Enzyme therapy, known for its remarkable impact, proves highly effective in treating various conditions. Whether it’s blood vessel disorders, respiratory ailments, or musculoskeletal issues, enzyme therapy can yield results comparable to those achieved in treating rheumatism, multiple sclerosis, or cancer. The extensive scope of this treatment can be attributed to its ability to bolster the immune system, minimizing the likelihood of any disease persisting.
Enzyme therapy is based on ancient knowledge
One of the oldest written sources that have survived on enzyme therapy comes from the Old Testament of the Bible.
Primitive people, especially those who are blessed with enzyme-rich plants such as pineapple and papaya, have also used enzymes for healing purposes since time immemorial.
And even today, the isolated enzymes of these plants and fruits are used extremely successfully in combination with other enzymes for countless diseases – not least because a large number of scientific studies have long since confirmed the diverse mode of action of these enzyme combinations.
Enzyme therapy has an impressive effect on a wide variety of diseases. This can be explained by the fact that every type of disease is always based on an enzyme deficiency or a lack of enzymatic activity.
If too few enzymes are present, important metabolic processes are blocked. If the enzymes present lack essential accompanying substances, they can no longer perform their tasks properly.
Enzymes are the basis for liveliness
Without enzymes, there would be no life, at least on our planet – neither human, nor animal, nor plant, because enzymes are involved in all metabolic reactions of living organisms.
Enzymes have a regulating effect on all areas of the body in the human organism and thus enable it to maintain its homeostasis, i.e. its healthy balance, on the one hand, and to heal itself on the other.
Without enzymes, for example, the digestion of carbohydrates, fats or proteins would be impossible. Nor could vitamins, minerals or hormones perform their tasks in the body.
Enzymes ensure the detoxification of the body as well as the healing of wounds. Also, the transmission of stimuli as well as their transmission via the nervous system works only through the presence of enzymes.
Without enzymes, we would not be able to breathe or move. Even cell division would not function without the presence of enzymes, so life without enzymes would not be possible for this reason alone.
The lifetime of enzymes is limited
Enzymes are very special protein molecules whose special feature is that they act as catalysts. In this capacity, they control all biochemical reactions by either inhibiting or accelerating the individual metabolic processes.
They perform this without changing themselves or dying afterward. Thus, after the work has been completed, enzymes are once again ready to perform their next task.
However, the lifespan of each protein is limited – including that of the enzymes.
Some enzymes are only functional for about 20 minutes. Others, on the other hand, remain active for several weeks and months.
As soon as an enzyme shows strong signs of wear and tear and can therefore no longer be useful to the body, it is broken down and dissolved by another, healthy enzyme.
The removal of its “remains” via the blood or lymphatic circulation is then carried out by other enzymes specializing in this field.
Enzymes communicate with each other
From this perfect interplay of differently specialized enzymes, it becomes clear that enzymes are connected to each other and communicate with each other.
This communication is also evident in the fact that most reactions are not controlled by a single enzyme, but require the cooperation of several enzymes.
In precisely connected stages, the so-called enzyme cascades, an enzyme activates its successor. This process is repeated until the intended effect is achieved.
Enzymes need vitamins and minerals
In order to keep all body cells healthy throughout life, the presence of countless active enzymes is required, most of which are produced by the body itself.
However, newly formed enzymes are not yet active at first. They are not activated until their services are needed. The activation then takes place by specially trained enzymes.
For the activation of some enzymes, the presence of so-called coenzymes is required. In order to be able to produce these auxiliary molecules of the enzymes, the body needs a very special building material.
It consists of vitamins, minerals and trace elements.
Vitamins A, B, C, E and K are required for the production of these enzymes, as are the minerals magnesium, sodium and potassium. The trace elements copper, manganese, iron, zinc, nickel, selenium and molybdenum are also indispensable.
Coenzymes differ from enzymes in that they do not consist of protein, are much smaller than the large enzyme molecules and are consumed during their activity. Therefore, they need to be constantly renewed.
This means that the body is dependent on a sufficient supply of these vital substances through food to maintain enzymatic activity in the organism.
Raw food – a wonderful source of enzymes
In addition to their wide range of nutrients and vital substances, food also provides the body with already active enzymes. Pineapple, papaya, sprouts and raw sauerkraut are among the foods that are particularly rich in enzymes.
In general, all RAW foods, are rich in enzymes that are mainly used for food digestion.
In this way, they support the digestive system and relieve the pancreas, as it would otherwise have to produce the necessary digestive enzymes itself.
However, most enzymes – including food enzymes – are proteins. In order to be able to help with digestion, these must first reach the small intestine unscathed.
However, this is often not so easy, because danger lurks in the stomach in the form of pepsin, a protein-digesting enzyme.
However, the amount of pepsin produced by the gastric mucosa depends on the amount of protein to be digested. This means that the greater the protein content in the diet, the more pepsin is formed.
However, enzyme-rich foods such as fruits and vegetables are very low in protein compared to meat, fish, eggs and dairy products. Therefore, only minimal amounts of pepsin are formed when they are consumed; provided they are NOT consumed together with protein-rich foods.
So if you enjoy your enzyme-rich fruits and raw vegetables as your sole meal in the future, the chance of the enzymes they contain, reaching their respective destination will increase extraordinarily.
How to increase your enzyme intake
Enzyme intake via enzymatically active foods is an excellent way for relatively healthy people to support and maintain health.
However, for people who are already ill, the amount of enzymes that can be absorbed through food is often not enough.
In this situation, the body’s need for active enzymes is enormously high, so that systemic enzyme therapy is highly recommended for those affected in addition to the enzyme-rich diet and in consultation with an experienced therapist.
This enzyme therapy uses balanced and high-dose enzyme preparations with good bioavailability, which activate the body’s self-healing powers.
Systemic enzyme therapy
Systemic enzyme therapy is a scientifically proven therapeutic method based on the oral administration of plant and animal enzymes.
The term “systemic” means that the enzymes do not act exclusively in the digestive system, but especially in the blood and tissues.
The enzyme mixtures reach all parts of the body via the bloodstream and can thus develop their positive effect everywhere.
Systemic enzyme therapy usually uses the plant enzymes bromelain (from the ground stalk of pineapple) and papain (from the juice of unripe papayas) as well as enzymes of animal origin such as trypsin (from the pancreas of pigs), chymotrypsin (from the pancreas of cattle) and pancreatin (from the pancreas of pigs or cattle).
Each of these types of enzymes has a special effect on different regulatory areas in the organism.
In order to influence as many systems in need of regulation in the body as possible and thus achieve an optimal effect (1), the combination of plant AND animal enzymes, as used in systemic enzyme therapy, is absolutely necessary.
Bromelain against metastases
Bromelain shows an anti-inflammatory and antimetastatic effect. Therefore, it contributes significantly to the strengthening of the immune system.
In addition, bromelain promotes the healthy flow of blood by supporting the breakdown of fibrin.
Fibrin is a protein that is responsible for blood clotting and can contribute to the formation of thrombi in excess.
Papain for pain and autoimmune processes
Papain has antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antibacterial effects.
In addition, it has an analgesic effect and accelerates wound healing.
In addition, it is able to cleave immune complexes (explanation below) that can contribute to the development of autoimmune diseases.
Like bromelain, papain also supports the breakdown of fibrin.
Trypsin and chymotrypsin promote digestion
Trypsin and chymotrypsin are important digestive enzymes that also exhibit other important properties.
Thus, like papain, they help to dissolve immune complexes.
In addition, they have anti-inflammatory and anti-pain effects.
Often, the described enzymes are combined in ready-made preparations with the flavonoid rutoside, whose antioxidant and vascular-strengthening effect enhances the enzymes in their effectiveness.
How can enzymes get into the blood?
Actually, enzymes are too large to get from the small intestine into the blood. Therefore, it was once believed, they would be classified as foreign substances by the immune system and automatically trigger an immune reaction.
However, a study from 2001 was able to prove that this is not the case with the enzymes, as they bind to a special transport protein (α2-macroglobulin) in the small intestine. In this way, they can reach their destination unhindered. (2)
Another study also showed that enzymes, despite their size, are very capable of entering the blood via the small intestine. For this experiment, a trypsin molecule with radioactive isotopes was labeled.
The researchers administered 1 g of this radiolabeled enzyme to adult rabbits and about two hours later a maximum of radioactivity was measurable in their blood plasma. The trypsin had therefore undoubtedly passed from the small intestine into the blood.
Enzymes have high demands
The number of enzymes supplied ultimately passes into the blood depending on various factors.
On the one hand, the pH value is decisive, because each enzyme has its own pH optimum. Pepsin, for example, requires an extremely acidic environment of pH 2, which corresponds exactly to the pH value of gastric acid.
Trypsin in the small intestine, on the other hand, prefers slightly alkaline pH values, which it also found in a healthy small intestine.
If the pH values change only slightly, the enzyme activity automatically decreases. Therefore, a balanced acid-base balance, which ensures optimal pH values in all areas of the body, is immensely important for health.
On the other hand, body temperature also plays an important role, because all enzymes feel most comfortable at a normal body temperature of about 37°C.
When the temperature rises, as is the case with fever, the enzymes become particularly active. In this active phase, they fight pathogens.
However, there is a clear temperature limit here, which must not be exceeded under any circumstances. The body could not survive a temperature of 45°C, as all enzymes would be inactivated in this heat.
Of course, enzyme activity also changes with decreasing body temperature. In the range of sub-zero temperatures, the activity of enzymes decreases as well as at temperatures above 45°C.
And finally, heavy metals, some drugs, and poisons also affect enzyme activity immensely.
The drug aspirin, for example, is an enzyme inhibitor because the acetylsalicylic acid it contains attaches itself to an enzyme that plays a role in blood clotting and the course of inflammation, thus impairing its activity.
Enzyme therapy regulates the immune system
The immune system is THE defense system of the human body.
Together with a large number of hard-working helpers, which are of course enzymes, it protects humans from pathogens such as bacteria, viruses and parasites as well as from foreign substances of all kinds.
Therefore, a person is healthy as long as his immune system is active and functions flawlessly.
However, the immune system is less and less able to withstand the great strain caused by an unfavorable lifestyle and diet, and the enzymes also suffer qualitatively and quantitatively from this situation.
Thus, many people develop disease processes against which the body’s defense system is ultimately powerless.
At this point at the latest, enzyme therapy should come into play, because the enzyme combinations used here have the ability to optimally support the immune system in all areas of the body.
This is done by boosting the activity of the enzymes where the immune system reacts too weakly. In areas where the immune system reacts excessively, as is the case, for example, with allergies or autoimmune diseases, they dampen its activity.
In the following, we would like to show you the far-reaching positive effects of enzyme therapy on the entire organism using a few examples.
Enzyme therapy for inflammation
As soon as a tissue in the body is injured, an inflammatory reaction begins. It is manifested by the fact that the inflamed area is reddened, becomes hot, swells and hurts.
This is a healthy defensive reaction of the immune system, which is necessary for the healing of the tissue and is therefore quite desirable. In this process, invading pathogens are destroyed, damaged tissue is removed, pain is relieved and new healthy tissue is built up.
Therefore, an inflammatory reaction should not be suppressed during treatment, but instead directed in an orderly manner so that it is neither too weak nor excessive. This important control is made possible by the work of enzymes.
But enzymes also become active in other ways.
In this way, they cleave the immune complexes formed at the site of inflammation from antigens (the substances that triggered the inflammation) and antibodies. Antibodies are proteins that have attached themselves to the antigens for the purpose of elimination.
If, on the other hand, these immune complexes were to remain in the body, they could be deposited in the tissue and joints, where they could lead to uncontrolled inflammatory reactions.
In addition, enzymes activate the so-called macrophages of the immune system. These are phagocytes that immediately remove damaged or dead tissue.
In addition, enzymes break down excess fibrin, which would otherwise clog the vessels.
Enzymes also ensure that the typical swelling of the tissue, which has arisen due to an accumulation of water (edema) in the area of inflammation, subsides quickly. With the reduction of the edema, the resulting pain is automatically reduced.
Finally, enzymes support the development of new tissue and thus end the course of the disease.
Enzyme therapy for rheumatic diseases
Joint diseases are often summarized under the term “rheumatic type”. A rough distinction is usually made between inflammatory and degenerative joint diseases. The rheumatic form includes more than 100 diseases.
Among the best-known representatives of this type was osteoarthritis (joint wear and tear – accompanied by inflammation of the synovial membranes), arthritis and polyarthritis (chronic inflammation of one or many joints), ankylosing spondylitis (joint inflammation in the spine) and soft tissue rheumatism (inflammation of tissue in the joint area, which is given, for example, in tendonitis or frozen shoulder).
One of the main symptoms of all rheumatic diseases is pain. And here, too, enzyme therapy intervenes. In addition to the inflammation-controlling task of the enzymes, their analgesic effect also comes into play.
The therapeutic effect of systemic enzyme therapy in joint diseases has been scientifically researched for decades and has been proven in many studies.
Enzyme therapy against thrombosis
Enzymes also support the body’s repair system. In this way, they ensure that bleeding injuries are quickly stopped. The enzymes proceed with an astonishing fine-tuning so that the blood clotting is neither too weak nor too strong.
If it were too weak, the bleeding could not stop. If, on the other hand, it were too strong, too many platelets could stick together and form a blood clot (thrombus).
If this then moves away from the wound area, it can lead to blockage of the blood vessels elsewhere. The consequence of a blocked blood vessel is thrombosis.
To prevent this from happening, fibrin-dissolving enzymes are immediately on the spot. They break down the blood clots into soluble fragments and thus prevent the development of thrombosis.
Enzyme therapy for autoimmune diseases
When the body mistakenly attacks its own tissue, it is called an autoimmune disease. These diseases include rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, lupus erythematosus or celiac disease.
As already mentioned, inflammation occurs with any type of tissue injury. In the autoimmune disease, these inflammatory processes are chronic.
Here, the immune system is completely out of control. Where were the immune-regulating enzymes that could have fended off this event?
It is very likely that they were not present in sufficient quantities in the preliminary stages of the disease, and so they could neither prevent the excessive reaction of the immune system nor contain the subsequent inflammation.
Because the immune system mistakenly regards its own tissue as a foreign substance, it again activates antibodies that attach themselves to the apparent antigen and form an immune complex.
The apparent antigen is called an “autoantigen”. If, for example, this autoantigen is part of the articular cartilage, rheumatoid arthritis develops. If, on the other hand, it is part of the nerve tissue, multiple sclerosis (MS) develops.
It is certainly understandable that systemic enzyme therapy can be extremely helpful even for these serious diseases. Especially in the early stages of the disease, experienced therapists were able to achieve outstanding results.
Experiences of a doctor suffering from MS
The Austrian physician Dr. Ch. Neuhofer, herself suffering from MS, is considered a pioneer of MS treatment using systemic enzyme therapy. By 1989, she had already treated more than 350 patients suffering from MS with this therapy.
In addition, she always prescribed a diet rich in vital substances with a high proportion of raw food and unsaturated fatty acids.
Of 107 patients suffering from chronic MS, she was able to achieve a significant improvement in the state of health of 45 patients.
In 26 people, the progression of the disease could be prevented and the remaining 24 subjects discontinued the therapy because the health insurance company did not pay for the enzyme preparations.
In the treatment of another 43 patients suffering from relapsing MS, she came to the following conclusion:
In 35 patients, enzyme therapy achieved a significant improvement in their health situation and in the remaining 8 patients, the condition remained stable.
Dr. Neuhofer’s work inspired various scientists to verify and explain the excellent effect of systemic enzyme therapy in further studies.
Enzyme therapy for cancer
In the course of life, a trillionfold cell division takes place in the organism. It can also happen that some of the cells degenerate and mutate into cancer cells.
However, the degenerated cells are normally recognized by the immune system and immediately destroyed by the macrophages. However, this requires an intact immune system.
As already mentioned, only a few people have a sufficiently active immune system and so it is not surprising that more and more people are suffering from cancer, among many other diseases.
Although every human being carries a few hundred cancer cells, this is far from being a cause for concern. The situation only becomes problematic when the number of degenerated cells increases steadily.
This situation shows that the immune system is no longer able to detect enough of these cells before they can join together, multiply and grow into a tumor.
Could systemic enzyme therapy also help here? Can it possibly dissolve cancer cells?
The founder of systemic enzyme therapy
Professor Dr. Max Wolf is considered the undisputed founder of modern enzyme therapy. In the 40s of the last century, he developed an enzyme mixture that is still used extremely successfully in medicine today in almost unchanged composition.
Professor Dr. Wolf made an extremely important acquaintance for his research work at the cancer ward of the Rudolfina Clinic in Vienna. He met the director of the clinic, Professor Ernst Freund.
In 1932, in the course of his own research, he had compared the blood of healthy and cancerous people and found substances in the blood of healthy people that were able to dissolve cancer cells.
However, these substances were not found in the blood of cancer patients. Unfortunately, Professor Freund died before he could name her specifically.
Therefore, Professor Wolf continued his research and found out that these were special, protein-splitting enzymes that acted against cancer.
Scientific studies carried out worldwide attest to the effect of enzyme mixtures both in the long-term treatment of tumors and as an adjunct to conventional chemotherapy or radiotherapy.
As an adjunctive therapy, enzymes significantly reduce all side effects of conventional cancer therapy.
They significantly improve the quality of life of cancer patients, also prevent the formation of metastases and therefore have an overall life-prolonging effect.
Systemic enzyme therapy should ALWAYS be carried out under the supervision and supervision of an experienced therapist, especially in the case of cancer!
When is systemic enzyme therapy indicated?
Due to its outstanding effect on the whole organism, systemic enzyme therapy has proven itself in a wide range of diseases, both as an accompanying measure and as a sole therapy. Systemic enzyme therapy is therefore particularly recommended
- for all diseases that are based on inflammation
- to strengthen the immune system
- in diseases of the blood vessels
- for diseases of the spine and joints
- in autoimmune diseases
- for pain relief
- concomitant in cancer therapy
Enzymes – The application
In general, different dosage forms can be used in systemic enzyme therapy, depending on the type of health complaint.
For example, enzymes can enter the bloodstream directly via infusions or injections in diseases that require particularly high enzyme concentrations.
The most common use is of enteric-coated tablets, coated tablets or capsules.
Applied externally, the enzymes can accelerate the healing of wounds and the renewal of tissue. The external treatment can also be sensibly combined with an oral intake of the enzymes.
However, keep in mind: enzymes thin the blood and interfere with blood clotting.
Therefore, the intake of enzymes is not indicated in people whose blood clotting is disturbed (hemophiliacs) as well as in those who depend on the use of blood-thinning drugs.
Enzymes should also not be taken before and after surgery and during pregnancy due to their blood-thinning effect.
It is therefore best to discuss the therapeutic use of enzymes with your holistically oriented doctor or alternative practitioner.