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Enzymes are the spark of life–they run your entire body. You could not digest or absorb food, walk, talk or even breathe without them. Enzymes are living substances that must be activated by a certain pH range, a certain temperature range, moisture and co-enzymes (vitamins and minerals).

Vitamins and minerals are familiar to most people, but they don't realize that vitamins aren't activated until they join enzymes. You can swallow pounds of vitamins and minerals but without enzymes, nothing works and you're wasting your money.

For 10 years I have used only plant (food) enzymes in my practice because they initiate the work of digestion in the stomach. They also work in the small intestine and blood.

All people need plant enzymes. Unlike drugs, which control body chemistry, these enzymes enhance the nourishment of the body so it can heal itself. Enzymes will not interfere with drugs already being taken, but they may allow the prescribed dosage to be decreased.

Many doctors believe that you can't take enzyme supplements because they're destroyed in the stomach. That isn't true–they're merely deactivated by the stomach's acidity. When the food and the deactivated enzymes reach the small intestine, the body's alkaline reserve reactivates these enzymes at a higher, more alkaline pH. This is where pancreatic enzymes join activated plant enzymes.

Plant enzymes help you absorb and assimilate your food. When your body functions properly, food is digested into tiny particles of nutrition that go into your blood and then into your cells. If you lack any of the necessary enzymes, however, this doesn't happen. People need to eat right and take enzymes or they will never get a sufficient amount. Unfortunately, few people do either one.

Living Food

Modern methods of cooking destroy the enzymes in our food. If you eat only devitalized food and take no additional enzymes, your pancreas has to do all the work of digestion and your entire metabolic enzyme system is drained.

People need to eat more raw foods, which have the enzymes still intact. Edward Howell, MD, the father of enzyme research, discovered that people who eat a large proportion of raw foods do not get as ill and are able to recover from illness more quickly than those who eat mostly cooked food.

If your body can't break food down properly, it's lacking enzymes. Particles of undigested food sit in your stomach and intestines and enter directly into your blood. Whatever you don't digest becomes a poison.

Your body sends out antibodies to get rid of this material. The particles of undigested food often land in soft tissues and cause inflammation, which can lead to bacteria build-up and disease. A hundred different conditions, from acne to cancer, can begin this way.

Disease Connection

There is an enzyme deficiency associated with every condition I treat. Enzyme supplements clean your blood by eating harmful bacteria, viruses and debris. Once a person gets the right enzymes, the symptoms of their condition go away. For example, the vomiting that often accompanies pregnancy can be treated with enzymes. The lack of certain enzymes causes very specific problems. A lack of sugar-digesting enzymes–sucrase, maltase and lactase–can lead to severe problems such as diarrhea and asthma. The lack of these enzymes has also been linked to attention-deficit disorder, mood swings, violent behavior and other mental and emotional problems.

People who are deficient in protease, the protein-digesting enzyme, tend to be anxious and have low blood sugar. They usually also have edema (abnormally large amounts of fluid in the tissue) and suppressed immune systems. Protease is a major enzyme in the immune system, so 1 use protease supplements to treat all types of bacterial and vital infections.

I give protease and other enzymes to people with cancer or AIDS. The enzymes improve their conditions, although they don't cure them. Even if you only have a month to live, you can live better and in less pain with enzymes.

Dr Howard Loomis, the foremost living expert in enzyme research, had a woman bring in her little boy who couldn't walk, talk or hear. Another doctor had told her that her son was a lost cause and should be institutionalized.

Dr Loomis put him on enzymes, including protease, and in a few weeks the fluid cleared in the boy's ears and he was able to hear and speak.

A large percentage of my clients have been told by their doctors that they have mental problems and need antidepressants because their doctors couldn't find anything physically wrong with them. I have never believed that people just go nuts.

I believe that abnormal brain chemistry leading to mental problems is a direct result of abnormal body-chemistry, poor nutrition and hormonal imbalances. All of these can be corrected with enzyme therapy. When given the proper enzymes, the brain can heal itself.

Reprinted with permission from Health News, Vol. 4, No. 3, Triple R Publishing, Inc, Copyright June 1998.

Dr Lee works as a writer, lecturer and enzyme therapist.

Source: alive #208, February 2000