A:  According to Howard Loomis, author of Enzymes: The Key to Health, as we age, the body produces fewer and fewer enzymes. For example, the amount of amylase present in an average 25-year-old’s saliva is 30 times more abundant than in a 65-year-old’s. “This is why many people experience digestive woes for the first time in their 40’s.” says Loomis. “Around age 45, the quantity of our body’s enzymes decreases and so does the quality…[and] our cells just don’t have enough energy to maintain production.”

Your immunity, vitality, and longevity depend on keeping your body’s enzymes at optimum levels. We are born with a limited bodily (metabolic) enzyme energy potential, similar to a bank account that has to last a lifetime. The faster we use up this enzyme potential, the shorter our lives are. In order for us to enjoy a long and healthy life, we must avoid enzyme depletion by making regular deposits to our enzyme “bank accounts.” We can accomplish this by consuming “live” enzyme rich foods such as raw fruits and vegetables and “live” enzyme supplements every day.

Let’s take a moment to look at the role enzymes plays in weight loss.

One of the primary keys to weight loss may simply be the action of enzymes. Dr. David Galton at Tufts University School of Medicine tested people weighing 230-240 pounds. He found that virtually all of them were lacking lipase enzymes in their fatty tissues. Lipase, found abundantly in raw foods, is a fat splitting enzyme that aids the body in digestion, the storage and distribution of fat, and the burning of fat for energy. The results of another study show that people with arteriosclerosis, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol were also deficient in the lipase enzyme. Lipase activity breaks down and dissolves fat throughout the body. Without lipase, fat stagnates and accumulates in the organs, arteries, and capillaries. You will see it on hips, thighs, buttocks and stomach, ect. A good example of the importance of lipase activity lies in an interesting experiment with hogs. Veterinarians fed one group of hogs only raw potatoes and another group only cooked potatoes. The hogs eating the raw potatoes did not get fat. However, the hogs eating cooked potatoes gain weight rapidly.

If you have a question you would like to submit, please email ezine@positivechanges.com