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Selected Enzyme Research

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Listed below are brief summaries of some of the findings from enzyme research. This information is excerpted from The Healing Power of Enzymes by DicQie Fuller, Ph.D., D.Sc. To purchase this book and learn more about how enzyme supplements can turn your life around, click here.

Research found thirty times more enzymes in the saliva of young adults than in that of persons sixty-nine years of age.
Howell, E. Enzyme Nutrition. Avery Publishing Co. 1985

Researchers have also found higher levels of amylase in the urine of young adults as compared to older adults.
Ivy, A., Schmidt, C., Beazell, J.. Journal of Nutrition. 12:59-83. 1936

Bartos and Groh enlisted ten young men and ten older men for a study in which they used a drug to stimulate the pancreatic juice flow. The juice was then pumped out and tested. The researchers discovered that considerably less of the enzyme amylase was present in the pancreatic juices of the older men.
Bartos and Groh. Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine 37:613-615.

Other research indicates that not only are there fewer enzymes in the pancreas. But also in the trillions of cells in our bodies as we age.
Ivy, A., Schmidt, C., Beazell, J.. Journal of Nutrition. 12:59-83. 1936

Research on rats given supplemental enzymes showed that the supplemented rats had more enzymes than the control group of rats, clearly indicating the existence of a fixed enzyme potential. The enzyme-fed rats lived three years in comparison to two years for those rats fed an enzyme-free diet.
Howell, Edward. Food Enzymes for Health and Longevity. Lotus Press, 1994.

Research done on rats and chickens that were fed cooked foods revealed that the pancreas gland enlarged to handle the extra burden of the enzyme-deficient diet. Hence, the animals got sick and failed to grow. The pancreas is responsible for making and secreting many digestive enzymes. Our pancreas will enlarge when called upon to process more enzymes or digest cooked food. Ruminant animals such as cattle, goats, deer and sheep get along with pancreas about a third as large as ours because of their raw food diet. However, when these animals are fed heat-processed, enzyme-free food, their pancreas enlarged up to three times the normal size than when fed on a raw plant diet.
Grossman, M. Greengard, H, Ivy, A. American Journal of Physiology. 141:38-41, 1944

The following information is excerpted from a Transformation Enzyme Corporation white paper titled "Oral Enzymes: Facts and Concepts" by Dr. Mahamane Mamadou, Ph.D.

Effect of Oral Enzymes on the Immune System
Another molecule that directly impacts in the modulation of the immune system is alpha 2-macro-globulin. High concentrations of free alpha 2-macroglobulin in the blood hinders the activity of the immune system (Hubbard et al., 1987). However, when oral enzymes are taken and absorbed into the blood stream, they bind to the alpha 2-Macroglobulin, and thus reduce the concentrations of free alpha 2-macroglobulin. This reduction of alpha 2-macroglobulin has been shown to boost the immune system. Oral proteases and amylases have also been reported to modulate the secretion of cytokines (Desser et al., 1993). Cytokines are important immune messenger molecules that control the effectors immune cells. Additionally, oral enzymes help modulate and control cell adhesion molecules, receptors and other messenger molecules that tend to inhibit the immune system and/or provide anchor to metastatic cancer cells (Targoni et al., 1999).

• Desser, L., Rehberger, A., et al. 1993: Cytokine production in human peripheral blood mono-nuclear cells after oral administration of the polyenzyme preparation Wobenzyme. Int. J. of Cancer Res. and Treatment 50:403.
• Targoni, O.S., Tary-Lehmann, M., and Lehmann, P.V., 1999: Prevention of murine EAE by oral hydrolytic enzyme treatment. Journal of Autoimmunity 12:191.

Effect of Oral Enzymes on Other Human Health Conditions
The application of enzymes in clinical studies has encompassed various disease conditions, and the results have proven to be better therapeutic agents or at least equally effective as other conventional forms of treatments.

However, as enzymes have been shown to have fewer to absent side effects, their use may be a safer alternative. Some of the conditions where clinical enzyme studies were conducted include:

• ovarian cancer (Lahousen, 1995);
• herpes zoster (Kleine, 1993);
• acute sinusitis (Rayn, 1967);
• chronic pancreatitis (Isaakson, 1983);
• chronic fatigue syndrome (Wilke, 1992; Ho-Yen, 1991);
• prevent rejection of heart allograft (Gaciong et al., 1996); and
• multiple myeloma (Sakalova, 1993);

This is just a brief list of areas where enzymes have been implicated as treatment agents. There are several other physiological, biochemical disorders as well as infectious diseases where enzymes have been proven to provide therapeutic benefits. The different roles of oral proteases are being continuously investigated in relation to various diseases and cancers, such as breast cancer, prostate cancer, AIDS, and other immune system disorders.

As indicated by the clinical data cited, the use of hydrolytic enzymes as therapeutic agents has been proven effective in many areas. Enzymes could be used alone or in combination with other medicinal agents to prevent and alleviate health disorders. Oral proteases perform most of their action as active adjuvants to "biological response modifiers" (BRM).

• Lahousen, M. 1995: Wien med. Wschr. 145:663.
• Kleine, M.W., 1993: A comparison between oral hydrolytic enzyme combination and oral acyclovir as therapy of acute zoster. J. Eur. Acad. Dermatol. Venereal. 2:296.
• Rayn, R.E., 1967: A double-blind clinical evaluation of bromelain in the treatment of acute sinusitis. Headache 7:13.
• Isaakson, J.I., and Ihse, I., 1983: Pain reduction by oral pancreatic enzyme preparation in chronic pancreatitis. Digest Dis. Sci. 28:97.
• Wilke, W.S., 1992: Chronic fatigue and immune dysfunction. Cleveland Clin. J. Med. 59:123.
• Ho-Yen, D.O., Billington, R.W., and Urquhart, J., 1991: Natural killer cells and the post viral fatigue syndrome. Scand. J. Infect. Dis. 23:711.
• Gaciong, Z., Paczek, L., et al., 1996: Beneficial effect of proteases on allograft arteriosclerosis in a rat aortic model. Nephro. Dial. Transplant. 11:987.
• Sakalova, A., Holomanova, D., et al., 1993: Prognostic value of plasma cell immunophenotype in patients with multiple myeloma. Neoplasma 40:351.