Enzymatic Therapy As Used in Cancer Treatment and Treatment of Immune Disorders
Discover the role of enzymatic or enzyme therapy in chronic degenerative diseases and immune disorder treatment.
Enzymatic Therapy and Cancer Treatment
Enzymatic therapy, or enzyme therapy, plays an important part in the treatment of many chronic degenerative diseases, immune disorders and even including cancer.
Enzymes are catalysts for virtually every biological and chemical reaction in the body. For example, digestive enzymes such as lipases and proteases are essential for the breakdown of food into molecules the body can absorb.
Proteins, fats and carbohydrates cannot be fully digested without sufficient digestive enzymes. Important minerals and fat-soluble vitamins may also not be fully utilized without adequate levels of digestive enzymes present.
Various digestive enzymes are produced in different parts of the digestive tract, ranging from the salivary glands in the mouth to the small intestine. Several of the most important enzymes are produced in the pancreas. If the pancreas is chronically infected or damaged, the result may be severe mal-absorption, diarrhea, and malnutrition. In such cases, enzyme supplements can be used to supplement the body while starting the healing process.
Similarly, if the small intestine fails to produce enough of its own digestive enzymes, such as lactase, milk sugar called lactose, will move down the intestinal tract unabsorbed, causing gas, bloating and diarrhea.
If partially digested protein molecules are absorbed into the bloodstream, they can be mistaken as foreign invaders and be attacked by the immune system. The resulting circulating immune complexes (CIC's) can provoke inflammation, arthritis, allergies, ulcers, sciatica and a variety of pains.
Enzymatic Therapy Aims to Maintain Peak Digestion by
- Enhancing the body's own enzyme production.
- Providing natural dietary enzymes through ingestion of sufficient raw unprocessed foods.
- Supplementing natural enzyme production when necessary.
The goal is to optimize nutrition and rid the system of toxic, partially digested nutrients, allowing proper function of the immune system.
Enzyme Therapy and Cancer Treatment
In 1906, the Scottish embryologist, Dr. John Beard, suggested that pancreatic proteolytic enzymes have an anti-cancer effect and represent the body's main defense against cancer. He discovered that from the first three months of pregnancy, the placental tissue or trophoblast has all the functional and morphological characteristics of a malignant tissue, high levels of proliferation, anaplasia and the ability to send trophoblasts to the body's general circulation, including the fetal circulation.
Dr. Beard also discovered that when the pancreas of the fetus starts functioning (after three months of gestation), the placental tissue loses its characteristics of malignancy. He attributed this to the presence of a high concentration of pancreatic enzymes.
In 1911, Dr. Beard published a monograph entitled "The Enzyme Therapy of Cancer" which summarized his therapy. Several case reports in the first two decades of the twentieth century documented tumor regression and even remission in terminal cancer patients treated with pancreatic enzymes. It was found that the proteolytic enzymes from the pancreatic enzyme complex were the ones that caused the anti-tumor effect.
Dr. Beard believed that the only way of administration was injecting the enzymes to prevent their destruction by hydrochloric acid in the stomach. Recent evidence shows, however, that orally ingested proteolytic pancreatic enzymes are acid stable and pass intact and fully functional into the small intestine. There they are absorbed through the intestinal mucosa into the blood stream.
Enzyme therapy with proteolytic enzymes has been an important component of the Issels comprehensive strategy of treating cancer, chronic degenerative diseases, and immune disorders since the early 1950s.