The length of life is inversely proportional to the rate of exhaustion of the enzyme potential of an organism. The increased use of food enzymes promotes a decreased rate of exhaustion of the enzyme potential.
Dr. Edward Howell
Enzymes are natural protein substances found in all living things. They are involved in nearly every biochemical reaction that occurs in the body. Vitamins, minerals and hormones require enzymes in order to carry out their jobs. Without enzymes, it would be impossible for the cells and tissues to perform all their essential functions; if they are not present in the food, the body must make up the difference. As a result, the risk of acute and chronic disease increases dramatically. Each one of us and our animals is given a limited supply of bodily enzyme energy at birth. This supply, like the energy supply in your new battery, has to last a lifetime. The faster you use up your supply, the shorter your life. Throughout life we must make regular deposits to this enzyme bank account.
Veterinarians and physicians around the world use enzymes. With the use of enzymes we see improvements in a wide variety of ailments ..asthma, food and inhaled allergies, diarrhea, gastritis, constipation, colitis, obesity, poor weight gain, excessive shedding, arthritis, bladder problems, oily/dry hair coat, multiple skin problems and liver problems to name a few.
Life could not exist without enzymes. There are two types of enzymes: metabolic and digestive. Digestive enzymes convert the food we eat into chemical structures that can pass through the cell membranes of the cells lining the digestive tract and into the bloodstream. Food must be digested so that it can ultimately pass through the cell membranes. Lipase is a fat-digesting enzyme, helping to reduce fats into fatty acids. Amylase helps change carbohydrates (grains) into simple sugars, Protease converts protein into amino acids and Lactase handles the dairy products. Hundreds of metabolic enzymes aid in converting the prepared food into new muscle , flesh, bone, nerves and glands. Working with the liver they help store excess food for future energy and building needs. They also assist the kidneys, lungs, liver, skin and colon in their important eliminative tasks. The pancreas is the biggest factory devoted to turning out digestive enzymes. The pancreas receives enzyme precursors from body cells or the bloodstream and supplies the finishing touches. How often have we heard of dogs with pancreatitis? Could this be a lack of enzymes?
Changing metabolic enzymes into digestive enzymes means extra work for the pancreas, but when it confiscates metabolic enzymes it punishes the whole body by depriving it of the mechanics every organ and cell needs to carry on their processes and functions.
Research was done in an Alaskan College comparing the weight of the pancreas of wild mice vs. laboratory mice. The laboratory mice were raised on a diet of processed, enzymeless food and had a pancreas that was 2 1/2 times larger than its wild cousin. The wild mice of course were eating nothing but a raw food diet.
In a further study with mice; mice were divided into two groups; one group was fed a totally raw diet and the other group were fed the same diet, only the food was cooked. The results of this study showed that the group fed on a cooked diet had a pancreas that was 3 times the size of a raw fed diet. When laboratory mice were allowed to live to their normal lifespans it was found upon dissection that an astonishing array of human degenerative diseases were found in the mice on the enzymeless diet . Commercial pet food falls into this dead food category and one must wonder about all the scientific experiments carried out on these laboratory animals being fed a commercial processed diet and how they probably have swayed the results of their scientific findings. No wonder we haven't found cures for various health problems!
Puppies are born without any enzymes to digest their food. During the first few weeks they receive all their nutrients through the mother's milk. Mother nature has designed a unique process in the weaning of her puppies. The bitch will regurgitate her food and the puppies will eat the pre-digested food, thus being able to digest it.
Predigestion is an interesting phenomena. Eskimos will kill a caribou and allow it to lie for several days without cutting it up. Their dog teams fared much better with the high or putrefied meat , putting on weight under stressful sled pulling as compared to a fresh fish diet. The explanation for this is that it is more of an autolysis , (predigestion) rather than a bacterial decomposition. Raw meat and fish have ample stores of the proteolytic enzyme cathepsin and lipase which are instrumental in implementing the digestion process.
In Juliette de Bairacli Levy's book, The Complete herbal Handbook for the Dog and Cat, she talks about the burying of meat in pits, and ripening it, as in the ancient Eastern way. This ripening of flesh makes the meat gamey and tender, but also acquires a strong smell. The digging up and eating of this is one of the delights of a truly healthy dog whose natural instincts have not been spoiled by a cooked food diet, for it must be remembered that the dog is a natural scavenger." She goes on to say that "cooking kills both the vitamin content and those very valuable and yet as immeasurable cosmic forces, (enzymes) which collect in the flesh of herbivorous animals from the vegetable diet consumed."
Millions of wild creatures eat animal fats without suffering ill effects from cholesterol.
In 1968 Dr. Rubenstein and his associates in New York tested the blood of dogs with atherosclerosis. These doctors tested the blood for the metabolic enzymes dehydrogenase and reductase. They found the enzymes low to very low, and worse in the advanced cases. It is not surprising that dogs have many human diseases, since they are given canned, packaged and heat treated food!
The use of digestive enzymes in your companion animals feed is a given. Unless your animals have been on a raw, whole diet for a number of years, enzymes will give them the additional edge in absorbing the valuable nutrients that they require for a long and healthy life.
