Re: Update on Mucostop / allergens

[Guest guest]

After I last posted on my husband's MucoStop success, he continued to

have a really painful headache and general malaise (although

continuing with the MucoStop a few times a day kept away all the

mucus, sneezing, and wheezing - and any subsequent brochial

problems). Yesterday he bought some Claritin for allergies because he

thought it might not be just a flu/cold, and he might be having a bad

allergy attack. He said the Claritin cleared his head right up. So

the MucoStop worked great on the excess mucus (which the product is

for, and research studied) without the side-effects of sudafed, but

it didn't help other aspects of an allergy attack, like the

constriction and pain in the head. My husband reacts to various

seasonal plants.

The question of enzymes as allergens themselves came up. The

understanding is that most all allergens are reactions to some type

of protein (or piece of protein). Any protein in nature can

potentially be an allergen. Enzymes are proteins that do work. So

potentially, any enzyme could be an allergen for any individual just

like any other protein.

Digestive enzymes are enzymes that break down food for organisms.

This can be food for humans, microbes, any living thing.

Digestive enzymes are classified as either:

1. animal derived (pancreatic enzymes) or

2. plant/microbially derived (everything else).

Really, sometimes people get this confused. A lot of doctors learned

about pancreatic enzymes in doctor-school and so if you start talking

about 'enzymes' they may understandably assume you mean pancreatic

ones. Then, they tell you those are destroyed in the stomach (which

is true for pancreatic enzymes) and there is confusion. Or if you are

new to enzymes, you may think, " What is the difference between

digestive enzymes and pancreatin? " Pancreatin is the noun: an extract

from the pancreas of animals that contains pancreatic enzymes. But

pancreatin/pancreatic enzymes are a type of digestive enzyme. There

are FDA approved prescription pancreatic enzymes as well as some

products sold over the counter.

However, most digestive enzyme products sold over-the-counter are

plant/microbial derived. These are not destroyed in the stomach, are

more stable at pH and temps ranges, and are the very successful ones

used more commonly in this group. Pancreatic enzymes come in a set

ratio, whereas plant/microbial enzymes can be way more customized.

Here is a list of which enzymes work on what substances:

http://www.enzymestuff.com/basicswhichenzyme.htm

Because digestive enzymes (both pancreatic ones and plant/microbial

ones) occur in our bodies and in our food all the time throughout our

lives, they are far far less likely to be an allergen. But an

individual could possible have an allergy to a particular enzyme just

like other proteins.

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