Re:enzyme mode of action

[Guest guest]

One of my children is up all night with stomach, leg and throat pains,

after ingesting wheat. He wets the bed with casein, or with soy. So it is

easy to tell when he's had an infraction and that these foods cause him

problems or damage. With my other children it is not immediate, sometimes

they can go weeks with no reaction. It seems to be more of a build up. So

it seems to me that damage is still being done to my other kids, even if

the evidence is not immediate. I have seen children with allergies eat

something that they are allergic to with no reaction. The next time they

have that food, they end up in the hospital. The mother of one of these

children argued that it couldn't be due to this food, because her child

reacts immediately to allergens.

Removing the foods which cause the problems is a sure fix. Hopefully there

will be a time when it is better known whether enzymes can truly replace

the diet, but until then I will treat this condition seriously enough to

stick with what is proven.

Lolita

> > The enzymes help your child process the foods that are causing the

> > problems. But how much processing is being done by the enzymes

>isn't known. I'm sure it's individual.

>

>Enzymes by nature and definition have a very specific action. Each

>particular enzyme does a particular job and nothing else. If you take

>an enzyme for carbos, and don't eat any, the enzyme stays inactive.

>If carbos are present they do their job, and stop. Think of enzymes

>as a category like micronutrients or vitamins. Then start looking at

>which enzymes you are interested in. Some work on fats, some on

>carbos, some on proteins, etc. Within each group, say proteins, then

>you need to look at WHICH proteins they act on. This is why

>individual formulations give different results.

>

>We tried a bottle of digestive enzymes for proteins from the HFS. We

>did not see any improvement. Then we tried one specifically

>formulated for casein degradation. Great improvement.

>

>For the most part, digestive enzymes " cut " or cleave large protein

>chains into smaller protein chains and ultimately into individual

>amino acids. If your body does not have enough of the right kinds of

>enzymes to sufficiently cut up the protein chains completely, you may

>have problems. Again this varies by individual and over time.

>

> > These foods cause different effects in our kids,

> > different areas are being damaged. So while it may appear that your

> > child is able to eat anything while taking enzymes, no one knows

> > for sure if there is still some damage being done.

>

>I can only speak of my own case, but I can tell that no damage is

>being done. We have found that my oldest son and I get terrible

>migraines starting about 2 hours after ingesting even a little casein

>(half piece sliced cheese, creamer in coffee). With enzymes, much

>larger portions produce no reaction for either of us. So I KNOW that

>whatever is causing the reaction in us is being cleared by the

>enzymes. We are fortunate to have such an obvious and

>quick " barometer " which makes it easy to determine effectiveness. It

>would be much more questionable without this as a guide. As with

>everything we deal with, this varies by individual. And it depends on

>your comfort level with the treatment.

>

> > I would not go off the diet in exchange for the enzymes. But I do

> > use papain (papaya enzyme) with the diet, just in case he gets

> > something that could harm him (such as wheat bread crumbs in his

> > peanut butter, due to having too many kids not paying

> > attention to which peanut butter is NOT theirs).

>

>The lovely thing about enzymes is using them as supplements is not an

>either/or thing. Papain/papaya and bromelain from pineapple are

>natural digestive enhancers that are also found in many products. And

>all digestive aids help with the " just in case " situations, and

>comfort level.

>

>Hope this helps.

>.