the MISSING PIECE of the EQUATION - enzymes in well-being and proper function of digestive organs

Vegetarian Times, Oct, 2000 by Robin Westen, Janet Webb

Enzyme Hazards

It's important to make sure your diet contains ample portions of enzymes because deficiencies can easily occur. As we age, many believe that the body's production of enzymes dwindles dramatically. For example, the amount of amylase present in an average 25-year-old's saliva is 30 times more abundant than in a 65-year-old's. This is why many people experience digestive woes for the first time in their 40s. "Around age 45, the quantity of our body's enzymes decreases and so does the quality," says Loomis, who also wrote Enzymes: The Key to Health (Grolee Publishing, 1999). "Our cells just don't have enough energy to maintain production."

To complicate the matter, a number of environmental factors can also destroy enzymes. Among them are pesticides and food heated above 118 degrees--a temperature lower than what's required to bake a casserole. Other zappers, Lee says, include water fluoridation and food irradiation.

Because of these many hazards, enzyme therapists believe most people would benefit from taking multidigestive enzyme supplements containing a full range of enzymes. This is especially true, stresses Loomis, for people who eat a lot of cooked, processed or nonorganic foods that have been sprayed with pesticides. Vegetarians must be careful to avoid supplements derived from animal products, often listed as "pancrean" on the ingredients label. Vegetarian-safe supplements are called "plant-harvested," though Loomis believes some popular plant-derived supplements, like those made from papaya and pineapple, are ineffective. Bromelain, derived from pineapple, and papain, from papaya, work best in environments warmer than normal body temperature. Plant enzymes from aspergillis, a type of mushroom, create some of the highest-quality supplements because they do work at body temperature, says Loomis, who also founded 21st Century Nutrition, a Madison, Wis.-based company that produces enzyme supplements.

Bite by Bite

There's another school of thought that asks, in essence, Why bother taking supplements when you can get all the enzymes you need from your diet? David Wolfe is a teacher, author and vocal advocate for a small but growing movement that feels the key to optimal health and longevity is eating at least 80 percent raw foods. He says digestive enzymes start breaking down in temperatures above 104 degrees and are destroyed at 118 degrees. "The consequences of eating a predominantly cooked-foods diet are many, from enlargement of the pancreas [pancreatic hypertrophy] to allergies and toxic colon," says Wolfe, author of The Sun Food Diet Success System (Maul Brothers, 2000). Yet some experts say a diet of mostly raw foods may create different problems. Lee, the enzyme therapist, suggests taking the middle ground by incorporating more raw foods into your diet and eating enzyme-rich snacks.

As if the raw vs. cooked foods debate weren't confusing enough, there are other health practitioners who believe enzyme deficiency isn't even a valid health concern in the first place. "Enzyme deficiency is an extremely rare condition--if it exists at all," asserts Steven Peikin, M.D., chairman of the gastroenterology department in New Jersey's Camden Hospital and author of Gastro-Intestinal Health (HarperCollins, 1999). "Our bodies possess a veritable powerhouse of enzymes, which will last until we're dead. In fact, the pancreas makes tenfold in excess of the enzymes we need," he says. Peikin's view is not unusual among conventional physicians. He does admit, however, that the body doesn't have the enzymes to digest some high-fiber foods like legumes.