficiencies leading to more obscure and unrecognisable
diseases. Biological and chemical terrorism now threatens
our existence, but so does the manipulation of our food.
Throughout history, many scientific discoveries have been
blighted by a blind spot. That spot is the gaping hole of
the future of this planet, including everyone and everything
on it. In the Hindu and Buddhist religions, karma is the
principle of cause and effect. It has been described in
many ways and in many languages by prominent religious leaders
as well as physicists. Christians understand it as "What
ye sow, so shall ye reap". What we do now will forever
affect the world we live on and in. Clean food, water and
air are essential for survival. We can control what we eat,
drink and breathe, so long as we are informed and educated.
The ongoing work of Dr Loomis and his associates attests
to the best-kept secret in the field of nutrition. You are
not necessarily what you eat, but what you can digest. Improved
digestion through plant enzymes should be the starting point
in any health program. When the body can get what it needs,
when it needs it, it will perform wonders and even miracles.
As Dr Howell said, "Without enzymes, life itself would
not be possible".
ENZYMES
AS THERAPEUTIC TOOLS IN HEALING
Since ancient times, enzymes have unknowingly been involved
in treating human ailments. Food consists of protein, carbohydrates,
enzymes, fat and fibre, minerals and vitamins. While the
properties of enzymes have largely been unknown until recently,
results were witnessed and associations of health or disease
were made between various plant and animal substances. The
healing properties of herbs are primarily attributed to
alkaloid or other chemical properties that trigger a response
in the body. Invariably, the chemistry of herbs affects
metabolic enzyme pathways. The unique substance either inhibits
an enzyme or stimulates another to change body chemistry.
Some plants have unique essential oils capable of inhibiting
or destroying pathogenic micro-organisms due to the disruption
of some enzymatic pathway of the organism.
Observations of the few (medicine men, shamans and later
monks) gave them a certain power over the rest of the population
who could not identify which plants caused the healing.
This was reserved only for the tribal healer and passed
on to the favourites within the tribe. The use of hallucinogenic
plants was often employed by shamans to elicit the wisdom
from the spirit world to aid in the cure of the person.
In today's world of organised medicine, control over one's
health is still largely in the hands of the elite few and
knowledge is kept from the populace. Contrary to the enlightening
herbs of the shaman, a moderate number of health care workers
become addicted to or self-medicate with pharmaceutical
drugs or turn to alcohol to help relieve stress involved
in their profession.1, 2, 3
Within the realm of natural medicine, old and new alike,
therapies abound. Everything from acupuncture, botanicals
and nutrition to homoeopathy and, more recently, "energy
medicine" is available to the average patient. Regardless
of the modality chosen, what remains to be understood is
that in every case the healing can only occur if the body
has enough metabolic enzymes to do the work. Enzymes do
work. Work in this case denotes the ability to initiate,
alter, speed up or slow down biochemical processes. It indicates
having the capacity to break apart or join components together
synergistically to change their original structure and function.
Food is broken down during digestion and made into smaller
components which are then utilised in the body for structure
and function. Protein is rendered into amino acids and smaller
peptides. These can be used as neurotransmitters for proper
brain function. Certain amino acids are used for energy,
mineral transport and repair of tissue.
Nutrition, as defined by Webster's Third International Dictionary
of the English Language, is "The science of food and
the processes by which the organism ingests, digests, absorbs,
transports, utilizes and excretes food substances".
All too often, this definition is forgotten in the field
of nutrition. Nutrition today is practised in much the same
way as the pharmaceutical drug approach: for every symptom,
there must be a deficiency; simply give the mineral or vitamin
and the signs will go away. One of the most common assumptions
in both allopathic and complementary medicine is that the
patient's digestive system is working fine. Unless the patient
complains of heartburn, gas, bloating, belching or pain
in the abdomen, doctors assume no problems. Divergent to
this is the approach Dr Loomis took in his research into
enzymes.
Diet,
Digestion and Detoxification
When Dr Loomis began his exploration into the benefits of
enzymes in restoring health, he knew the starting point
had to be with diet and digestion. The dramatic increase
in obesity, cardiovascular disease and diabetes in Western
societies is evidence of the simple fact that people eat
too much. It also reveals signs of chronic enzyme deficiencies.
The combination of simple carbohydrates, fats and sugars
found in "fast food" are the major contributing
factors to the above disease conditions. Food is much more
than just a quick fix for energy. Food is responsible for
tissue repair and growth, hormone production, eyesight and
immune function. Through protein neurotransmitters, food,
or the lack of it, affects our feelings, thoughts and behaviour.
In her groundbreaking book, Molecules of Emotion, Dr Candace
Pert recounts her discoveries of several biochemicals involved
with emotions.4 The body requires "raw material"
from which to produce these biochemicals. Food is the raw
material in the form of protein, fats and carbohydrates.
We must appreciate the dynamics of our body's internal environment—the
intracellular and extracellular fluid—in order to understand
other complications as the result of poor digestion. Intracellular
fluid is found inside the cell and is not constant; it changes
due to the extracellular fluid—the fluid outside the cell.
Intracellular fluid represents about 66% of the water found
in the body. Extracellular fluid roughly makes up the other
33% of the body's water. It serves as a means of transport
for nutrients and waste products from normal metabolism.
The extracellular fluid needs to remain reasonably stable
regarding volume (amount of water), temperature, acid-alkali
balance (pH) and levels of nutrients (protein, cholesterol,
minerals, glucose) to nourish the cells.
The body continually identifies deficiencies and excesses
of specific nutrients or metabolic waste products. All attempts
are made to rectify any imbalance by changing the chemistry.
The hypothalamus is the only part of the brain not isolated
by the blood-brain barrier. This barrier shields fragile
tissues of the brain from changes in the body's extracellular
fluid. It monitors the body's chemistry 24 hours a day,
seven days a week. It reads the slightest alteration in
the blood, then quickly sets about to make the necessary
changes to maintain homoeostasis (balance). The chemistry
of the blood is largely determined by what we consume. Food
and drink comprise varying combinations of proteins, fats,
carbohydrates and fibres, enzymes, vitamins and minerals.
It is all about chemistry. The hypothalamus must ascertain
how to keep the body in balance despite the type of food
consumed. The sort of balance necessary for optimal health
for one person may not be the same for another. Indeed,
most often they can be radically different. As Shakespeare
wrote, "One man's meat is another's poison".
If
you cannot completely digest what you eat, several things
may happen.
• Firstly, the undigested food remnants pass through the
brush-border of the intestinal tract into the blood and
lymphatic systems. White blood cells are stimulated to find
the offending material and finish breaking it down. This
is known as digestive leukocytosis. It is an automatic response
every time you eat cooked/processed food. It was thought
to be a "normal" reaction to eating, ever since
the early 1800s. However, it was shown to be an unnatural
response in the 1930s by Dr Paul Kautchakoff.5 He proved
by careful monitoring of patients' blood that only cooked—not
raw—foods caused the reaction.
• Secondly, the body may begin to consume more than is necessary.
Overeating is one way of compensating for deficiencies of
nutrients. The deficiencies are not due to the conscious
restriction of a particular food. As stated previously by
Dr Howell, cooking food destroys all enzymes, thus food
will not be entirely broken down into the micronutrients
necessary for cellular utilisation. It is like taking something
the size of your house down to the size of a grain of sand
in order to get inside the cell to nourish it. Enzymes are
the only material capable of splitting food into usable
nutrients. Given that undigested food cannot adequately
nourish cells, the brain will direct the person to eat more
of something to make up for what the body did not get from
partial digestion. When this happens over long periods,
weight gain occurs with continued loss of metabolic enzymes.
Food cravings are another sign of incomplete digestion.
What we crave tends to be the food we do not digest very
well. The hypothalamus dictates what we eat based on the
chemistry of the blood. So when we eat a particular food
and have cravings for it later, it is a sign we did not
digest it very well. We will continue to eat more of it
because there is something in that food we need but did
not get. It has been suggested we are craving the enzymes
inherent in that food before it was heated. Those enzymes
we are chronically missing normally would be found in the
food we crave. Dr Howell noted that animals fed cooked/processed
food often resorted to eating their own faeces. He found
it was to replace the food enzymes lost in the cooking process.
The enzyme amylase is a good example of the above. Amylase
is one of the major carbohydrate- digesting enzymes. It
is found in the kernels of grains and in starchy vegetables.
By cooking those foods, amylase is destroyed and our body
must secrete amylase from other organs, such as the salivary
glands. Amylase is known as an IgG histamine blocker. It
stabilises the mast cells and basophils that release histamine
at the start of inflammatory conditions. One could say amylase
is the body's own natural antihistamine. Antihistamines
are prescribed for allergies, dermatitis and other histamine-type
reactions. It has been observed clinically that people who
eat excessive amounts of simple carbohydrates most often
are those with histamine-related health problems—airborne
allergen reactions, allergic reactions to insect bites and
bee stings, sinusitis and other eye-, ear- and nose-related
health issues. Sinus or frontal headaches are frequently
associated with chronic amylase deficiency.
In Western society, patients with fibromyalgia tend to have
a history of excessive intake of refined carbohydrates.
Aside from the occasional discussion, there is little distinction
made in the general media between simple and complex carbohydrates.
People choose what is convenient. The fast food industry
is based on this notion of convenience. However, when closely
examined, most of what is considered convenient has detrimental
effects on our health. The excessive consumption of carbohydrates
will cause chronic depletion of amylase. This may result
in the typical histamine conditions and pain found in fibromyalgia.
It is also thought fibromyalgia is related to excessive
waste in the body. Undigested remains of disproportionate
carbohydrate consumption can accumulate in tissue, since
the body cannot eliminate it properly. This might partially
explain the patient response to palpation at several lymphatic
trigger points when being diagnosed. The lymph system removes
waste from the body. Yet, this will not occur very well
when too much food is eaten, causing a virtual backing up
of the "plumbing". Using highly concentrated enzymes
with patients who have histamine reactions alleviates the
response within a very short time and without the side effects
associated with conventional antihistamines.
• Thirdly, undigested food allows parasites and other pathogenic
micro-organisms to live off the waste inside the body. Incomplete
digestion allows bacteria to ferment carbohydrates and putrefy
protein, giving off gas. The bloating that occurs after
meals is the result of this. It is trapped gas, unable to
move through the colon. The accumulation of undigested food
in the intestinal tract leads to intestinal toxaemia. It
is also known as indicanuria and is responsible for a number
of health-related problems.
Eliminating
Nutritional Stress
In the field of enzyme nutrition therapy, it is not just
a matter of supplementing with concentrated enzymes. It
is equally important to make the necessary dietary modifications
limiting the intake of those foods known to be dietary stress
factors for each individual patient. This is determined
through a 24-hour urinalysis and Digestive Challenge Test©
as developed by Dr Loomis. It is believed that the only
real disease is stress. It is how the body reacts to stress
that determines what signs and symptoms of disease manifest
in the body. Within Dr Loomis's system, we work with the
following:
• Modifying diet to reduce dietary stress factors;
• Greatly improving digestion through intake of plant-based
enzymes;
• Improving bowel elimination by nutritionally supporting
those organs involved;
• Stopping or reducing inflammation;
• Improving immune function with concentrated enzymes;
• Supporting the autonomic nervous system with acidic/alkaline
minerals;
• Nutritionally supporting the endocrine system for proper
hormonal production.
There is a type of domino effect involved here. By improving
dietary intake, you eliminate nutritional stress. Using
plant-based enzymes with meals, the nutrients from food
will be better digested, transported and utilised and waste
will be more easily eliminated. When food is more completely
digested, the body gets the nutrients rather than the pathogenic
organisms.
Improving bowel elimination ensures a reduction in toxins
being re-absorbed through the bowels back into the blood
and lymph systems. This also prevents unwanted growth of
pathogenic organisms.
Inflammation can be caused by irritation from undigested
food both within the gut and in its passage into the surrounding
tissue. Leaky gut syndrome is the current name given to
this phenomenon. The one area where enzymes show consistent
results is in reducing inflammation. Well-documented studies
indicate enzymes resolve inflammation and pain in half the
normal time.7, 8, 9 If chronic inflammation exists anywhere,
the body develops stress in its attempts to resolve it.
Over time, this exhausts the adrenals and our immune system,
making it easier for detrimental outside influences to affect
the body adversely.
Enzymes
in Cardiovascular Disease
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in
the Western world. It is amazing that the dietary link still
evades the medical community. Doctors pay lip service to
a "healthy diet" and exercise as preventive measures.
Dietitians have even worked out a "food pyramid"
to help us make wise eating choices. Yet, in spite of the
best intentions, the death rate continues to rise and there
is no chance of its diminishing in the near future based
on the models we have. The food industry "fortifies"
food with some 11 "essential" nutrients including
B vitamins, calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron and sodium.
Yet, the very substances that would digest the food are
deliberately left out, destroyed for the sake of extended
shelf life.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the transportation
of food across a continent posed serious problems. How could
a company ship raw, uncooked food without spoilage? The
answer was to find a way to process the food and ship it
without rotting. In the early 1900s, salicylic acid (aspirin)
was used because it "prevented the action of enzymes
(unorganised ferments), like diastase, emulsion, and that
of mustard, also gastric digestion, fermentation by yeast,
ammoniacal fermentation of urine and the germination of
seeds".10 In other words, salicylic acid was "distinctly
antagonistic to most enzymes".11
So as early as 1903, aspirin was known to affect enzymes.
It was used in this way to preserve food for extended shelf-life.
As newer techniques for extending the shelf-life were discovered,
aspirin was discontinued. Is it not puzzling, then, knowing
how aspirin destroys most enzymes, that many patients are
told to take aspirin in the prevention of heart disease?
From the same reference, it is stated that salicylic acid
"has a disintegrating action on the blood corpuscles".
The blood-thinning properties of aspirin result from the
fact that it destroys red blood cells, causing fewer of
them to be found in the bloodstream!
The medical explanation of cardiovascular disease fails
to explain the picture fully because it is missing the major
piece of the puzzle. Medical research is funded with billions
of dollars to find the "cure". In spite of this,
triple-bypass surgery is covered by insurance while the
advice and wisdom of nutritionists is not. Prevention is
not practised because it does not bring in the revenue that
surgery, radiation and drugs do.
Much attention is paid to markers of potential heart disease.
The category of lipoproteins is a good example. Lipo means
"fat", and protein is self-explanatory. The four
principal classes are: high density (HDL), low density (LDL),
very low density (VLDL) and chylomicrons. Chylomicrons are
dietary triglycerides. VLDLs are endogenous (from within
the body) triglycerides, while LDL and HDL are both endogenous
cholesteryl esters. Lipoproteins are necessary for the transport
of lipids (fats). We are told it is healthy to have relatively
high HDL levels, but should have low cholesterol (LDL),
VLDL and triglyceride levels.
The endogenous group of lipoproteins is manufactured within
the body, but the raw material is still derived from the
fats and proteins we consume. Food must be digested in order
for the body to utilise it. The abnormal accumulation of
lipoproteins in the blood in a small percentage of the population
represents an autosomal dominant genetic trait. But in the
majority of people with cardiovascular issues, it is evidence
of incomplete digestion of fats and protein—accompanied
by the fact that people simply overeat. How can the body
properly eliminate unused fats and protein when there simply
is too much being taken in? The body must hide or store
this unusable waste. Some of it is stored in tissue and
some of it circulates. When the kidneys and colon cannot
eliminate enough waste, the skin compensates. The skin is
the largest eliminative organ. Skin eruptions are the attempts
to rid the body of waste.
Unfortunately, what circulates begins to adhere to the walls
of the blood vessels, clogging them up. Macrophages are
summoned to remove this accumulation, but cannot do so without
an adequate supply of enzymes. Enzymes produced by the macrophages
for their immune function are believed to be shifted to
digesting the cooked food. Obviously, this prevents the
breakdown of lipoproteins which continue to build up. Foam
cells associated with atherosclerosis are formed when overaccumulation
of fats occurs in macrophages.12, 13, 14, 15
Why has no one asked how this accumulation occurs? What
is the bigger picture? It is this author's opinion that
the accumulation transpires because cooked foods are not
completely digested in the stomach. These undigested remnants
cross the intestinal border into the blood and lymph, circulating
throughout. Over time, their accumulation leads to damaged
arterial tissue. Macrophages cannot break down the lipoproteins
due to the exhaustion of their own enzymes. Eating cooked
fats demands enzymes digesting them. Cooked foods must be
broken down, even at the expense of the cardiovascular system.
This daily assault of cooked foods drains lipase from many
sources, especially the immune and lymph systems.
Plant enzymes taken before meals completely digest food.
Therefore, no remnants can cross over into the blood. Having
prevented further accumulation of undigested food, one can
focus on removing the accumulated material. Enzymes taken
in between meals are taken up by the body and sent to work
in areas that need them the most. Enzymes will digest the
undesirable lipoproteins in the blood vessels without affecting
the vessels themselves. Reversal of cardiovascular disease
is a matter of improving digestion and modifying dietary
stress factors—in this case, fats and proteins.16, 17, 18,
19
Enzymes
and Immune Function
When metabolic enzymes have been constantly drained from
other organs and systems (particularly the immune system)
to digest cooked food, there will be little left during
an immune crisis, as in fever. Regrettably, sometimes the
temperature from a fever rises too rapidly, causing great
distress, such as seizures in children. If there is the
risk of febrile seizure in a child, suppressing the fever
with drugs such as ibuprofen or acetaminophen initially
may be the wise thing to do; but these drugs are known to
