Enzymes

Enzymes are involved in every process of the body. Life could not exist without them. The number of enzymes in the body is overwhelming, yet each one has a specific function. For example, the reason we can digest carbohydrates is that we possess specific enzymes that break the chemical bonds in these molecules. In contrast, we cannot digest cellulose because we lack the right enzyme to break it apart. Similarly, the enzymes that function to convert glucose to energy in the body are not the same ones that build muscle, bone and nerve tissue. This is called “enzymes specificity.” Each and every metabolic activity in the body requires particular enzymes in order to function.

What are enzymes? An enzyme is a protein that functions as a biological catalyst. A catalyst is a substance that speeds up the rate of a chemical reaction without itself being altered or consumed by the reaction. Enzymes help biochemical reactions to occur, but they do not change the final result of the reaction. That is, they can only speed reactions that would have happened anyway, although much more slowly.

Without help from thousands of enzymes, most biochemical reactions in our cells and tissues would occur too slowly to sustain life. Each enzyme facilitates a particular chemical reaction or group of reactions. Some enzymes break molecules apart; others join molecules together. Enzymes serve as catalysts because, as proteins, they can change shape. The ability to change shape allows them to bind to other molecules and orient them so that they may interact.

The changeable shape of an enzyme is in part determined by the chemical and physical environment inside a cell or tissue, including temperature, pH, and the concentration of certain ions. Any deviation in these conditions can affect the shapes and biological activities of enzymes and thus alter the course of biochemical reactions within the body. Enzymes only work within specific temperature and pH ranges.

High temperatures can damage the structure of proteins and specifically enzymes. When this happens the disruption of the enzyme structure leads to a loss of biological function and the enzyme becomes “denatured”. When this happens the enzyme losses all activity and can no longer serve as a catalyst under any condition.

Enzymes can become either inactive or denatured when they are in an environment that is not conducive to them. The difference between these terms is that an inactive enzyme will become active again when the environment changes, whereas denatured enzymes are those that have been destroyed and are now proteins with no energy or biological activity.

Enzymes, to function properly, depend on vitamins and minerals, which are known as coenzymes and cofactors. A coenzyme is a small molecule that assists an enzyme by transporting small molecular groups. Fortunately, we can get enzymes and coenzymes in our food. Unfortunately, because of how food is processed, refined and cooked most enzymes and coenzymes are destroyed.

In fact, prolonged heat over 118 degrees destroys 100% of the enzymes in food. Other factors that can destroy enzymes and coenzymes are smoking, chemicals, radiation, and exposure to oxygen and excessive light. Enzymes become denatured when exposed to these elements. The main point to remember is that when the enzymes in our food are destroyed this creates a burden on our bodies to provide these enzymes.

When the enzymes in our foods are not sufficient, our digestive glands have to work extra hard to make up the difference and complete the digestion. If we do not help by eating properly, the digestive glands work extra hard day after day and eventually become enlarged and less efficient. This utilizes more and more of the basic elements, like amino acids, vitamins and minerals, taking them away from organs and tissues of the body which also require them for their own metabolic enzymatic activity to function properly. This results in a shortfall of basic nutrients both for digestive and other organ and tissue function.

Dr. Edward Howell, one of the early pioneer’s of enzyme research, has proposed a theory about how the body utilizes enzymes. Basically, our bodies must devote a huge portion of its enzyme potential to making digestive enzymes because our foods are so enzyme deficient. This spells trouble for the whole body because there is a strain on production of metabolic enzymes and this creates a competition within the body between digestive enzymes and metabolic enzymes.

Another way of saying this is that digestion takes priority over several metabolic functions, like immune response, so our bodies sacrifice energy and nutrients utilized for metabolic functions like the immune system in order to digest the foods we have eaten. And, if these foods are devoid of enzymes, a greater need arises.

Dr. Howell’s theory called the “Law of Adaptive Secretion of Digestive Enzymes” holds that the body values its enzymes highly and will make no more than are needed for the job. If enzymes in the foods we eat digest some of the food, the body will make less concentrated digestive enzymes. This law has been confirmed by dozens of university laboratories throughout the world. To get enzymes from food, we must eat it raw.

If we want to stay healthy it’s a good idea to support the body’s mechanism for producing and conserving enzyme production. Most diseases are the result of nutritional deficiencies and enzyme imbalances.

Scientist’s who study enzymes classify them into three groups. First, metabolic enzymes, which run our bodies; second, digestive enzymes which digest our food; and third, food enzymes from raw foods, which starts food digestion. As mentioned already, the modern diet has placed a great amount of stress on the body’s ability to maintain adequate levels of metabolic enzymes. They are essentially three things we can do to increase our enzyme potential.

1. Eat raw foods – Ziquin recommends that we eat at least 50 to 80 percent of our food raw. Whole raw vegetables and fruits contain the necessary enzymes to digest these foods as nature intended.
2. Supplement with food enzymes – for those of us who eat a lot of processed and cooked foods we can support the burden on our body’s enzyme supply by taking digestive enzymes. Ziquin is in the process of formulating a digestive product and will be available in the near future.
3. Supplement with metabolic enzymes – Ziquin’s All Xymatic Relief provides enzymatic support to our bodies to maintain optimal levels of systemic enzymes. When used therapeutically on an empty stomach, the enzymes are not digesting food; they are absorbed into the blood and can have a restorative effect on the different systems of the body.

Six areas where systemic enzymes assist the body in health and healing are:

1. Inflammation – the inflammatory process is our body’s natural response that healing and repair are occurring. It is characterized by redness, swelling, heat, and pain. When inflammation occurs, a healthy immune system sends out white blood cells to help clear pathogens or damaged cells from the damaged area. In chronic inflammation there is a shortage of the required metabolic enzymes to clear the damaged site successfully. Ziquin’s All Xymatic Relief supplies the needed metabolic enzymes reducing inflammation and it does this with no side effects.

There are over 20,000 deaths annually from non-steroidal, anti-inflammatory drugs, like aspirin, ibuprofen, and all the prescription cox-2 inhibitors that we hear about in the news. All these drugs impact the body in adverse ways. They can cause intestinal bleeding, cause liver damage, and make people more prone to the risk of heart disease.

But with systemic enzymes you have no side effects. Instead you have a beneficial effect on the liver, kidneys and GI tract. Ziquin’s systemic enzymes rid the body of inflammation and pain with no side effects.

1. Anti-fibrotic characteristic of systemic enzymes: There is a natural level of tissue formation in the body for building and repair of healthy tissues. When this building and repair function gets out of balance sclerotic build-up or, hardening of the tissues can occur. In excess, this sclerotic or scar tissue can cause things like fibrocystic breast, cirrhosis of the liver and fibrosis of the kidneys. Systemic enzymes have the ability to differentiate between the good connective tissue and the connective tissue that’s unnecessary. It goes in and breaks down and cleans up the unneeded scar tissue.

1. Systemic enzymes clean up the blood: The blood carries nutrients and oxygen to the cells in the body. However, it also carries metabolic wastes from cells out of the body. One of the functions of systemic enzymes is to break down and clean up a lot of this metabolic waste. This takes a lot of stress off of the liver. A shortfall of metabolic enzymes contributes to the deposit of fibrin (blood clotting protein). Studies have shown that metabolic enzymes have therapeutic value in breaking up fibrin and thus reducing the build up of fibrin mantles and clot formation, reducing the blood viscosity and improving circulation. Systemic enzymes have the ability to clean up the blood and eat away this excess fibrin and metabolic debris, to unclog blood vessels and improve many areas of health in the body. This unclogs the smaller vessels and capillaries that feed organs like the eyes and the brain so that they continue to get nutrition and stay healthy.

1. Systemic enzymes modulate the immune system: The systemic enzymes in All Xymatic Relief work as adaptogens. This means that they help the immune system to regulate itself. Dark-field microscopes show how live blood samples respond in a person taking All Xymatic Relief. Before taking the enzymes white blood cells look lethargic in the blood. After taking the enzymes immediately you can see, within minutes, changes in the blood. The white blood cells come to life and become much more active. This increased white blood cell activity scavenges and eliminates debris in the body, providing a very powerful preventative effect and strengthening of the immune system. Systemic enzymes play a significant role in modulating the immune response.

1. Systemic enzymes act as powerful anti-oxidants: Systemic enzymes also act as anti-oxidants. Providing the body with a wide variety of anti-oxidants, whether they are enzymes, vitamins or minerals, it’s a good strategy to protect the body from free radical damage and the processes of accelerated aging. Whether from foreign substances entering the body or from our daily internal metabolism, having a ready supply of enzymes to protect against the ravages of free radical damage is a healthful advantage in todays chemically polluted world.

1. Systemic enzymes fight viruses: Another benefit of systemic enzymes is their ability to fend off viruses. This is another benefit of having a healthy immune system and the ability of enzymes to identify and rid the body of viruses that are looking to get a foothold in the body. All Xymatic Relief helps the body maintain a regulated immune function in the face of stresses whether they be physical, digestive, emotional, or mental. Systemic enzymes have a unique ability to eat away the exterior membrane of a virus that enables it to be more accessible to the immune system.

Ziquin’s All Xymatic Relief uses a very active delivery system that takes into account your body’s pH, temperature and ion concentrations in order to be effectively absorbed in the small intestine and into the bloodstream.

There’s also a synergistic component to the All Xymatic Relief formulation that recognizes how enzymes work together in groups to assist metabolic functioning in the body. This synergistic sequencing or enzyme cascade allows for an orchestrated delivery of the enzymes through the small intestine. This provides for each enzyme to not only perform its primary action, which is to scavenge and clean up blood vessels, and scar tissue, but also allows for secondary and tertiary actions, which involve building and repairing cells and tissues.

And, there’s also the synergy of the Ziquin products as a whole. The Mind and Body Tonic provides the vitamins, mineral, amino acids, and phytonutrients that work with the enzymes in All Xymatic Relief to provide the coenzymes and cofactors that the enzymes are looking for. Also the essential fatty acids in EFA Complete to support hormone production, immune function, and help regulation pain and inflammation. All three of these products work together to give you’re body the nutrients it needs to replenish and revitalize healthy functioning. More info

So we would like to thank you for joining us this evening and if there are any questions or comments at this point we have some time.