Enzymes:
Part 1 of 3
Jon Barron In today’s newsletter, I’m going to talk about enzymes in general (this allows me to steal a lot of material from my book, Lessons from the Miracle Doctors). In the next two parts of this series, I’ll specifically cover digestive enzymes (including a discussion of the role hydrochloric acid and bile play in the digestive process), and I’ll cover proteolytic enzymes (including the “hot” enzymes "de jour", serrapeptase, nattokinase, and Seaprose-S). Although at first glance similar (and often used interchangeably), digestive enzymes and proteolytic enzymes are, in fact, very different in formulation, purpose, use, and effect. But before we get down to that level of detail, let’s talk about enzymes in general. Enzymes are proteins that facilitate chemical reactions in living organisms. In fact, they are required for every single chemical action that takes place in your body. All of your tissues, muscles, bones, organs, and cells are run by enzymes. Your digestive system, immune system, blood stream, liver, kidneys, spleen, and pancreas, as well as your ability to see, think, feel, and breathe, (in fact, the very functioning of each and every cell in your body) all depend on enzymes. All of the minerals and vitamins you eat and all of the hormones your body produces need enzymes in order to work properly. In fact, every single metabolic function in your body is governed by enzymes. Your stamina, your energy level, your ability to utilize vitamins and minerals, your immune system—all governed by enzymes. But where do enzymes come from? As it happens, they are produced internally (in every cell in your body, but most notably in the pancreas and the other endocrine glands), and they are present in all of the raw foods that we eat. At birth, we are endowed with a certain potential for manufacturing enzymes in our bodies, an enzyme “reserve,” if you will. Nature intended that we continually replenish that reserve through proper nutrition and eating habits. Unfortunately, that just doesn't happen. Let's take a look at why. Most people believe that when you eat a meal it drops into a pool of stomach acid, where it's broken down, then goes into the small intestine to have nutrients taken out, and then into the colon to be passed out of the body—if you're lucky. Not quite. What nature intended is that you eat enzyme rich foods and chew your food properly. If you did that, the food would enter the stomach laced with digestive enzymes. These enzymes would then "predigest" your food for about an hour—actually breaking down as much as 75% of your meal. After this period of "pre-digestion," hydrochloric acid is introduced. The acid inactivates all of the food-based enzymes, but begins its own function of breaking down what is left of the meal. Eventually, this nutrient-rich food concentrate moves on into the small intestine. Once this concentrate enters the small intestine, the acid is neutralized and the pancreas reintroduces digestive enzymes to the process. As digestion is completed, nutrients are passed through the intestinal wall and into the blood stream. That's what nature intended. Unfortunately, most of us don't live our lives as nature intended! Processing and cooking destroy enzymes in food. (Man is the only animal that cooks his food.) In fact, any sustained heat of approximately 1180-1290 F destroys virtually all enzymes. This means that, for most of us, the food entering our stomachs is severely enzyme deficient. Actually, there are enzymes present from our saliva. The amount, however, is minuscule since we only chew our food about 25% as much as is required. The result is that most of our meals enter our stomachs woefully devoid of enzymes. (It’s worth noting that the body tries desperately to compensate. Amylase levels in the saliva of people eating the typical western cooked/processed diet are as much as 40 times higher than that found in people eating a more natural diet. (The enzyme amylase is used by the body for digesting carbohydrates.) Since there are no enzymes in the food, it sits in the stomach for an hour, like a heavy lump, with very little pre-digestion taking place. At that point, stomach acid is introduced at high levels to compensate for the lack of pre-digestion (a major factor in the onset of acid reflux disease). But high levels of stomach acid cannot compensate for the lack of pre-digestion. So even after the stomach acid has done its work, the typical cooked/processed meal enters the small intestine largely undigested. At this point, the pancreas and the other organs of the endocrine system are put under tremendous stress since they have to draw reserves from the entire body in order to produce massive amounts of the proper enzymes. The less digestion that takes place before food reaches the small intestine, the greater the stress placed on the endocrine systems. Recent studies have shown that virtually 100% of people on the typical “western” diet have an enlarged pancreas by the time they are 40. Is it any wonder that the incidence of diabetes is exploding in the developed world? There is also major research showing that enzyme deficient diets contribute to a pathological enlargement of the pituitary gland (That's the gland that regulates all the other glands in the body.) And there is research showing that almost 100% of people over 50 who die from "accidental” causes have defective pituitary glands. The bottom line is that regular supplementation with digestive enzymes takes stress off the pancreas (and the entire body) by providing the enzymes required for digestion. In other words, digestive enzyme supplements may just be one of the best insurance policies you can give your body so you can enjoy a long and healthy life. In the next part of this series, we will look at digestive enzymes in more detail – and give you guidelines on how to choose the optimum formulation. (Don’t be suckered by enzymes that crank up protease numbers to “look” more powerful than competitive brands – unless you’re a lion, or on the “steak lover’s diet. Such enzymes will only marginally effective for most people. The simple fact is that you have to choose a formula designed for real world diets. Benefits from using supplemental digestive enzymes can include: A significant reduction in indigestion and
heartburn problems resulting from too much acid in the stomach. Reduced inflammation for, among other things
Watered down formulas So what does this have to do with digestive enzymes? Well, it's hard enough to stuff all of the enzyme activity you need into a 500 mg capsule, even packing it full to the brim with the highest quality enzymes. And yet, so many enzyme formulas, stuff their enzyme capsules with more herbs than enzymes because it looks good on the label. For example, I went on the net and randomly pulled up a major selling enzyme formula. It has just a little over 100 mg of enzymes in each capsule. It has 300 mg of herbs (nothing wrong with them except for the fact they have nothing to do with the purpose of the formula) and 100 mg of fillers. That means that with this formula, it will take you 5 capsules to get the enzyme activity you would get from just one properly designed capsule. Actual enzyme activity The internationally recognized and accepted standard for measurement is by Food Chemical Codex (FCC) Units. This is usually expressed in different activity units for each type of enzyme, as in: Protease - HUTs (Hemoglobin units, tyrosine
basis) First of all, unless you are on a "meat
lover's diet", you need far less protease than most of these
formulas contain. Protease: A minimum of 33,000 HUT should
be adequate for most meals. (Remember, you can always take a
second or third capsule for meals that require it.) pH ranges in which a formula works Most people believe that when you eat a meal it drops into a pool of stomach acid, where it's broken down, then goes into the small intestine to have nutrients taken out, and then into the colon to be passed out of the body. Not quite. What nature intended is that you eat enzyme rich foods and chew your food properly. If you did that, the food would enter the stomach laced with digestive enzymes. These enzymes would then "predigest" your food for about an hour -- actually breaking down as much as 75% of your meal. After this period of "predigestion," hydrochloric acid and pepsin are introduced. The acid inactivates all of the food-based enzymes (except the acid stable enzymes), but begins its own function of breaking down what is left of the meal. Eventually, this nutrient-rich food concentrate moves on into the small intestine. Once this concentrate enters the small intestine, the acid is neutralized and the pancreas reintroduces digestive enzymes to the process. As digestion is completed, nutrients are passed through the intestinal wall and into the blood stream. That's what nature intended. Unfortunately, most of us don't live our lives as nature intended! Processing and cooking destroy enzymes in food. This means that, for most of us, the food entering our stomachs is severely enzyme deficient. At first, the food sits there for an hour, like a heavy lump, with very little predigestion taking place. Even after the stomach acid has done its work, the meal enters the small intestine largely undigested. But gradually, we train our body's to respond more and more quickly with ever increasing amounts of stomach acid in an attempt to compensate for the lack of predigestion. The consequences are: Acid reflux which is caused by the high levels
of acid introduced too early in the process and splashing up
into the esophagus. Oftentimes, the mere act of using digestive
enzymes can eliminate acid reflux. Note while the use of prescription
and over the counter acid reflux drugs may help alleviate the
symptoms of acid reflux, they significantly aggravate the following
three problems. Animal VS Vegetable Their activity levels are more consistent And when do you take your enzymes? I've seen instructions that recommend taking enzymes after you eat your meal, but that makes no sense. The moment dead food enters the stomach, your body recognizes that it has no enzymes and starts pumping in stomach acid. If you have your enzymes after eating your meal, they will be rendered inactive by the stomach acid being pumped in and provide much less benefit -- at least until they are reactivated by the alkaline environment of the intestinal tract, but by then much of their value will be gone. On the other hand, if you take them too soon, they will clear the stomach and be absorbed into your bloodstream before they have a chance to help digest your food. The simple answer is to take them just before you start eating. This sends a signal to your body that enzymes are present and begins to train your body to hold back on the stomach acid for the 40-60 minutes that nature intended And if you forget to take your enzymes before you start eating, they can still be of use after you eat -- depending on the size of the meal and how heavy it is, and if your formula contains acid stable protease. In fact, you may find that you can still get great benefit taking enzymes 3-4 hours after eating a large heavy meat, starch, and fat meal -- you know, the kind that sits in the stomach like a giant piece of lead for for three days! HCL Dual action formulas In our next issue, I'm going to talk about proteolytic enzyme formulas. A good proteolytic formula can make a profound difference in the state of your health. I'll also talk briefly about the release of what I consider one of the most important formulas that I've been involved with in the last five years -- the strongest proteolytic formula available in the world today. Enzymes: Part
3 of 3 In order to understand proteolytic enzymes, it's important to once again (at the risk of repeating myself) touch on what enzymes are. Enzymes are proteins that facilitate chemical reactions in living organisms. In fact, they are required for every single chemical action that takes place in your body. All of your tissues, muscles, bones, organs, and cells are run by enzymes. Your digestive system, immune system, bloodstream, liver, kidneys, spleen, and pancreas, as well as your ability to see, think, feel, and breathe, (in fact, the very functioning of each and every cell in your body) all depend on enzymes. All of the minerals and vitamins you eat and all of the hormones your body produces need enzymes in order to work properly. In fact, every single metabolic function in your body is governed by enzymes. Your stamina, your energy level, your ability to utilize vitamins and minerals, your immune system -- all governed by enzymes. The vast majority of metabolic enzymes in the body -- the enzymes that regulate everything from liver function to the immune system -- are proteases, or proteolytic enzymes -- enzymes that regulate protein function in the body. When we continually eat foods that are enzyme dead (cooked or processed), we force the body to divert its production of enzymes away from proteolytic enzymes designed to govern metabolic functions into proteolytic enzymes designed to break down dead proteins in our diets. The health consequences of this diversion are enormous. Conversely, the health benefits of supplementing with proteolytic enzymes are profound. And by supplementing, I mean Supplementing with "digestive" proteolytic
enzymes at meals to ease the burden on the body so that it no
longer has to divert its resources Reduced inflammation: Inflammation is a natural
response of the body to injury. However, excessive inflammation
retards the healing process. Proteolytic enzymes reduce inflammation
by neutralizing the bio-chemicals of inflammation (bradykinins
and pro-inflammatory eicosanoids) to levels where the synthesis,
repair and regeneration of injured tissues can take place. Reducing
inflammation can have immediate impact on improved heart health,
cancer prevention and recovery, and Alzheimer's prevention. It
also helps speed up recovery from sprains, strains, fractures,
bruises, contusions, surgery -- and arthritis. First, it needs a lot of protease. You want
at least 200,000 HUT. This is far more than you will ever find
in a digestive formula. 300,000 HUT is even better. (Note: fungal
(vegetarian based) protease is merely rendered inactive by stomach
acid, not destroyed. As soon as it passes into the alkaline environment
of the intestinal tract it reactivates -- and if not needed for
digesting food, makes its way into the bloodstream. In other
words, for use in a proteolytic enzyme formula, it does not need
to be protected from stomach acid.) It's manufactured in Japan and is of consistent
high quality Regular use of proteolytic enzymes can be
an invaluable addition to your daily health program.
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