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"They changed my life." That's what patients often tell Ellen Cutler, DC, after incorporating digestive enzymes into their daily nutritional routine. Why such dramatic results? "Enzymes are essential to life," says Cutler, author of MicroMiracles: Discover the Healing Power of Enzymes and a health professional, who has been using enzymes to treat many types of conditions for more than 25 years.
"Even if you eat good food every day," she says, "if you don't digest it properly, undigested food can actually seep from the small intestine into the bloodstream, and the immune system reacts." Lack of energy and digestive discomfort are among the first symptoms, but there are many others.
Poor digestion also speeds up the aging process.
Enzymes are, by definition, catalysts that enable molecules to be changed from one form into another. Digestive enzymes enable food to be broken down into nutrients in our bodies to produce energy, and repair and maintain our physical structure and function.
In nature, raw fruits and vegetables contain enzymes necessary for their digestion. For example, a raw apple theoretically contains the enzymes necessary for our bodies to utilize its nutrients; however, if the apple is grown in nutrient-depleted soil, its enzyme content will be below par. And if the fruit becomes apple pie, sauce, or pasteurized juice, its enzymes are completely destroyed by heat.
Our bodies also produce digestive enzymes. However, says Cutler, "If we don't eat a predominantly raw food diet and don't chew well, we don't get enzymes from food, and our bodies can't produce enough." Given that most of the food Americans consume is not raw fruits and vegetables grown in nutrient-rich soils, most people could benefit from enzyme supplements.
Each type of food, such as proteins, sugars, starches, and fats, requires a specific type of enzyme, so it's best to get a formula that covers all the bases (see "Top 10 Enzymes," below). In addition, protease, which enables efficient protein digestion, can be used as a separate supplement to alleviate autoimmune and inflammatory conditions and pain. Customized enzyme therapy is used by some health practitioners to treat many health conditions, including cancer.
Digestive enzymes can also alleviate a major factor that increases risk for disease, excess weight, and obesity. "If you start digesting your food," says Cutler, "your body will be getting nutrients it never got, and you will feel balanced with less food."
Unlike other supplement labels, those for enzymes don't usually state quantities by weight (milligrams or grams) or by international units. Instead, they indicate potency of each enzyme, with a number followed by an alphabet soup of letters that can be quite confusing, as the letter combination is different for each enzyme. Although you don't have to return to science class to benefit from these supplements, it helps to understand what the numbers and letters represent.
The number next to each enzyme signifies "active units" of that enzyme. "An 'active unit' is a measurement that describes how much of a given food an enzyme has the potential to break down," explains Tom Bohager, author of Enzymes: What the Experts Know.
The letters following the number of active units are a bit more complex. Each enzyme gets its own abbreviation, such as DU or HUT, to describe a specific type of test used to measure its potency. Bohager gives these examples: Protease (for digesting proteins) is measured by HUT, an abbreviation for "hemoglobin units in a tyrosine base." Amylase (for digesting starches) is measured by DU, an abbreviation for "dextrinizing units." While these phrases may seem like distracting jargon to most of us, to the scientifically savvy, they convey relevant information about how potency was determined.
In practice, says Bohager, the measure of potency is an approximation, because in a lab, a technician tested the enzyme in an environment that was much more controlled than the real world of your digestive system. However, the measurements are helpful for comparing products.
When reading labels, look at which enzymes are included in a product and aim for a comprehensive blend. And, you can use the number of active units to compare potency in different formulas. If you notice that one product, unlike others, uses different letters for a given enzyme, you might want to ask store staff for more information, to make sure you're comparing oranges to oranges. Once you've chosen a product, follow its usage directions.
