Pancreatic Enzymes

Most nutrients enter the bloodstream from the small intestine, a coil some 6 metres long with a total absorption area roughly the size of a tennis court. After the stomach, the small intestine is the next stop along the digestive tract. Food (whether protein, fat or carbohydrate) is absorbed successfully here only if first broken down by pancreatic enzymes. Gas or bloating an hour or so after eating may signal a lack of these substances, but again, the best way to know is to take a laboratory test.
While enzymes that are derived from animals may be somewhat more effective, those derived from plants are better tolerated and remain active throughout the gastrointestinal tract. Animal-derived pancreatic enzymes work only in the alkaline environment of the small intestine; plant enzymes are also activated in acidic and neutral settings.

– The failure to digest food will frequently lead to serious problems coming from an opposite direction. Many times we absorb large undigested particles, called macromolecules, which can do serious damage to our health. The condition, called ‘leaky gut syndrome’, leads to common problems such as food allergies, colitis and immune system weakness.

– A fungal enzyme (the one best studied comes from Aspergillus oryzae) seems best equipped to correct the leaky gut phenomenon. It benefits the many gluten-intolerance, lactose-intolerance, food allergy and malabsorption-based symptoms that are so prevalent. In addition, it even helps dissolve clots in blood vessels, making it a candidate to replace standard anticoagulant therapy.

SYSTEMIC ENZYME THERAPY

The three-thousand-plus enzymes in our bodies do more than digest food. They contribute to building DNA, reducing inflammation, strengthening immunity and fighting cancer, among other activities. Proteolytic enzymes, which digest protein, are of special therapeutic renown. The subject of some twenty-five years of research, much of it done in Germany, where they became known collectively as Wobenzyme therapy, the enzymes can foster healing in such problems as arthritis, immune insufficiency, pancreatitis and certain sports injuries. Early laetrile investigators, followed by successful alternative cancer specialists such as William Donald Kelley, DDS, and Nicholas Gonzalez, MD, all incorporated these pancreas-derived enzymes into their anticancer protocols, and our doctors at the Atkins Center now administer them routinely to fight malignancies.

Achieving better digestion is not the objective here. If present in the bloodstream at a high round-the-clock level, according to the theory, pancreatic enzymes can erode the shield that tumour cells use to guard themselves from the immune system.

A similar mechanism may work against autoimmune diseases. Taking my lead from German research demonstrating some help in controlling the acute setbacks suffered by many people with multiple sclerosis, I lob a preotolytic salvo whenever a flare-up strikes one of my MS patients. Many times the response is quick and dramatic.

Severe diseases such as cancer and MS require enzyme dosages that are extremely high. I may prescribe six to twenty tablets of crudely refined animal pancreas extracts so as to provide maximum potency in treating these patients. For digestive uses one or two capsules of pancreatic enzymes with each meal is an appropriate dose. I must warn you that there is considerable variation from product to product. Therefore giving dosage advice might prove misleading.