All about enzymes

Enzymes are protein molecules that are manufactured by all plant and animal cells. All cells require enzymes to survive and function. Enzymes are catalyst, which means that they make chemical reactions go faster, but are not changed by the reaction. For example, digestive enzymes cause food that we eat to be broken down much faster than would occur without them, but they are not broken down in the reaction they are speeding up.

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 clearly a direct relationship between disease states and a person's enzyme levels, only recently has the NATURE of that relationship been better understood. In fact, which is the cause and which is the effect?
Researchers began to question 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. As a result, the "Old Concept" has recently been replaced by a "New Concept": A person does not have low enzyme content because he/she is sick or aged, but instead, the reason a person may be sick or aged is because of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.

Importance of Enzymes
Enzymes are one of the most essential elements in your life. Enzymes are more important than the air you breath, the water you drink, and the food you eat. Why is this? Enzymes are required for your body to function properly - really to function at all. Without enzymes you wouldn't be able to breath, swallow, drink, eat, nor digest your food. To do all of these things you need assistance to help do the work for you. You must have enzymes to help perform these tasks. Enzymes are an absolute necessity to live.

Enzymes are our body's worker.
They are responsible for constructing, synthesizing, carrying, dispensing, delivering, and eliminating the many ingredients and chemicals our body uses in its daily business of living. Your body makes enzymes. When you were young, you had an abundant supply of enzymes. You felt great. Your energy level seemed never ending. In effect you had "enzymes to burn," all that was required to keep you running at tip top efficiency. As time goes by, you S L O W L Y begin to lose this efficiency. For years you don't even notice that you can't do what you think you can do. Less able to eat the spicy foods you love; less able to recover as quickly from the aches and pains of weekend sports or even just daily living; reduced stamina. This reduced vitality signals a weakened and compromised immune system.
You aren't getting old, you're just running out of the enzymes you need to fuel your life.The process of depleting your enzymes is a slow one, and most likely you didn't notice your energy and vitality disappearing until one day something you once loved to do was suddenly too much work. You aren't getting too old to enjoy life, you are running our of enzymes that would ensure you the energy you need to enjoy life. What you have always thought was the inevitable process of aging is neither necessary nor inevitable. You simply need to restore your enzyme potential.

The reason why we are running out of enzymes is a LIFESTYLE PROBLEM.

Our poor dietary habits, fast food obsessions, and excessive intake of fat and sugars, all require excessive amounts of enzymes. Stress kills and damages cells, resulting in our enzyme-making machinery having to work overtime to help rebuild and replace them. Environmental pollution causes continuous cellular insult and damage requiring the ongoing assistance from enzymes just to maintain a healthy immune system. And time is a big factor. Time and the process of living uses up enzymes that must be replaced if we expect to retain the healthy active life style we have grown accustomed to. Every one of these factors diminishes our body's capacity to act, to do, to feel the way we want to feel; and, as many reputable scientists will tell you, can even shortens your life.

ENZYMES are ESSENTIAL

They are so essential that without enzymes you will die. In fact many researchers now view the aging process and death itself as nothing more than an enzyme potential which has decreased to a level where the living organism can no longer be repaired and maintained in its existing environment. We can slow down this trend by fortifying our body with supplemental digestive enzymes. We can help reverse this inevitable downward spiral in our body's efficiency; a spiral created by a growing shortage of available enzymes.
Make no mistake, this is a trend that occurs in both young and old. Simply because you are younger and are not yet feeling the decline does not mean that spiral has not begun. The trend is certain; your enzyme potential is dropping. But, there is much you can do about this. The sooner you start, the quicker you begin to restore and extend the vitality you remember you once had. If you still think you have it, you might be surprised what you have ever so slowly lost without knowing it -until you get it back. And, if you're young enough not yet to have lost it, then here's a way to keep it.

Supplemental digestive enzymes are win-win for all ages. The research is clear and the case studies are indisputable. To better understand digestive enzymes, we must first understand the role of NUTRITION in our health. Most illness, pain and suffering is the result of a DIETARY MISTAKE resulting in or causing toxemia inside of the body. Knowing Your Essential Nutrients Nutrition is the body's ability to use and metabolize the 45 known essential nutrients in their proper amount. In addition to carbohydrates, fat (lipids), protein, and water, there are 9 kinds of amino acids, 13 kinds of vitamins, and 19 kinds of minerals. Once consumed, the food containing these nutrients must be digested meaning they must be broken apart and reduced to a state that the nutrients can be absorbed into and transported by the blood stream to all parts of the body. Our body's cells are programmed to direct each nutrient to combine and interact with other nutrients and chemicals to create still other chemicals and compounds which in turn are used to build and repair the body's cells, bones, tissue, and organs. The process is called metabolism. Each metabolic reaction is started, controlled, and terminated by enzymes. Without enzymes, no metabolic activity will occur. A body that does not consistently and efficiently metabolize the 45 essential food nutrients necessary for life will fair poorly, incur deficiencies and disease, age prematurely, and ultimately die earlier.

As was established earlier, enzymes are the body's workers. They are responsible for crafting and creating body parts from raw materials. They start with these raw materials, the 45 essential nutrients, and fabricate them into the thousand of parts our body must have to function properly. As long as there are plenty of raw materials and skilled craftsmen available to maintain our cells, organs, and tissues and to make the needed repairs and keep our immune system strong, then our enzymes are fulfilling their mission and we can expect to enjoy a long and healthy life.

Enzymes can be classified into three major categories.

DIGESTIVE ENZYMES, FOOD ENZYMES, METABOLIC ENZYMES.

METABOLIC ENZYMES run the body. They exist throughout the body; in the organs, the bones, the blood, and inside the cells themselves. These Enzymes are instrumental in the growth of new cells and the maintenance of all tissue.
Every organ and tissue has its own group of specialized enzymes. They are trained to run and maintain their host. When these enzymes are healthy, robust, and present in adequate numbers, they do an excellent job carrying out their mission.

The two kind of enzymes we are concentrating on here are DIGESTIVE ENZYMES and FOOD ENZYMES. These two are active only within our digestive system. These enzymes have only one job, both types digest our food.
DIGESTIVE ENZYMES are made by our body's organs. Digestive enzymes are secreted by the Salivary Glands, Stomach, Pancreas, and the Small Intestine.
FOOD ENZYMES are already present within the food we eat. Food enzymes exist naturally in raw food. If the food is cooked, however, the high temperature involved in the cooking process will destroy the enzymes. Digestive enzymes and food enzymes basically serve the same function, that is, to digest our food so it can be absorbed through the walls of the small intestine into the blood stream. From this viewpoint the only real difference between food enzymes and digestive enzymes is where they came from - from inside our body or from the food we eat. Metabolic enzymes are left to run all other parts of our body and are internally generated.