Enzyme Boost

From Interview with Dr. Edward Howell,
author of The Status of Food Enzymes in Digestion and Metabolism

In an exclusive interview, food enzyme researcher Dr. Edward Howell tells why he believes: “Enzymes may be the key factor in preventing chronic disease and extending the human lifespan.” Dr. Howell tells: What enzymes are, what they do in our bodies, why he believes a state of enzyme deficiency stress exists in most people, and finally, what he believes you can do about it. "Neither vitamins, minerals or hormones can do any work - without enzymes."

HDN: What are enzymes?
HOWELL: Enzymes are substances which make life possible. They are needed for every chemical reaction in that occurs in our body. Without enzymes, no activity at all would take place. Neither vitamins, minerals, or hormones can do any work - without enzymes. Think of it this way: Enzymes are the "labor force" that builds your body just like construction workers are the labor force that builds your house. You may have all the necessary building materials and lumber, but to build a house you need workers, which represent the vital life element. Similarly, you may have all the nutrients - vitamins, proteins, minerals, etc., for your body, but you still need the enzymes - the life element - to keep the body alive and well.

HDN: Are enzymes then just like chemical catalysts which speed up various reactions?
HOWELL: No. Enzymes are much more than catalysts. Catalysts are only inert substances. They possess none of the life energy we find in enzymes. For instance, enzymes give off a kind of radiation when they work. This is not true of catalysts. In addition, although enzymes contain proteins - and some contain vitamins - the activity factor in enzymes has never been synthesized. Moreover, there is no combination of proteins or any combination of amino acids or any other substance which will give enzyme activity. There are proteins present in enzymes. However, they serve only as carriers of the enzyme activity factors. Therefore, we can say that enzymes consist of protein carriers charged with energy factors just as a battery consists of metallic plates charged with electrical energy.

HDN: Where do the enzymes in our bodies come from?
HOWELL: It seems that we inherit a certain enzyme potential at birth. This limited supply of activity factors or life force must last us a lifetime. It's just as if you inhented a certain amount of money. If the movement is all one way - all spending and no income - you will run out of money. Likewise, the faster you use up your supply of enzyme activity, the quicker you will run out. Experiments at various universities have shown that, regardless of the species, the faster the metabolic rate, the shorter the lifespan. Other things being equal, you live as long as your body has enzyme activity factors to make enzymes from. When it gets to the point that you can't make certain enzymes, then your life ends.

HDN: Do people do anything which causes them to waste their limited enzyme supply?
HOWELL: Yes. Just about every single person eats a diet of mainly cooked foods. Keep in mind that whenever a food is boiled at 212 degrees, the enzymes in it are 100% destroyed. If enzymes were in the food we eat, they would do some or even a considerable part of the work of digestion by themselves. However, when you eat cooked, enzyme-free food, this forces the body itself to make the enzymes needed for digestion. This depletes the body's limited enzyme capacity.

HDN: How serious is this strain on our enzyme "bank" caused by diets of mostly cooked food?
HOWELL: I believe it's one of the paramount causes of premature aging and early death. I also believe it's the underlying cause of almost all degenerative disease. To begin with, if the body is overburdened to supply many enzymes to the saliva, gastric juice, pancreatic juice and intestinal juice, then it must curtail the production of enzymes for other purposes. If this occurs, then how can the body also make enough enzymes to run the brain, heart, kidneys, lungs, muscles and other organs and tissues? This "stealing" of enzymes from other parts of the body to service the digestive tract sets up a competition for enzymes among the various organ systems and tissues of the body. The resulting metabolic dislocations may be the direct cause of cancer, coronary heart disease, diabetes, and many other chronic incurable diseases. This state of enzyme deficiency stress exists in the majority of persons on the civilized, enzyme-free diet.

HDN: Did human disease begin when man started Cooking his Food?

HDN: When people get enzymes from food, aren't they destroyed by Stomach Acid and therefore of little or no value?

HDN: Most - if not all of us, eat lots of cooked foods every day. Can we Make Up for this enzyme loss by eating raw foods in addition?