Enzymes FAQ Page (Frequently Asked Questions) What are enzymes? What is meant by "nutrition"? Can enzymes help fight diseases? Can enzymes control obesity? Do some foods contain enzyme inhibitors? Can enzymes help fight allergies? Can enzymes lower cholesterol? Should children take enzymes? Does eating raw foods in a meal (like a salad) guarantee enough enzymes for total digestion of the complete meal? Can you overdose on enzymes? How can enzymes improve my health? Can pregnant women take enzymes? What are nutritional enzyme supplements made from? How do digestive enzymes work in the stomach? Does our body produce less enzymes as we get older? What effects will I notice if I take supplemental enzymes? Will taking supplemental enzymes interfere with other medicines? What are enzymes? Enzymes are protein molecules that are made by all plant and animal cells. Enzymes are catalysts.  A catalyst makes chemical reactions occur in a more optimum manner. Digestive enzymes cause food that we eat to be broken down much faster, and much more effectively,  than would occur without them. All cells require different enzymes for every chemical action and reaction that occurs in our body. There are several thousand different enzymes found in the human body. These enzymes can combine with co-enzymes to form nearly 100,000 various chemicals that enable us to see, hear, feel, move, digest food and think. Every organ, every tissue, and all the 100 trillion cells in our body depend upon the actions of enzymes.   What is meant by nutrition? Simply stated, nutrition is the body's ability to consume the 45 known nutrients in their proper amounts; digest these nutrients; absorb these nutrients; carry these nutrients into the cells; metabolize these nutrients; and eliminate the waste. The following is a list of the 45 known nutrients: Amino Acids Water Lipids (fats)    13 Vitamin Proteins    19 Carbohydrates    9 Minerals    4 Enzymes are responsible for digestion, absorption, transporting, metabolizing, and eliminating the waste of these nutrients. Can enzymes help fight diseases? Yes. There is a connection between the strength of our immune system and our enzyme level. The more enzymes we have, the stronger our immune system will be and the healthier and stronger we will be. For example, leukocytes (white blood cells) have eight (8) different amylase enzymes which assists the white blood cell to engulf foreign substances and reduce them to a form that the body can eliminate. Research has shown that leukocytes increase after one has eaten a cooked meal. This indicates a definite measure on the part of the body to transport more enzymes to the digestive tract for digestion. There is no increase in leukocytes after one has consumed a raw food meal. Research has shown that enzymes are related to all diseases via the immune system, whether the disease is acute or chronic. If the pancreatic output of enzymes is hindered, the whole body is affected. Therefore, we must eat raw foods or take supplemental enzymes to enable our body's immune system to fight against infections. Research has shown that people who have a chronic disease, or have low energy levels, also have lower enzyme content in their blood, urine, and tissues. While there is a direct relationship between disease and a person's enzyme levels, only recently has that relationship been understood. Researchers are investigating if a person's enzyme levels were low because they were sick or were they sick because their enzyme levels were low. The researchers found something surprising. A person does not have a low enzyme content because he/she is sick or aged, but instead, the reason a person may be sick or aged is because of low enzyme content.   Can enzymes control obesity? Very definitely. Obese individuals have been found to have a deficiency in the enzyme lipase. Lipase is found in abundance in raw foods. Cooking destroys lipase. Lipase is the enzyme that aids the body in the breaking down of fats. Without lipase, our fat stagnates and accumulates in our arteries which could lead to heart disease. Lipase also helps us to burn fat for energy. Cooked foods which have no enzymes will put weight on faster than raw foods. For example, pig farmers will not feed their pigs raw potatoes because the pigs will then stay lean. However, when the farmers feed the pigs boiled potatoes the pigs become fat. Another reason why enzymes reduce obesity is because cooked foods cause drastic changes in the size and appearance of the pituitary gland. Research has found that enzymes affect our hormone producing glands and hormones influence our enzyme levels. Cooked foods causes our pancreas, thyroid, and pituitary glands to exhaust their enzymes to digest our foods. This causes our body to become sluggish and weight is gained. Raw food calories are relatively non stimulating to glands and stabilize body weight more so than cooked food calories. Do some foods contain enzyme inhibitors? Yes. Tree nuts, seeds, beans, and grains contain enzyme inhibitors, along with a very active number of enzymes. But because enzymes are very active entities, nature had to put a rein on them and make them dormant until such a time as the seed could fall to the ground and be adequately covered with soil. This slowing down by nature could be called enzyme inhibition. However, nature will inactivate these enzymes inhibitors when moisture is absorbed by the seed that is covered with soil. This is the time the seed begins germinating (sprouting) to form a seedling. Eating too many nuts and seeds, which has an abundance of enzyme inhibitors, could cause Gl tract problems. So, you have only two options open to you: you can wait until the seed or nut begins germination, or you can take enzyme supplements with them to neutralize their enzyme inhibitors. Can enzymes help fight allergies? Many researcher theorize that being allergic to a raw food may be nature's way of telling us that the food's enzymes are incompatible with some unhealthy bodily condition, and the body's immune system is trying to destroy it. This confrontation between food enzyme and disease could result in the classic symptoms of itching, nasal discharges, and rashes. Scavenger enzymes are believed to patrol the blood and dissolve the waste that accumulates from the millions of metabolic reactions that takes place each second within each cell of the body. In fact, some of our scavenger enzymes are present in white blood cells. The main function of these enzymes include the attempt to prevent the arteries from clogging up and the joints from being filled with arthritic deposits. If the scavenger enzymes find the right substrate they latch on and reduce it to a form which the blood can eliminate. If these scavenger enzymes cannot handle the waste, nature causes some of the wastes to be thrown out through the skin, or membranes of the nose and throat, which produces the familiar symptoms that we call allergies. Other researchers believe that some allergies are caused by incompletely digested protein molecules. Allergies may be helped if certain enzymes are taken that can act as scavenger enzymes or as protein digestive enzymes. Since enzymes themselves are proteinaceous compounds, an allergic reaction is possible. Some individuals, particularly those sensitive to molds and penicillin, may experience nausea or gastric upset. If gastrointestinal sensitivity occurs, the use of enzyme products should be discontinued. Can enzymes lower cholesterol? Yes, in most individuals. Remember, cholesterol is a form of fat. Research has substantiated that consumed animal fats tend to cause cholesterol to settle in the arteries and cause atherosclerosis. However, it has also been found that the crystal clear "purified" vegetable oils (not heated) do not raise the blood cholesterol level. One answer for this might lie with the fact that lipase is found in these unheated vegetable oils. One researcher found that the tissue in obese humans has less lipase than the fat tissues in a thinner person which means that supplemental lipase may be needed. British researchers tested the enzymes in individuals with atherosclerosis to find the relationship between cholesterol and clogged arteries. They found that all enzymes became progressively weaker in the arteries as persons became older and also as the hardening became more severe. These researchers believe that a shortage of enzymes is part of a mechanism which allows cholesterol deposits to accumulate in the inner part of the arterial walls. Another researcher found a progressive decline in lipase in the blood of atherosclerotic patients with advancing middle and old age. Yet another researcher found that not only was lipase low in older persons, but that older atherosclerotic persons had slow fat absorption from the intestine. He also found that some absorbed fat was in the unhydrolyzed state. When he fed lipase extracted from animal pancreas to the older and younger persons he found a definite improvement in fat utilization. Think of the advantage of taking the enzyme lipase at the beginning of the meal to help in the predigestion of food. Can children take enzymes? Yes. Children usually eat the same enzyme deficient foods as their parents.  How many times have you noticed an obese child, only to see that the parents are obese as well? "Like Father - like Son" is an old, but true, saying.   Does eating raw foods in a meal (like a salad) guarantee enough enzymes for total digestion of the complete meal? The cells of all raw foods contain just enough live enzymes to digest THAT cell, and that cell only. There are no extra enzymes in raw food to digest cooked or processed food as well.  So, just because you eat a salad with your steak and baked potato, that won't help you digest the meat and starch. Can you overdose on enzymes? Data from over sixty years revealed that there has not been one report of side effects from enzyme consumption. More long term studies may be needed. How can enzymes improve my health? Purifies the blood. All pathogen (virus, fungus and bacteria) are made up of protein, or use a protein coating to protect themselves (as a virus does). The enzyme protease breaks down proteins, and since the invaders of our blood system are protein, it makes sense that ingesting protease could break down the protein invaders. Strengthens the immune system. Enzymes deliver nutrients to our cells, carry away toxic debris, digest our food, purify our blood, deliver hormones by feeding and fortifying our endocrine system and balance our cholesterol and triglycerides levels while doing no harm to our body Breaks down fats. The enzyme lipase breaks down and digests fat. This takes stress off our gallbladder, liver and pancreas. This will enhance weight loss. Enzymes lower cholesterol and triglycerides levels. Cholesterol and triglycerides are fats that circulate in our blood stream. The enzyme lipase will control the release of these fats which could protect us from certain forms of heart disease, like atherosclerosis. Enzymes enhance mental capacity. Our body uses glucose from the liver to feed and fortify the hypothalamus. Our red blood cells carry oxygen to the brain, along with glucose to feed the brain cells. When there is a dysfunction with this mechanism we become fatigued and are unable to think clearly. The hypothalamus directs our endocrine system and is responsible for our water balance, body temperature and appetite. Enzymes cleanse the colon. Foods that are not digested properly are stored in our colon and digestive problems can begin. Some researchers estimate that nearly 70% of all illness starts in our colon. Undigested protein putrefies, carbohydrates ferment, and fats turn rancid in our colon. Enzymes will break down our foods properly and keep our colon free of these toxins. Enzymes help us sleep. Enzymes enhance our endocrine glands. The under nourished endocrine system may create a malfunction in our hormonal system which can upset our nervous system and sleep patterns. When we are unable to digest our food or deliver the nutrients to keep our endocrine and nervous system in balance, we cannot rebuild our body or it's energy level. Enzymes help us shed excess weight and fat. Many overweight people have a metabolic imbalance. Remember, our endocrine system regulates our metabolism. Once we are able to fortify the endocrine system, have our bowels working regularly and can digest our food rather than turning it into fat, we have a successful combination. Enzymes, especially lipase, will break down our fats properly, which will help us bum fat, thus promoting weight loss. Improves aging skin. An adequate supply of enzymes is absolutely essential for keeping the skin young looking and healthy. Enzymes fight the aging process by increasing blood supply to the skin, bringing with it life giving nutrients and carrying away waste products that can make your skin look dull and wrinkled. Our circulation slows down as we get older. To counteract this we need to consume more enzymes. Maintains proper pH balance in our Gl tract. Friendly flora such as L. Acidophilus and bifidobacerium are important to the intestinal tract for maintaining proper pH and also for controlling the population of potential pathogenic organisms like clostridium and Candida. Enzymes have been proven to be very effective in the control of beneficial bacteria. Another role of beneficial bacteria is the actual synthesis of highly favorable natural chemicals in the colon through the fermentation process. These fermentive products include such molecular species as natural antibiotics and very importantly, digestive enzymes. These enzymes can play an extremely important role in the digestion of otherwise incompletely digested food substances, especially proteins. Enzymes maintain proper pH balance in the urine. Research has shown that a balance of the plant enzymes (lipase, protease, and amylase) eaten by individuals produce a proper urine pH of 6.3 to 6.6 in 24 hour urinalysis.   Can pregnant women take enzymes? Yes, if they are taking ONLY plant enzymes. Animal enzymes should not be taken by pregnant women.  There is a high risk of prenatal infection. What are nutritional enzyme supplements made from? Enzymes can be derived from either plant or animal sources.  Both are effective, though many people can't tolerate (physically, emotionally or religiously) animal products. Enzymes made from animal sources are usually derived from the pancreas or the gall bladder.  Ox Bile and Pepsin are such animal derived enzymes and are highly effective. Betaine HCL, Papain, Cellulase, Bromelain and Lactase are plant derived enzymes. Some digestive enzymes actually use enzymes from both groups, to "cover all bases". These are known as "wide spectrum digestive enzymes". INFINITY Super Enzymes fall into this catagory.  How do digestive enzymes work in the stomach? The stomach has two distinct divisions:  Fundus (upper part) and Pylorus (lower part). The eaten food remains in the upper part for approximately one hour. This is where predigestion takes place. The fundus is where digestive food enzymes begin to break down the food into carbohydrates, fats and protein. Raw foods supply their own digestive enzymes, thus saving the stomach from supplying all the enzymes. Cooked foods, which have no enzymes, must wait in the fundus until the stomach supplies the enzymes. Predigestion by food enzymes occurs in every creature on earth. The only exception is the human being on an enzyme free diet. The upper section has no peristalsis (movement of food), acid, or pepsin and therefore, if enzymes are not provided in the diet, only minimal digestion can occur. The lower stomach (pylorus) performs the second step in digestion, but of protein only. In the lower part of the stomach, pepsin (a powerful digestive enzyme) and hydrochloric acid continue the digestive process. The predigested food now enters the small intestine. Here, the pancreas and small intestine cells secrete their enzymes to further break down the food into glucose (carbohydrates), fatty acids (fats) and amino acids (proteins) for absorption into the villi (absorption cells in the small intestine). The human stomach is really two stomachs with separate functions. Our stomachs have been provided with the means of permitting outside enzymes to help with the burdens of digesting food. Thus, we don't have to make all of our own digestive enzymes to digest our food. This will allow us to make more metabolic enzymes as needed and make us more healthy. When we eat raw foods the enzymes in the food are activated by heat and moisture in the mouth. Once active, these enzymes digest a significant portion of our food and make it small enough to pass through the villi (small projections found in the small intestines) and into the blood. Metabolic enzymes found in the blood then take the digested 45 known nutrients and build them into muscles, nerves, bones, blood, lungs, and various glands. Every cell in the body depends on certain enzymes. Each enzyme has a specific function in the body which is referred to as enzyme specificity. A protein digestive enzyme will not digest a fat and a fat enzyme will not digest starch. Enzymes act upon chemicals and change them into another chemical, but remain unchanged themselves. Simply stated our chemicals are changed from their original identity by the enzyme to another chemical with a different identity. Without enzymes nothing in our body would work.   Does our body produce less enzymes as we get older? Bartos and Groh (researchers) enlisted 10 young men and 10 old men and used a drug to stimulate the pancreatic juice flow. The juice was then pumped out and tested. It was found that considerably less of the enzyme amylase was present in the pancreatic juices of older men. It was determined that the enzyme deficiency of the older group was due to exhaustion of the cells of the pancreas. Other research indicates that not only are there fewer enzymes in the pancreas but also in the trillion cells in our body as we age.  The pancreas must borrow these entities stored in the cells to make the enzyme complex. This could be a definition of "old age" because old age and debilitated metabolic enzyme activity are synonymous. If we postpone the debilitation of metabolic enzyme activity, then we might delay the aging process and possibly increase the life span to its genetic potential. What effects will I notice if I take supplemental enzymes? It depends. Enzymes are not "magic pills". Rather, they supplement the work of your body's organs and glands to completely digest the food you eat. Some people will notice a dramatic improvement in their energy levels and feeling of vitality. Others might notice significant improvement in the functioning of their digestive tract and relief of long term chronic conditions. Some people's recognition of improvement will be more subtle and gradual. It all depends on the underlying condition of deficiency and how quickly the imbalance can be corrected. Remember:  every body is different.   Will taking supplemental enzymes interfere with other medicines? Unless specified by your doctor, you may continue your supplemental enzymes, since they are organic products and are classified as food by the FDA. Find out what the Encyclopedia says about Enzymes See why our Super Enzymes are the best buy for your buck Back to our Enzymes page Go to Nutritional page. See all our products Question? Email us!     "These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. This product is not intended to diagnose, cure, prevent or treat any diseases." The above is a Government ORDERED statement. It is NOT based in either reality or sanity. Just like our Government. In a landmark decision on Friday, Jan. 15, 1999, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that the health claim rules imposed by the FDA unconstitutional and in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act. The court instructed the FDA to define "significant scientific agreement" for health claims on dietary supplement labels, and instructed the FDA to allow the use of disclaimers on labels rather than to suppress these claims outright. The court further held that four FDA Final rules (prohibiting certain nutrient disease relationship claims) invalid under the first Amendment to the Constitution.