Proteolytic enzymes in our system are very necessary e.g. to balance inflammatory processes and protect us for chronic inflammation and subsequent diseases.

These enzymes come from:

1. Cells of our body (endogenously)
2. The food we eat (exogenously)

• With age, there is a reduction in the amount of enzymes our cells produce; therefore we need a greater part of our enzymes to be derived from nutrition.
• With age, the absorption capacity of our intestine decreases

Unfortunately, a number of factors in our daily lives inhibit and destroy important enzymes that we gain from exogenous sources. Our diet is primarily composed of cooked food. It is generally agreed that temperatures over 40°C kill the enzymes in our food.

In addition to destroying enzyme by exposing them to high temperatures, the fresh foods we consume have only very small amounts of enzymes. Fruits and vegetables you can buy in the western countries look healthy and beautiful – but they have to grow quickly, have to be big with wonderful colors and to stay so beautiful often for a long time, until you can get them in the shop. Most of the vitamins and enzymes are destroyed; the healthy look of for example an apple is only a fiction. “One apple the day, keeps the doctor away.” This old saying has partly lost their truth in developed countries.

The disadvantage of our civilization (and our civilization has a lot of advantages) is that our nutrition, even uncooked fruits and vegetables, have too small amounts of valuable vitamins and – now we know, also too small amounts of valuable enzymes. We can enjoy eating fresh fruits and vegetables but at the same time we have to recognize that this is only a glossing over the facts. Stimulation to fast growth and long stock keeping reduce their available vitamins and enzymes.

Another very important aspect is manifested in our body. With growing age, our intestine’s absorption capacity is reduced. So with growing age, supply and demand of these substances differ enormously, more than in younger age. Therefore we need more enzymes and more vitamins in our nutrition than young people.

When we speak about enzyme therapy we speak about the supply of Proteolytic enzymes to our body in a proper application form.

So if I eat a spoon full of bromelain or papain or a papaya, a fig or a pineapple a day, this can balance my enzyme deficit?

Actually, it’s not that simple. In the stomach, hydrochloric acid and digestive enzymes destroy enzymes – only a little amount reaches the bloodstream. Clever researchers (see history of enzyme therapy) found a way to circumvent this: You can cover enzymes with a hydrochloric acid – resistant coat. Taking such a pill implies, that the enzymes reach the small intestine in an intact form, where the cover opens and parts of the enzymes are delivered to the blood stream effectively.