The Effects of Enzymes on Mental Health JoAnn Guest

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The Effects of Enzymes on Mental Health

JoAnn Guest

Aug 17, 2003 14:47 PDT

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The Effects of Enzymes On Mental Health

by Lita Lee, Ph.D.

Author of the best-selling " The Enzyme Cure "

 

The Enzyme Cure: How Plant Enzymes Can Help You Relieve 36 Health

Problems

 

 

A large percentage of my clients tell me their doctors have said

they had emotional and/or mental problems because there was nothing

physically wrong with them.

 

They are told to go to psychologists or psychiatrists. Many are

diagnosed with mental illness and placed on

toxic drugs. Some are recommended to have electroshock therapy.

 

I have never believed that people " just go nuts. " I have always

believed that abnormal brain chemistry leading to mental problems is

a direct result of abnormal body chemistry, poor nutrition and

hormonal imbalances.

 

One of the most " critical aspects " of body chemistry is the activity

of enzymes.

Enzymes are substances that speed up " chemical reactions " in all

plants and animals.

Without enzymes, these reactions would occur too slowly or not at

all. The names of enzymes commonly end in " -ase. "

 

Much of the pioneering work in enzyme research was done by Howard

Loomis, D.C. He developed many of the enzyme formulas I and other

enzyme therapists use as well as objective tests to determine enzyme

deficiencies. In this article I will be referring to these formulas

used in the Chirozyme line of enzyme products.

 

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Enzymes and Brain Function

 

There are at least four nutritional causes of mental problems. These

include: protease deficiency (difficulty digesting protein)

sugar intolerance – the inability to digest disaccharides (common

sugars like sucrose) to simple sugars,

hypothyroidism and

 

a junk-food diet laced with sugar.

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Protease Deficiency:

 

People who are deficient in protease cannot digest protein. Many of

them become vegetarians but they still have trouble digesting plant

protein.

 

Here I will emphasize the mental/emotional " symptoms " arising from

severe " protease deficiency " . Protease deficiency leads to a buildup

of excess alkaline reserves because there is inadequate digested

protein to supply enough acidity.

 

When this happens the person becomes anxious and sighs in

an attempt to restore the acid-base balance.

 

Anxiety is usually

treated with drugs such as Xanax, Halcion, and so on. It is much

safer to treat the nutritional cause of the problem, namely

the protease deficiency, with protease Chirozyme.

 

Another anti-anxiety enzyme-herbal formula contains enzymes plus

collinsonia root and hawthorne berries which

stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system.

People who are overly

alkaline and anxious benefit greatly from this formula.

 

Sugar Intolerance: Loomis says that everyone is sugar intolerant to

some degree. Why? Because we eat " tons " of sugar –

 

far exceeding the capacity of the " jejunum " (part of the small

intestine) to make " disaccharidases " , sugar-digesting enzymes.

These include lactase (digests lactose), sucrase (digests sucrose)

and maltase (digests maltose).

 

However, there are some people who just don't make enough

disaccharidases, so they're in trouble whether or not they eat

sugar

 

You can tell how bad the situation is by doing an indican

test on a 24-hour urine sample.

Indican is a toxic substance which can be found in the urine and

causes a multitude of symptoms.

Severe sugar intolerance produces a zero indican because it causes

interference with the indican test.

 

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Sucrase intolerance can lead to mental and emotional problems, such

as panic attacks, depression, insomnia, mood swings that can

progress to a bipolar disorder, and a tendency towards irritable,

aggressive or violent behavior.

 

Loomis developed three enzymes for sugar intolerance.

 

One is Chirozyme Pan, a digestive formula containing not only

protease, amylase (for carbohydrates), lipase (for fats) and

cellulase (for fiber), but also sucrase, lactase and maltase.

Another formula called Chirozyme Adr, with the B-complex plus

enzymes and high levels of sucrase, was developed for

symptoms such as those in the woman I will describe shortly – panic

attacks, depression, insomnia and so on.

 

This is a very common problem in our modern society, among both

adults and young children. The third enzyme, Chirozyme SvG, combines

food sources of vitamins C and E plus disaccharldases.

 

 

Hypothyroidism:

 

I am classifying this as a nutritional problem because it can be

remedied with a simple substance in the food chain – thyroid

glandular.Also, there are herbs which have a stimulating effect on

thyroid function.

 

Hypothyroidism has a myriad of physical symptoms. Some

patients, however, have no physical symptoms but manifest mental

symptoms, sometimes diagnosed as schizophrenia and other mental

illnesses. This was described in Dr.

Broda Barnes' pioneering book, Hypothyroldlsm, The Unsuspected

Illness.

The following cases illustrate these nutritional problems.

 

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The Woman Who Was Too Depressed to Work

 

This 50-year old woman had all nutritional causes of mental problems

to a severe degree. She was diagnosed with bipolar disorder (manic

depression), panic disorder and obsessive personality following a

several-year period during which she became increasingly confused,

disoriented, depressed and deteriorated physically, emotionally and

mentally. During this time she gained 100 pounds and developed

breast cancer.

 

The doctor prescribed a wide range of psychiatric drugs, none of

which improved her condition but did cause terrible side effects

such as nausea, vomiting, loss of bowel control and an additional

weight gain of 50 pounds.

 

Then her psychiatrist, a long-time colleague of mine, referred her

to me for an evaluation of her nutritional needs. He was very open

to the idea that some of her

mental problems were caused by " inadequate nutrition " and a hormonal

imbalance.

At the time I met her, she was taking Imipramine (50-75 mg), Xanax

(1-2 mg) and Tegretol (800 mg -1 gram). Her diet consisted of junk

foods, fast foods, soda pop, coffee and sweets. She appeared almost

catatonic and could barely climb onto the therapy table due to her

large size and severe arthritis.

 

Although I talked to her extensively, I could not tell whether she

heard or understood what I said. I shocked me to see what she had

become. Her therapist told me that she was a former vice-president

of Wells Fargo Bank, an artist, well-read, articulate, brilliant and

creative.

 

This woman had both mental and physical symptoms. Her axillary

(armpit) temperature was only 95 degrees Fahrenheit. I had never

seen one so low. An interesting observation was that it spiked to

104 degrees after she took Imipramine. This concerned me because of

the recent reports of children suddenly collapsing and dying after

taking Imipramine without any apparent symptoms.

 

Urinalysis plus other tests indicated the following treatment:

Digestive formula for sugar-intolerant people (Chirozyme Pan).

Sugar digesting formula for panic attacks, insomnia and depression

(Chirozyme Adr).

Protease (Chirozyme TRMA) for the immune system, soft tissue

inflammation and anxiety due to lack of digested protein leading to

excess alkaline reserves.

Protease (Chirozyme TRMA) for the immune system, soft tissue

inflammation and anxiety due to lack of digested protein leading to

excess alkaline reserves.A thyroid glandular.

 

What happened was amazing, especially because this patient was not

particularly compliant!

 

Within a few weeks, I noticed a gradual but

profound change in her behavior. Her speech was faster and more

articulate with normal emotional expression. Her wonderful sense of

humor re-emerged and she had me cracking up on the phone. And she

started to lose weight. To date, she still goes up and down

depending on whether she is taking her enzyme. But she has improved

enough to become a student at a local college.

 

I have always believed that the body is self-healing, given the

proper nutrition plus digestive enzymes to ensure digestion,

absorption and assimilation. This case aptly illustrates my belief.

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The Boy Who Wanted to Die

 

This is the story of a 16-year-old boy with cerebral palsy who was

diagnosed with mental illness: uni-polar disorder and thought

disorder. He also complained of anger, anxiety, nightmares and

hearing voices. He had become addicted to cigarettes and beer and

had attempted suicide twice. He came to see me after having been

released from a psychiatric hospital following a suicide attempt.

 

He was agitated, had involuntary body movements and his whole face

looked puffy – side effects from the six drugs he had been given to

control his behavior. These drugs were not helping him plus he now

had to deal with additional symptoms due to their side effects.

 

His 24-hour urinalysis was normal except for very low calcium and

poor kidney concentration (that is, insufficient filtration of

toxins/allergens) causing severe kidney pain and the need for a

kidney formula (Chirozyme Kdy). I believe that the drugs had a

masking effect on the urinalysis. Further testing revealed multiple

enzyme deficiencies, respiratory problems (Chirozyme Rsp), a toxic

colon, and the need for an enzymatic formula which is for extreme

sugar intolerance (Chirozyme Adr).

 

Sugar intolerance can lead to severe mental and emotional problems.

Patients may have panic attacks, horrible nightmares, mood swings,

violent behavior and be diagnosed as schizophrenic, bipolar or manic

and so on. So I was not surprised to find this need. This was his

area of greatest pain. The second was the kidneys.

 

A sluggish thyroid can also lead to depression and mental problems.

He presented many symptoms of hypothyroidism including a low

axillary temperature and a low pulse. Here is what I gave him:

 

A digestive enzyme for fat intolerance (Chirozyme Bil).

A B-vitamin-sucrase formula (Chirozyme Adr) for sugar intolerance

symptomized by his nightmares, anger, mood swings, and depression. A

lung remedy (Chirozyme Rsp), previously described.

A colon cleanse powder made from five different seeds.

 

 

Thyroid glandular.

 

His mother started cutting down the dosage of the drugs slowly. In

just a few days he showed noticeable improvement. His edema

disappeared, the involuntary movements ceased, his insomnia and

depression lessened. His mother then took him to a new psychiatrist

and told him about her wish to reduce the dosages of his drugs so

she could wean him from them. The psychiatrist was very

understanding and agreed with her. The young boy continues to

improve and is at present off all of his drugs thanks to the

supervision of his new psychiatrist.

 

Summary

 

Enzymes play a vital role in mental health. And they can be used to

put someone on the road to recovery from mental problems. The best

results of enzyme treatment would be obtained from enzyme therapy

practitioners – specialists trained in testing for and finding the

exact deficiencies that need remedying.

 

A list of enzyme treatment practitioners can be found in Appendix C

of my book The Enzyme Cure, which covers in great depth enzymes and

their role in 36 health problems.

 

Practitioners may also be found by contacting 21st Century Nutrition

at 6421 Enterprise Lane, Madison, WI 53719. Telephone: (800) 662-

2630 or (608) 273-8111.

 

Dr. Lita Lee may be contacted at

P.O Box 516

Lowell, OR 97452

 

(541) 937-1123

 

More information about Dr. Lita Lee and her practice may be obtained

from her listing in the Alternative Mental Health Directory

 

http://www.alternativementalhealth.com/articles/effectsofenzymes.htm