Generally speaking, an enzyme is a catalyst that is produced by living things of complex structure and a catalyst is a substance which even in infinitesimally small quantities promotes chemical change without itself being used up in the reaction. It is known that every process in the body requires some action of enzymes and digesting food is one very important reason for the existence of digestive enzymes. There are many different kinds of enzymes, too, each acting on only a very limited range of chemical reactions.

According to Dr. James B. Sumner, Professor of Biochemistry, Cornell University, three classes of elements are required for good health — minerals, vitamins and enzymes. While your body cannot make vitamins and minerals, your body does have the power to make enzymes from its own cells. All animal and vegetable cells can and do make enzymes. Enzymes have never ever been seen, not even by the most powerful microscope, but they were isolated by Dr. Sumner and they are believed to be protein.

There is a great variety of enzymes and life could not exist without them. Digestive enzymes properly digest all foods, breaking the nutrients down into a form that is able to pass through the minute pores of the intestine wall and into the bloodstream. They are believed to be able to rebuild the digested food into glands, nerves, muscles and bones. Enzymes provide the action needed to store glycogen in the liver and muscles for later use. They aid in the elimination of carbon dioxide from the lungs and many other vitally important functions.

Specific enzymes help build phosphorus into bones and nerves. There are enzymes that are involved in the fixing of iron into the red blood cells. Others are involved in the coagulation of the blood to stop bleeding. There are enzymes that attack waste material in the blood and tissues, turning it into urea and uric acid, which are easily eliminated from the body.

Enzymes can turn protein into fat or sugar. There are enzymes that change carbohydrates into fat and others can change fat into carbohydrates. In truth, all of the functions of enzymes are not yet completely understood and I do not think they will be wholly understood for a long time to come. Thus, you can understand that enzymes are fearful and wonderful things.

All natural foods contain enzymes. However, most people eat mainly cooked food, which does not contain enzymes, and it is a fact that no one can live to a ripe old age on such a diet.

I claim that only living organisms are fully capable of regenerating other living organisms and that this regeneration takes place by enzymic action. Enzymes are found in and form a part of all living organisms but they are destroyed at temperatures over 140 degrees Fahrenheit.

While it is true that the human body, through the pancreas, spleen and other organs is capable of making or creating endogenous enzymes to take the place of and function for the enzymes that were originally contained in the food, just what kind of effort is required by the body to create these enzymes has not yet been established. It is assumed that it is extensive and taxes the enzyme-creating organs. When we are young the body's enzyme-creating mechanism functions satisfactorily but as we grow older the strain begins to tell and the function begins to falter and thus we run into incurable diseases.

I grant that much of this is theory on my part but it is theory supported by some scientific evidence, much experience and many observations.

Now why tax the body's organs to create enzymes when unfired food contains all the enzymes that are required to properly metabolize the ingested food without strain or effort on the part of the body? Why not leave the function of cellular regeneration in the capable hands of the enzymes as was the original intent of nature and permit the body organs to perform the functions for which they were created?

It has been scientifically established that the body's ability to function properly is contingent on its supply of enzymes. When the supply of enzymes begins to run low a withering process begins to set in on humans, animals and even insects. Scientists have long been wondering if premature cellular exhaustion is not the basic cause of many of our health problems. It is suggested by many authorities that people get old before their time due to enzyme exhaustion and that some people are old at forty because of the lack of enzymes while others are young at 80 because of the abundance of enzymes.

Researchers at the great Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago discovered that when undergoing a saliva test, older people were found to have only 1/30 the number of enzymes contained in the saliva of young people.

After studying 1200 urine samples, another researcher, Dr. Eckardt of Germany, discovered that the enzymes found in the urine were only half as rich in old age as in the prime of life.

Similar deterioration takes place among insects, as discovered by Dr. Burge of the University of Illinois. Old potato beetles were found to have only half as many enzymes as younger specimens. Then, when fruit flies were studied by Dr. Sekla, Charles University, Prague, and rats by Dr. Falk and associates, the enzymes began to weaken after middle age had been reached.

Here are some interesting facts about enzymes:

Raw milk contains enzymes, pasteurized milk does not, yet both are similar in appearance and taste. Similarly, butter made from pasteurized cream contains no enzymes.

Wheat kernels contain the important enzymes, amylose and protease. In the process of grinding the wheat into flour, the enzymes are not harmed. However, in baking, they are destroyed by the heat. Prepared breakfast cereals are devoid of enzymes because of the various processes used in their manufacture.

White sugar contains no enzymes because of the heat required in the many processes involved, but the original cane contained its full quota. All the starches and sugars are changed by enzyme action into dextrose, a simple sugar. After absorption, some of the dextrose remains in the blood, some of it is changed into glycogen by enzyme action and it is stored in the liver and muscles, and some goes directly to the cells to be oxidized by enzymes, furnishing heat and energy to the tissues. The spent substances being eliminated as carbon dioxide are burned by the enzyme action to form heat and energy and some is stored as fatty tissue.

All canned vegetables, fruits and juices contain no enzymes because they have been destroyed by the heat needed in the canning process.

The vitamin supplements generally offered by health food stores and other outlets, made from yeast, cod liver oil, halibut liver oil and wheat embryos, contain no enzymes due to the processing and heat sterilization., There are some vitamins that are not greatly harmed by heat but all enzymes are completely destroyed. A good way to judge the amount of heat sufficient to destroy enzymes is .... if it is hot enough to cause discomfort to your hand, it is hot enough to kill enzymes.

Many people ask how long enzymes can live. Well, it is believed that enzymes can remain alive for virtually thousands of years under satisfactory conditions. It is claimed that in Egypt 3,000 year old mummies still contained their original enzymes. Even prehistoric graves said to be 50,000 years old, buried in ice in Siberia, still contained enzymes in a properly preserved condition.

When do enzymes begin their work in human nutrition? Experiments have shown that digestive enzymes begin their work as soon as chewing commences and they aid in digesting a quantity of the food during its stay in the mouth.

When the saliva and gastric and intestinal juices are inadequately supplied with enzymes, what happens? The food tends to lie in a heavy mass in the stomach, producing gas, due to fermentation, and causing discomfort. It has not yet been established whether a deficiency of enzymes can cause food to remain in the digestive tract longer than necessary, thus contributing to constipation and other gastrointestinal disorders .... perhaps leading to other more serious conditions, including malignancy.

The vital thing to remember about enzymes is that they are destroyed by heat and various other processes. That is why I stress that you eat your food with all its enzymes intact .... that is, raw. The more you eat with the original enzymes, the healthier you will be and the longer you will live. Of course, a completely raw food diet is the answer but many people find a raw food diet difficult and almost impossible. Do the best you can but I recommend that a minimum of 1/3 of your diet be raw. Better still, if you must eat cooked food, allow yourself one cooked meal a day and keep the other meals raw.

My own diet is about 90% raw and it is not difficult. Of course, I realize that at 71 years of age not only does my health depend on the raw food that I eat but my very life depends on it. I claim that at my table are served the best and most wholesome foods in the world, even though they are not all organically grown .... especially during the winter months.

Your supply of body enzymes is like a bank account in that you can't keep drawing on it without exhausting the supply .... and enzyme exhaustion means trouble. Therefore, keep your enzyme account in balance by eating plenty of wholesome food that contains enzymes and, remember, raw food is the only food that contains enzymes.