An enzyme is a biocatalyst - something that makes something else work or work faster. Chemical reactions are generally slow things, enzymes speed them up. Without enzymes the chemical reactions that make up our life would be too slow for life as we know it. (As slow as sap running down a tree in winter). For life to manifest as we know it, enzymes are essential to speed up the reactions. We have roughly some 3000 enzymes in our bodies and that results in over 7000 enzymic reactions. Most of these enzymes are derived or created from what we think of as the protein digesting enzymes. But while digestion is an important part of what enzymes do, it's almost the absolute last function.

First and foremost these body wide proteolytic (protein eating) enzymes have the following actions:
Natural Anti-Inflammatory:
They are the first line of defense against inflammation. (1,2,3). Inflammation is a reaction by the immune system to an irritation. Let's say you have an injured right knee. The immune system sensing the irritation the knee is undergoing creates a protein chain called a Circulating Immune Complex (CIC for short), tagged specifically for that right knee. (The Nobel Prize in biology was won in 1999 by a scientist who discovered this tagging mechanism). This CIC floats down to the right knee and causes pain, redness and swelling are the classic earmarks for inflammation. This at first is a beneficial reaction; it warns us that a part of ourselves is hurt and needs attention. But, inflammation is self-perpetuating, itself creating an irritation that the body makes CIC's to in response!
Aspirin, Ibuprofen, Celebrex, Vioxx and the rest of the Non Steroidal Anti Inflammatory Drugs all work by keeping the body from making all CIC's. This ignores the fact that some CIC's are vital to life, like those that maintain the lining of the intestine and those that keep the kidneys functioning! Not to mention the fact that the NSAID's, along with acetaminophen, are highly toxic to the liver. Every year 20,000 Americans die from these over the counter drugs and another 100,000 will wind up in the hospital with liver damage, kidney damage or bleeding intestines from the side effects of these drugs. (4,5).
Systemic enzymes on the other hand are perfectly safe and free of dangerous side effects. They have no LD-50, or toxic dose. (6). Best of all systemic enzymes can tell the difference between the good CIC's and the bad ones because hydrolytic enzymes are lock and key mechanisms and their "teeth" will only fit over the bad CIC's. So instead of preventing the creation of all CIC's, systemic enzymes just "eat" the bad ones and in so doing lower inflammation everywhere. With that, pain is lowered also.
Anti Fibrosis.
Enzymes eat scar tissue and fibrosis. (7). Fibrosis is scar tissue and most doctors learn in anatomy that it is fibrosis that eventually kills us all. Let me explain. As we age, which starts at 27, we have a diminishing of the bodies' output of enzymes. This is because we make a finite amount of enzymes in a lifetime and we use up a good deal of them by the time we are 27. At that point the body knows that if it keeps up that rate of consumption we'll run out of enzymes and be dead by the time we reach our 40's. (Cystic Fibrosis patients who have virtually no enzyme production to speak of, even as children usually don't make it past their 20's before they die of the restriction and shrinkage in the lungs from the formation of fibrosis or scar tissue).
So our body in it's wisdom begins to dole out our enzymes with an eyedropper instead of with a tablespoon; as a result the repair mechanism of the body goes out of balance and has nothing to reduce the over abundance of fibrin it deposits in nearly every thing from simple cuts, to the inside of our internal organs and blood vessels. This is when most women begin to develop things like fibrocystic breast disease, uterine fibroids, endometriosis, and we all grow arterial sclerotic (meaning scar tissue) plaque, and have fibrin beginning to spider web its way inside of our internal organs reducing their size and function over time. This is why as we age our wounds heal with thicker, less pliable, weaker and very visible scars.
If we replace the lost enzymes we can control and reduce the amount of scar tissue and fibrosis our bodies have. As physicians in the US are now discovering, even old scar tissue can be "eaten away" from surgical wounds, pulmonary fibrosis, kidney fibrosis and even keloids years after their formation. Medical doctors in Europe and Asia have known this and have used orally administered enzymes for these situations for over 40 years!
Blood Cleansing.
The blood is not only the river of life, it is also the river through which the cells and organs dispose of their garbage and dead material. Enzymes improve circulation by eating the excess fibrin that causes blood to sometimes get as thick as Ketchup or yogurt, creating the perfect environment for the formation of clots. All of this material is supposed to be cleared by the liver on its "first pass", or the first time it goes through but given the sluggish and near toxic or toxic states of everyone's liver these days that seldom happens. So the sludge remains in the blood waiting for the liver to have enough free working space and enough enzymes to clean the trash out of the blood. This can take days, and in some cases, weeks! (8).
When systemic enzymes are taken, they stand ready in the blood and take the strain off of the liver by:

1.	Cleaning excess fibrin from the blood and reducing the stickiness of blood cells. These two actions minimize the leading causes of stroke and heart attack causing blood clots. (8).
2.	Breaking dead material down small enough that it can immediately pass into the bowel. (8)
3.	Cleanse the FC receptors on the white blood cells improving their function and availability to fight off infection. (9).

And here we come to the only warning we have to give concerning the use of systemic enzymes - don't use the product if you are a hemophiliac or are on prescription blood thinners like Coumadin, Heparin and Plavix, without direct medical supervision. The enzymes cause the drugs to work better so there is the possibility of thinning the blood too much.
Immune System Modulating
Enzymes are adaptogenic seeking to restore a steady state to the body. (9). When the immune system is running low we become susceptible to infectious disease, when it's cranked up too high then the system creates antibodies that attack it's own tissues as are seen in the auto immune diseases of MS, Rheumatoid Arthritis, and Lupus. Here the enzymes will tone down immune function and eat away at the antibodies the immune system is making to attack its bodies own tissue.
Virus Fighting
Viruses harm us by replicating in our bodies. To do this a virus must bond itself to the DNA in our cells through the medium of its exterior protein cell wall. Anything that disrupts that cell wall inhibits the ability of viral replication by rendering individual viruses inert. (10,11). Systemic enzymes can tell the difference between the proteins that are supposed to be in your body and those that are foreign or not supposed to be there, (again the enzyme lock and key mechanism).
One note: many in the States have learned in school that enzymes are too big a protein to be absorbed through the gut. The pioneering research done in the US by Dr. Max Wolf (MD & PhD x7) at Columbia University in the 40's through the 70's has not made it to the awareness of most doctors. There are currently over 200 peer reviewed research articles dealing with the absorption, utilization and therapeutic action of orally administered systemic enzymes. A search through Pub Med using the key words: serrapeptase, papain, bromelain, trypsin, chymo trypsin, nattokinase and systemic enzyme will yield some of the extensive work. Systemic enzymes now have a 4 decade plus history of widespread medical use in central Europe and Japan.
References:

1.	Carroll A., R.: Clinical examination of an enzymatic anti-inflammatory agent in emergency surgery. Arztl. Praxis 24 (1972), 2307.
2.	Mazzone A, et al.: Evaluation of Serratia peptidase in acute or chronic inflammation of otorhinolaryngology pathology: a multicentre, double blind, randomized trial versus placebo. J Int Med Res. 1990; 18(5):379-88.
3.	Kee W., H. Tan S, L., Lee V. Salmon Y. M.: The treatment of breast engorgement with Serrapeptase: a randomized double blind controlled trial. Singapore Med J. 1989:30(l):48-54.}
4.	Celebrex article Wall Street Journal 19 April 1999.
5.	No author listed: Regular Use of Pain Relievers Can Have Dangerous Results. Kaleidoscope Interactive News, American Medical Association media briefing. July 24, 1997.
6.	Enzymes ñ A Drug of the Future, Prof. Heinrich Wrba MD and Otto Pecher MD. Published 1993 Eco Med.
7.	Kakinumu A. et al.: Regression of fibrinolysis in scalded rats by administration of serrapeptase. Biochem. Pharmacol. 31:2861-2866,1982.
8.	Ernst E., Matrai A.: Oral Therapy with proteolytic enzymes for modifying blood rheology. Klin Wschr. 65 (1987), 994
9.	Kunze R., Ransberger K., et at: Humoral immunomodulatory capasity of proteases in immune complex decomposition and formation. First International symposium on combination therapies, Washington, DC, 1991.
10.	Jager H.: Hydrolytic Enzymes in the therapy of HIV disease. Zeitschr. Allgemeinmed., 19 (1990), 160
11.	Bartsch W.: The treatment of herpes zoster using proteolytic enzymes. Der Informierte Arzt. 2 (1974), 424-429.

When a patient goes in for elective plastic surgery, it is most often with the thought that they are improving something about their appearance. The physician keeps aesthetics and symmetry in mind as the work is planned and done much as a sculptor takes care to carve his artwork.

In serious injury when a fracture is compounded and sections of broken bone tears through the skin, great care must be taken not only in reducing the fracture but also in making sure no nerve damage has been done by the break or created in the reduction. The ends of bone are carefully placed back where they can mend and the skin closed and sutured to insure that it all heals.
Ofttimes in car accidents facial lacerations occur from flying shards of glass. If the ER doctor is skilled at closing such wounds he will first suture the gallia, the fine connective tissue layer beneath the skin, mating the ends correctly then carefully closing the skin over that.
What happens after the events described above or any other injury or surgical wound where skin and the connective tissue layers beneath are involved hopefully is healing without scaring and without the formations of keloids. What are keloids? They are hard often unsightly mounds of connective tissue bunched up and over grown; they are a form of fibrosis / scar tissue.
Fibrosis is the result of inflammation. Inflammation caused by the injury, by the surgery, by a burn, whatever the cause inflammation is one of two things that drive the growth of fibrosis. (The other cause of fibrosis growth is estrogen but that is not an operational factor in keloid formation. Long term or intense inflammation is the spark that causes the formation of these mounds of scar tissue). If the inflammation can be brought under control the keloid formation might be arrested. Plastic surgeons routinely have administered local injections of cortisone in attempts to slow down the inflammation and stop the formation of keloids. These attempts are mostly failures and if pronounced the keloid itself may have to be surgically excised, which may in turn begin the round of keloid formation all over again.
It has been taught that a keloid older than a year will remain untreatable regardless of what is done short of surgery. This line of thinking does not hold world wide. Physicians in Central Europe and Japan have for decades been treating various types of fibrosis, from post operative scar tissue, to renal fibrosis, to pulmonary fibrosis with blends of orally administered proteolytic enzymes specifically formulated to be absorbed and act systemically. 1,2,3,4,5,6. To date there are over 200 peer reviewed studies verifying both the absorption and therapeutic action of such enzymes. (See www.enzymescience.com in the abstracts archive).
In Germany the use of systemic enzymes is standard in the post operative prevention of scar tissue, where the enzymes also decrease inflammation (without the side reactions or toxicity of the NSAIDs or steroids), and speed the healing of tissue. It was surmised by some surgeons that if the enzymes could prevent the formation of post operative scar tissue and existing fibrosis in other conditions, that they could also lyse away the fibrosis of keloids. Their assumption was correct.
While no formal studies have yet been done on keloids specifically, the lysing action of the enzymes on other types of fibrosis has been studied and noted. Various plastic surgeons have reported the removal of long standing keloids from their patients. One interesting observation on the fibrosis lysing effect of systemic enzymes came from a plastic surgeon from California. This physician, while using a multi-enzyme product to reduce both the inflammation and post operative scar tissue in his patients, was taking the product himself to lower visceral inflammation levels and bring down CRP and Homocystine levels. After several weeks on the product he reported that a 40 year old keloid the size of a small egg that had grown on his left hand, as the result of a compound fracture, had been completely lysed away! Various other plastic surgeons report the removal of long standing keloids from patients.
Up to now there has been no sure treatment for the prevention or elimination of keloids. With the use of Systemic Enzymes, there is now a powerful, effective, yet completely safe and non toxic tool for the treatment of this form of fibrosis. The effect of enzymes is dose dependent and results may be seen seen in weeks or some months depending on the size of and circulation to the keloid.
Incorporating Systemic Enzymes into your daily regimen can be a key part of addressing keloids.
Try systemic enzyme therapy today, and see the benefits for yourself! Click here to learn more about EnMax®.
References:

1.	Transport of Proteolytic Enzymes Across Caco-2 Cell Monolayers Bock U.,1 Kolac C.,1 Borchard G.,1 KochK.,1 Fuchs R.,1 Streichhan P.,2 and Lehr C.-M.1 1 Department of Biopharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Technology, University of Saarland, Saarbrücken, Germany 2 Mucos Pharma GmbH, Geretsried, Germany Pharmaceutical Research 1998, Vol. 15, No. 9, pp. 1393-1400.
2.	Intestinal absorption of serrapeptase (TSP) in rats. Moriya N, Nakata M, Nakamura M, Takaoka M, Iwasa S, Kato K, Kakinuma A. Biotechnol Appl Biochem. 1994 Aug;20 ( Pt 1):101-8. Biotechnology Research Laboratories, Takeda Chemical Industries Ltd., Osaka, Japan.
3.	Evaluation of Serratia peptidase in acute or chronic inflammation of otorhinolaryngology pathology: a multicentre, double-blind, randomized trial versus placebo. Mazzone A, Catalani M, Costanzo M, Drusian A, Mandoli A, Russo S, Guarini E, Vesperini G. J Int Med Res. 1990 Sep-Oct;18(5):379-88. Institute of Clinical Otorhinolaryngology, University of Naples, Italy.
4.	Anti-inflammatory and analgesic activity of ExCLzyme-EN® S.L.Bodhankar, A.U.Burhan, V.M.Kale, S.Banerjee and S. Risbud Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed University, Poona College of Pharmacy, Pune 411 038. Raj Biotech Pvt. Ltd., Pune 411038 Group Companies of Specialty Enzymes and Biochemicals Co., Chino, California 91710 and Advanced Biochemicals Ltd. Thane 400601.
5.	Renal fibrosis: Role of impaired protein degradation and potential therapeutic strategies Heidland A.1, Sebekova K.2, Paczek L.3, Teschner M.1, Daemmrich J.4, Gaciong Z.3 1 Medical Faculty, University of Wuerzburg, 2 Institute of Preventive and Clinical Medicine, Bratislava (Slovakia), 3 The Transplantation Institute Warsaw (Poland), 4 Institute of Pathology, University of Wuerzburg (Germany) Kidney International 1997, Vol. 52, Suppl. 62, pp. S 32- S 35
6.	Enzymolysis of glomerular immune deposits in vivo with dextranase/protease ameliorates proteinuria, hematuria, and mesangial proliferation in murine experimental IgA nephropathy Gesualdo L., Ricanati S., Hassan M.O., Emancipator S.N., Lamm M.E. Institute of Pathology and the *Department of Pathology, Veterans Administration Hospital, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44106 J. Clin. Invest. 1990: Vol. 86, September 1990, pp. 715-722

Before its official establishment in 1976, fibromyalgia was most commonly known by the name fibrositis, where "itis" implied an inflammatory component. Despite the understanding of the contribution of inflammatory pathways to pain, clinical research was unable to identify the role of inflammation in fibromyalgia for many years.

Within the last decade, fibromyalgia research has once again been focusing on the possible contribution of inflammation to disease progression, and is finding some new and interesting results.
Clinical studies have produced evidence that fibromyalgia is associated with the immune system's improper regulation of proinflammatory cytokines that circulate in the bloodstream, contributing to the dysfunction of the central nervous system and pain-related neuro-transmitters.2 Changes in proinflammatory cytokine levels have been seen in the blood work and biopsies of fibromyalgia patients.3,4 In addition, increased levels of IL-1Ra and IL-6 have been found in the cells from fibromyalgia patients in in-vitro stimulation and cellular proliferation studies.5 Cytokines, depending on their concentration, induce symptoms, such as fatigue, fever, sleep, pain, and muscle pain,6 all of which develop in fibromyalgia patients.
These findings are uncovering new possibilities in research for fibromyalgia causation, as well as treatment options. Some experimental pain reduction therapies have been examined and shown positive results, correlating with decreased proinflammatory cytokine levels.7 Anticonvulsant drugs, analgesics, opiods and anti-depressants are commonly prescribed to fibromyalgia patients, but tend to carry side effects reflective of the syndrome itself,8,9 and many of which lack evidence for effectiveness.10
Limited treatment options have led to an increasing use of systemic enzyme therapy as a means to alleviate symptoms and improve quality of life. Certain proteolytic (protein digesting) enzymes have been identified to have extremely beneficial actions when applied to inflammation and pain related to this condition.
Incorporating Systemic Enzymes into your daily regimen can be a key part of addressing fibromyalgia syndrome.
Try systemic enzyme therapy today, and see the benefits for yourself! Click here to learn more about EnMax®.

In all people, as we age, we increase the chronic inflammation we carry internally. Medicine has now come to realize that internal inflammation is the root cause of everything from heart and vascular disease to diabetes and cancer.

Why does inflammation increase as we age? In our youth, part of the feeling of invincibility we possessed came from our bodies ability to fight off the natural results of play and effort: inflammation, with its own unique anti-inflammatory substances: the proteolytic enzymes our pancreas makes. The pancreas is part of the exocrine system along with our sweat, salivary and tear glands. It is a gland that makes digestive juices which contain enzymes as well as the very essential insulin we need to be able to use sugar for energy.
As we age our production of proteolytic enzymes decreases.1 There are only two products the body makes finite amounts of - dopamine and proteolytic enzymes. Half of a persons production of proteolytic enzymes are used up by the age of 25, that-s part of the reason we feel invincible at that age - our own enzymes are controlling inflammation. By 27, our bodies figure out that if we maintain that level of enzyme output, we would be dead by the time we got to forty. Physiology teaches that old age begins at 27, and lack of enzymes, is the reason why! So the body begins to dole out the enzymes with an eyedropper instead of with a tablespoon to stretch out the store of enzymes for as long as we can and it is the downturn in enzyme availability that causes an increase in inflammation as proteolytic enzymes are the bodies first line of defense against inflammation.
From 27 onwards, the markers for inflammation, C-Reactive Proteins and Homocystine levels increase, demonstrating an increase in inflammation inside of the body. Inflammation is a reaction to over work, stress, over exercise, over use and injury in both micro trauma and macro trauma.
Long term use of the conventional drugs (cortico-steroids and NSAIDs) for fighting inflammation, are worse than the inflammation they are trying to stop. They guarantee an earlier death. New research findings have stopped the use of cortico steroids against brain inflammation in head injury patients due to the fact that such patients treated with the cortisone die at a faster rate than those not treated with the drug!2 Besides, the long term side effects of steroid use, make these drugs unsuitable for daily long term use. The non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), have been shown to have the same potential for creating heart and vascular inflammation, yes inflammation. Imagine an anti-inflammatory drug that causes inflammation. So, the NSAIDs are not the way to go either, as here again, even a regular low dose use of these drugs can have life-threatening side effects.
The only anti-inflammatory substances that are safe to take long term are systemic enzyme blends, as they completely lack toxicity and are safe at any level of ingestion.
Systemic enzymes give people a way, to address long-term chronic inflammation in a manner that will not create short-term or long-term problems, side-effects or early death. It does someone no good if the method of dealing with chronic inflammation shortens the life by it side-effects.
Incorporating Systemic Enzymes into your daily regimen can be a key part of addressing chronic fatigue.
Try systemic enzyme therapy today, and see the benefits for yourself! Click here to learn more about EnMax®.
References:

1.	Wolf and Ransburger: Enzyme Therapy, Viking Press 1973.
2.	Alderson, P., Roberts, I.; Corticosteroids in acute traumatic brain injury: systematic review of randomised controlled trials. UK Cochrane Centre, NHS Research and Development Programme, Oxford OX2 7LG, b Institute of Child Health, University of London, London WC1N 1EH

The feeling of lack of a full breath, of not being able to pull in enough air, is likely to be one of the worst feelings that one can have. Patients suffering from conditions like COPD and Pulmonary Fibrosis probably experience it everyday.

What causes Pulmonary Fibrosis? Many things are considered to be causing PF, however sometimes, no clear root cause can be identified or established. In such cases, the word idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis is associated with the condition.

In Pulmonary Fibrosis, there is a chronic inflammation in the tissues of the lungs. There is usually no idea as to why there is chronic inflammation (that is, it keeps recurring from time to time). This chronic nature of the inflammation, in turn, creates a scar tissue over time due to the highly sensitive nature of the lung tissues.
The lungs contain little sacs called alveoli. These sacs are very elastic and they are the structures that are responsible for transfer of oxygen from the air into the blood. The opening to the alveoli, is relatively small, just as the opening to a balloon is relatively small compared to the balloon itself. When scar tissue builds inside the lungs, it not only keeps the lungs from fully expanding, it also restricts the alveoli from fully absorbing the oxygen and transferring it to the blood. The result is the inability to take in a full breath of air and lowered levels of blood oxygen.
Oxygen levels in the blood, which should ideally be at 95% saturation rate or better for healthy individuals, are found to be around 80-85% for patients suffering from COPD and PF. This causes a huge strain on the brain and even daily chores become a great struggle.
Conventional treatment for COPD and PF patients involves cortico-steroids, which have dreadful side-effects. Most practitioners might tell you that there is no way to get rid of the scar tissue or the fibrosis inside the lungs. Thanks to systemic enzymes however, there is a way out.
Pulmonologist, Dr White of Winston Salem North Carolina, was one of the first users of systemic enzymes for PF. He used systemic enzymes to control the chronic inflammation of a PF patient and was amazed at the results he saw in just 7 days. The patient-s lung capacity and oxygen saturation had greatly increased in such a short span of time.
Incorporating Systemic Enzymes into your daily regimen can be a key part of addressing pulmonary fibrosis.
Try systemic enzyme therapy today, and see the benefits for yourself! Click here to learn more about EnMax®.