Enzymes and Longevity
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. Edward Howell was born
in Chicago in 1898. He is the holder of a limited medical license from the
State of Illinois.
The holder of a limited
practice license is required to pass the same medical examination as a medical
doctor. Only surgery, obstetrics and materia medica are excluded. After
obtaining his license, Dr. Howell joined the professional staff of the
Lindlahr Sanitorium, where he remained for six years. In 1930, he established
a private facility for the treatment of chronic ailments by nutritional and
physical methods.
Until he retired in 1970,
Dr. Howell was busy in private practice three days each week. The balance of
his time he devoted to various kinds of research. Dr. Howell is the first
researcher to recognize the importance of the enzymes in food to human
nutrition. In 1946, he wrote the book, "The Status of Food Enzymes in
Digestion and Metabolism." Dr. Howell's forthcoming book is entitled, "Enzyme
Diet." This book contains the reference and source materials for the enzyme
theories which Dr. Howell has collectively called, "The Food Enzyme Concept."
The manuscript for "Enzyme Diet" reviews the scientific literature through
1973. 1t is approximately 160,000 words long and contains 47 tables and 695
references to the world's scientific literature.
In this interview, 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 inherited 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?
HOWELL: This is what the
evidence indicates. For example, the Neanderthal Man of 50,000 years ago used
fire extensively in his cooking. He lived in caves and ate mostly roasted meat
from the continuous fires which warmed the caves. These statements are
documented by scientific evidence in my published and unpublished works. From
fossil evidences we know that the Neanderthal Man suffered from
fully-developed crippling arthritis. It's possible that the Neanderthal Man
also had diabetes or cancer or kidney disease and so forth. However, we'll
never know since all soft tissues have disappeared without a trace.
Incidentally, another inhabitant of the caves was the cave bear. This creature
protected the Neanderthal Man from the cave tiger, who also wanted the
protection of the cave to avoid the frigid weather. The cave bear, according
to paleontologists, was a partially domesticated animal and most likely lived
on the same roasted meat that the cave man ate.
Like the cave man, the cave
bear also suffered from chronic, deforming arthritis.
HDN: Isn't it possible that
cold weather, not cooked food, was responsible for the arthritis of the
Neanderthal Man?
HOWELL: No, I don't think
weather had much to do with it. For example, consider the primitive Eskimo. He
lived in an environment just as frigid as that of the Neanderthal Man. And
yet, the Eskimo never suffered from arthritis and other chronic diseases.
However, the Eskimo ate large amounts of raw food. The meat he ate was only
slightly heated and was raw in the center. Therefore, the Eskimo received a
large quantity of food enzymes with every meal. In fact, the word Eskimo
itself comes from an Indian expression which means, "He who eats it raw."
Incidentally, there is no tradition of medicine men among the Eskimo people.
But among groups like the North American Indian, who ate cooked food
extensively, the medicine man had a prominent position in the tribe.
HDN: What evidence is there
that human beings suffer from food enzyme deficiency?
HOWELL: There's so much
evidence that I can only briefly summarize a small fraction of it. Over the
last 40 years, I have collected thousands of scientific documents to document
my theories. To begin with, human beings have the lowest levels of starch
digesting enzymes in their blood of any creature. We also have the highest
level of these enzymes in the urine, meaning that they are being used up
faster. There's other evidence showing that these low enzyme levels are not
due to a peculiarity of our species. Instead, they are due to the large amounts
of cooked starch we eat. Also, we know that decreased enzyme levels are found
in a number of chronic ailments, such as allergies, skin disease, and even
serious diseases like diabetes and cancer. In addition, incriminating evidence
indicates that cooked, enzyme-free diets contribute to a pathological
over-enlargement of the pituitary gland, which regulates the other glands.
Furthermore, there is research showing that almost 100% of the people over 50
dying from accidental causes were found to have defective pituitary glands.
Next, I believe that food
enzyme deficiency is the cause of the exaggerated maturation of today's
children and teenagers. It is also an important cause of overweight in many
children and adults. Many animal experiments have shown that enzyme-deficient
diets produce a much more rapid maturation than usual. Animals on cooked diets
are also much heavier than their counterparts on raw diets . Another piece of
related evidence is that farmers use cooked potatoes to fatten pigs for
market. They've found that pigs on cooked potatoes fatten faster and more
economically than pigs on raw potatoes. This evidence shows the great
difference between cooked calories and raw calories. Indeed, from my work in a
sanitarium many years ago, I've found that it was impossible to get people fat
on raw foods, regardless of the calorie intake. Incidentally, another effect
associated with food enzyme deficiency is that the size of the brain
decreases. In addition, the thyroid over-enlarges, even in the presence of
adequate iodine. This has been shown in a number of species. Of course, you
can't prove it on human beings. The evidence, however, is very suggestive.
HDN: What else is there?
HOWELL: Next, consider that
the human pancreas is burdened with enzyme production far in excess of any
creature living on a raw food diet. In fact, in proportion to body weight, the
human pancreas is more than twice as heavy as that of a cow.
Human beings eat mainly
cooked food, while cows eat raw grass. Then, there is evidence that rats on a
cooked diet have a pancreas about twice as heavy as rats on a raw diet.
Moreover, evidence shows that the human pancreas is one of the heaviest in the
animal kingdom, when you adjust for total body weight. This over-enlargement of
the human pancreas is just as dangerous -- probably even more so -- than an
over-enlargement of the heart, the thyroid and so on. The overproduction of
enzymes in humans is a pathological adaptation to a diet of enzyme-free foods.
The pancreas is not the only part of the body that over-secretes enzymes when
the diet is cooked. In addition, there are the human salivary glands, which
produce enzymes to a degree never found in wild animals on their natural
foods. In fact, some animals on a raw diet do not have any enzymes at all in
their saliva. The cow and sheep produce torrents of saliva with no enzymes in
it. Dogs, for instance, also secrete no enzymes in their saliva when they're
eating a raw diet. However, if you start giving them cooked starchy food,
their salivary glands will start producing starch-digesting enzymes within 10
days. In addition, there's more evidence that the enzymes in saliva represent
a pathological and not a normal situation. To begin with, salivary enzymes
cannot digest raw starch. This is something I demonstrated in the laboratory.
The enzymes in saliva will only attack a piece of starch once it's cooked.
Therefore, we see that the body will channel some of its limited enzyme
producing capacity into saliva only if it has to.
Incidentally, there is some
provocative animal research which I have done in my own laboratory some years
ago. If you'd like, I can explain it now for your readers.
HDN: Yes, please do.
HOWELL: I fed one group of
rats a cooked diet and one group a raw diet and let them live out their
lifespan to see which group would live longer. The first group got a
combination of raw meat and various raw vegetables and grains. The second
group got the same foods boiled and therefore enzyme-free. I kept these rats
until they died, which took about three years.
As the experiment came to a
close, the results surprised me. It turned out that there was no great
difference between the lifespans of the two groups. Later on, I discovered the
reason. It turned out that the rats on the cooked diet were still getting
enzymes, but from an unexpected source. They had been eating their own feces,
which contained the enzymes excreted from their own bodies. All feces,
including those of human beings, contain the enzymes that the body has used.
My rats had been recycling their own enzymes to use them over again. And
that's why they lived as long as the rats on the raw diet.
Incidentally, the practice
of eating feces is almost universal among today's laboratory animals. Although
these animals receive scientific diets containing all known vitamins and
minerals, the animals instinctively know they need enzymes. Because of this,
they eat their own feces. In fact, the animals on these scientific diets
develop most of the chronic human degenerative diseases if they are allowed to
live out their lifespans. This shows that vitamins and minerals alone are not
sufficient for health.
HDN: How do you know that
people would benefit from additional enzyme intake?
HOWELL: To me, the most
impressive evidence that people need enzymes is what occurs as a result of
therapeutic fasting. As you know, I spent some years in a sanitarium working
with patients on various fasting programs. When a person fasts, there is an
immediate halt to the production of digestive enzymes. The enzymes in saliva,
gastric juice and pancreatic juice dwindle and become scarce. During fasting,
the body's enzymes are free to work on repairing and removing diseased
tissues. Civilized people eat such large quantities of cooked foods that their
enzyme systems are kept busy digesting food. As a result, the body lacks the
enzymes needed to maintain the tissues in good health. Most people who fast go
through what is called a healing crisis. The patients may feel nausea,
vomiting and dizziness. What's happening is that the enzymes are working to
change the unhealthy structure of the body. The enzymes attack pathological
tissues and break down undigested and unprocessed substances; and these then
get thrown off through the bowels, through vomiting, or via the skin.
HDN: When people get
enzymes from food, aren't they destroyed by stomach acid and therefore of
little or no value?
HOWELL: This is not true.
Although most nutritionists claim that enzymes in food are destroyed in the
stomach, they overlook two important facts. First of all, when you eat food,
acid secretion is minimal for at least thirty minutes. As the food goes down
the esophagus, it drops into the top portion of the stomach. This is called
the cardiac section, since it's closer to the heart. The rest of the stomach
remains flat and closed while the cardiac section opens up to accommodate the
food. During the time the food sits in the upper section, little acid or
enzymes are secreted by the body. The enzymes in the food itself go about
digesting the food. The more of this self-digestion that occurs, the less work
the body has to do later. When this 30 to 45 minute period is over, the bottom
section of the stomach opens up and the body starts secreting acid and
enzymes. Even at this point, the food enzymes are not inactivated until the
acid level becomes prohibitive. You see, food enzymes can tolerate chemical
environments many times more acid than neutral.
HDN: Do animals also have a
special section of the stomach where food digests itself?
HOWELL: Absolutely. In
fact, some creatures have what I call a food enzyme stomach. There are the
cheek pouches of monkeys and rodents, the crop of many species of birds, and
the first stomachs of whales, dolphins and porpoises. When birds, for
instance, swallow seeds or grains, these grains lie in the crop for 8 to 12
hours. As they sit, they absorb moisture, swell up and begin to germinate.
During germination, enzymes are formed which do the work of digesting the
seeds and grains. Whales, dolphins and porpoises have a first stomach which
secretes no enzymes. Whales, for examples swallow large quantities of food
without chewing it. The food simply decomposes and digests itself. In the
flesh of the fish and other marine life the whale eats is an enzyme, called
cathepsin, which breaks down the fish once it has died. In fact, this enzyme
is present in almost all creatures. After the whale's catch has liquefied
itself, it passes through a small hole into the whale's second stomach. It
mystifies scientists how the whale's catch can get through that small hole
into the second stomach. They have no idea that self-digestion was at work.
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?
HOWELL: No. Cooked foods
cause such a large drain on our enzyme supply that you can't make it up by
eating raw foods. In addition, vegetables and fruits are not concentrated
sources of enzymes. When produce ripens, enzymes are present to do the
ripening. However, once the ripening is finished, some of the enzymes leave
and go back into the stem and seeds. For example, when companies want to get
enzymes from papaya, a tropical fruit, they use the juice of unripe papaya.
The ripe papaya itself has no great concentration of enzymes.
HDN: Are there any foods
particularly high in enzymes?
HOWELL: Bananas, avocadoes
and mangoes are good sources. In general, foods having a higher calorie
content are richer in enzymes.
HDN: Do you recommend all
raw foods as sources of enzymes?
HOWELL: No. There are some
foods, seeds and nuts, that contain what are called enzyme inhibitors. These
enzyme inhibitors are present for the protection of the seed. Nature doesn't
want the seed to germinate prematurely and lose its life. It wants to make
sure that the seed is present in soil with sufficient moisture to grow and
continue the species. Therefore, when you eat raw seeds or raw nuts, you are
swallowing enzyme inhibitors which will neutralize some of the enzymes your
body produces. In fact, eating foods with enzyme inhibitors causes a swelling
of the pancreas. All nuts and seeds contain these inhibitors. Raw peanuts, for
example, contain an especially large amount. Raw wheat germ is also one of the
worst offenders. In addition, all peas, beans and lentils contain some.
Potatoes, which are seeds, have enzyme inhibitors.
In eggs, which are also
seeds, the inhibitor is contained mainly in the eggwhite. As a general rule,
enzyme inhibitors are confined to the seed portions of food. For instance, the
eyes of potatoes. The inhibitors are not present in the fleshy portions of
fruits or in the leaves and stems of vegetables. There are two ways to destroy
enzyme inhibitors. The first is cooking; however, this also destroys the
enzymes. The second way, which is preferable, is sprouting. This destroys the
enzyme inhibitors and also increases the enzyme content from a factor of 3 to
6. Some foods, like soybeans, must be especially well heated to destroy the
inhibitors. For example, many of the soy flours and powders on the market were
not heated enough to destroy the inhibitors. There is one other way to
neutralize enzyme inhibitors, but we'll get to it in just a minute.
HDN: You said that it's not
possible to overcome the enzyme drain of cooked foods just by eating other raw
foods. What then can people do?
HOWELL: The only
solution is to take capsules of concentrated plant enzymes. In the absence of
contraindications, you should take from l to 3 capsules per meal. Of course,
if you are eating all raw foods, then no enzymes will be necessary at that
meal. The capsules should be opened and sprinkled on the food or chewed with
the meal. This way, the enzymes can go to work immediately. Incidentally,
taking extra enzymes is the third way to neutralize the enzyme inhibitors in
unsprouted seeds and nuts. Concentrates of plant enzymes or fungus enzymes are
better for predigestion of food than tablets of pancreatic enzymes. This is
because plant enzymes can work in the acidity of the stomach, whereas
pancreatic enzymes only work best in the alkalinity of the small intestine. If
the enzyme tablet has an enteric coating, then it's not suitable, since it
will only release after it has passed the stomach. By this time, it's too late
for food predigestion. The body itself has already used its own enzymes to
digest the food.
HDN: Would people benefit
from taking enzymes, even if they have no problem with digestion or if they
eat mainly raw foods?
HOWELL: They probably would
benefit. Our bodies use up enzymes in so many ways that it pays to maintain
your enzyme bank, regardless of what you eat. For example, enzymes are used up
faster during certain illnesses, during extremely hot or cold weather, and
during strenuous exercise. Also, keep in mind that any enzymes that are taken
are not wasted since they add to the enzyme pool of your body. Furthermore, as
we pass our prime, the amount of enzymes in our bodies and excreted in our
sweat and urine continues to decline until we die. In fact, low enzyme levels
are associated with old age and chronic disease. So far, there's not much hard
evidence on whether taking additional enzymes will extend the lifespan.
However, we do know that laboratory rats that eat raw foods will live about 3
years. Rats that eat enzymeless chow diets will live only 2 years. Thus, we
see that diets deficient in enzymes cause a 30% reduction in lifespan. If this
held true for human beings, it may mean that people could extend their
lifespans by 20 or more years -- just by maintaining proper enzyme levels.
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