Raw Food Enzymes For Cancer and Health

Conservation Plan

When we eat raw, enzyme-rich food, most of the work of breaking the food down is done for us. If we eat cooked food, devoid of enzymes, our bodies must do all the work. This puts a big strain on the pancreas and digestive system and it is a very inefficient process. It is such a burden that the immune system is called in to help. This is why the white blood cells of our bodies multiply when we eat cooked food: they are used to transport digestive enzymes to digest this enzyme-deficient food we have eaten. The main three enzymes that are a normal part of our white blood cells are protease, amylase and lipase. These are the enzymes to digest protein, carbohydrate and fat, which make up the biggest percentage of food. The white blood cells go to the digestive tract to aid the digestive process. You weaken your immune system when you eat large amounts of cooked food. In fact, some of this enzyme-deficient food does not get assimilated, which leaves fat and cholesterol clogging our arteries, while undigested protein and carbohydrates cause allergies and countless other problems.

Cooked Food Culprits

The digestive enzymes produced in our bodies do as good a job as they can in breaking down food, but if we eat too much enzyme-deficient food, we can't handle it all. The waste products that result produce a burden for our bodies to clean up. Our enzyme "bank account" has to pay the price for the extra work. When we have to produce digestive enzymes, we diminish the body's capability to make the metabolic enzymes needed for rebuilding and detoxification. When the metabolic enzyme level is low enough that the metabolism suffers, we die. The good part is that if we notice the problem in time, we can reverse this process.

Raw fruits and vegetables make superior quality cells, leave no harmful waste products and result in exceptional health and long life. We can also use high quality enzyme supplements with cooked food.

The primary cause of disease is an excess of enzyme-deficient cooked food, which drains our enzyme potential and leaves excess waste in the body. The solution is to eliminate as much cooked food as possible without causing undue stress. Then we can give our bodies some easily assimilated, enzyme-rich, cell-building, raw food. Raw fruits and vegetables, especially the juices of vegetables and greens, are the best means of achieving this goal.

Pancreatic Enzymes

By author Michael T. Murray, ND

Each day the pancreas secretes about 1.7 litres of pancreatic juice in the small intestine. In this juice are enzymes including lipases, proteases and amylases required for the digestion and absorption of food.

Lipases, along with bile, help digest fats. Deficiency of lipase results in malabsorption of fats and fat-soluble vitamins. Amylases break down starch molecules into more absorbable sugars and are secreted by the salivary glands as well as the pancreas.

The proteases secreted by the pancreas (trypsin, chymotrypsin and carboxypeptidase) break protein molecules into single amino acids.

Incomplete digestion of proteins creates a number of problems for the body, including the development of allergies and the formation of toxic substances produced during putrefaction, the breakdown of protein material by bacteria.

As well as being necessary for protein digestion, the proteases serve several other important functions. The proteases help keep the small intestine free from parasites (including bacteria, yeast and protozoa). A lack of proteases or other digestive secretions greatly increases an individual's risk of having an intestinal infection, including chronic candida infections of the gastrointestinal tract. Proteases also prevent tissue damage during inflammation, the formation of blood clots and the depositing of immune complexes in body tissues that occurs in such diseases as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus.

Pancreatic Insufficiency

Insufficient output of pancreatic enzymes is associated with abdominal bloating and discomfort, gas, indigestion and the passing of undigested food in the stool. Mild pancreatic insufficiency is thought to be a relatively common condition, especially in the elderly.

Pancreatic insufficiency plays a major role in many cases of food allergies, particularly if a person has multiple allergies. While starch and fat digestion can be carried out satisfactorily without the help of pancreatic enzymes, the proteases are critical to proper protein digestion.

Pancreatic Enzyme Products

Pancreatic enzyme products derived from hog pancreas can treat for pancreatic insufficiency and are also quite popular digestive aids. For vegetarians, bromelain and papain (protein-digesting enzymes from pineapple and papaya, respectively) can substitute for pancreatic enzymes in the treatment of pancreatic insufficiency. These enzyme preparations have also been shown to be effective in helping deal with food allergies.

The dosage of pancreatic enzymes is first based on the level of enzyme activity of the particular product. The United States Pharmacopoeia (USP) has set strict definition for level of activity. This definition is an internationally-recognized standard. A 1X pancreatic enzyme (pancreatin) product has in each milligram not less than 25 units of amylase activity, not less than 2.0 units of lipase activity, and not less than 25 USP units for protease activity. Pancreatin of higher potency is given a whole number multiple indicating its strength.

Full-strength products are preferred because lower potency products are often diluted with salt, lactose, or galactose to achieve desired strength (4X or 1X). The dosage recommendation for a 10X USP pancreatic enzyme product would be 350-700 mg three times a day immediately before meals when used as a digestive aid and 10-20 minutes before meals or on an empty stomach when anti-inflammatory effects are desired.

Make Digestion Easier for Yourself

All raw food naturally contains the proper types and proportions of enzymes necessary to digest itself whether in human consumption or natural decomposition. When raw food is eaten, chewing ruptures the cell membranes and releases the enzymes to begin breakdown.

Food enzymes play an important role in digestion by predigesting food in the stomach before hydrochloric acid has even been secreted. Under optimal conditions, it could be argued that the human body needs no supplementation of enzymes. However, most food enzymes are essentially destroyed at the temperature used to cook and process food, leaving foods devoid of digestive enzyme activity. The body's digestive process can become overstressed with the full digestive burden and vital nutrients may not be released from food for assimilation.

Plant enzymes work at the pH found in part of the stomach where food can sit for a while before gastric secretions begin action and can improve food nutrient utilization. If you decide to supplement with digestive enzymes, read the label. Ingredients could include protease (to break long protein chains into amino acids), lactase (to digest lactose), invertase (to break down sugars), malt diastase (for starches), alpha-galactosidase (for carbohydrates), papaya leaf or papain and fenugreek.

The Healing Power of Proteolytic Enzymes

Proteolytic enzymes (or proteases) refer to the various enzymes that digest (break down into smaller units) protein. These enzymes include the pancreatic proteases chymotrypsin and trypsin, bromelain (pineapple enzyme), papain (papaya enzyme), fungal proteases, and Serratia peptidase (the "silk wormâ‚¬ enzyme). Preparations of proteolytic enzymes have been shown to be useful in the treatment of:


  • Digestion support
  • Fibrocystic breast disease
  • Food allergies
  • Hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis)
  • Hepatitus C
  • Herpes Zoster (shingles)
  • Inflammation, sports injuries and trauma
  • Pancreatic insufficiency
  • Multiple Sclerosis
  • Rheumatoid Arthritis and other Autoimmune Disorders
  • Sinusitis, Asthma, Bronchitis and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Proteolytic enzymes in cancer therapy


What clinical research has been done with proteolytic enzymes in cancer?

The clinical research that currently exists on proteolytic enzymes suggests significant benefits in the treatment of many forms of cancer. Specifically these studies have shown improvements in the general condition of patients, quality of life, and modest to significant improvements in life expectancy. Studies have consisted of patients with cancers of the breast lung, stomach, head and neck, ovaries, cervix, and colon; and lymphomas and multiple myelomas. Proteolytic enzymes are not recommended for at least two days before or after a surgery as they may increase the risk of bleeding (although we don't actively support surgery for cancer). Proteolytic enzymes have been shown to be quite helpful in speeding up post-surgical recovery and relieving a complication of surgery and radiation known as lymphedema.


Extracts of pawpaw (Asimina triloba, Annonaceae) are among the most potent of the 3500 species of higher plants screened for bioactive compounds at a laboratory at Purdue University.  The pawpaw is a small tree native to eastern North America; its edible fruits (sometimes referred to as "Indiana Bananas") have nurtured mankind for centuries.

Activity-directed fractionation of the pawpaw extracts, using the brine shrimp lethality bioassay, led to the isolation and molecular characterization of over 50 unique Annonaceous acetogenins. Fractionation of extracts from related species resulted in the identification of over 150 additional acetogenins.


The powerful cytotoxicity, in vivo antitumor, pesticidal, anti-malarial, anthelmintic, piscicidal, antiviral, and antimicrobial effects indicated a myriad of potentially useful applications. Commercial development of these compounds uses natural mixtures of active components, incorporated into pesticidal, topical, and dietary supplement products.



Papain & Bromelain
Pineapples and Pawpaws

Papayas and pineapples are nature's best sources of proteolytic enzymes, which we need in order to digest food protein. However, these enzymes have also been shown as beneficial in fighting cancer.

Numerous alternative cancer practitioners have promoted proteolytic enzymes. Dr. Nicholas Gonzalez conducted a pilot study of patients suffering from inoperable adenocarcinoma of the pancreas. He treated 11 people with his diet program that included proteolytic enzymes. The experiment resulted in five people surviving for two years, four surviving for three years, and two still living.  Consequently, a larger scale study currently in Phase 3 is partially funded by the National Cancer Institute.

Papaya Sweet Answer to our Well Being and Health

Papaya, Pawpaw, Tree Melon (botanical name Carica Papaya), it has oblong shape, normally greenish yellow, yellow or orange colour. It is a large tree plant fruit usually reaching 2.5kg. It has bitter sweet taste and comes from tropical places with higher humidity, native to Mexico, countries of Central America, Thailand, Africa and Asia and growing well in Australia.

Papaya Health Benefits

Pawpaw is plentiful all year round in most of the countries. The parts that are used medicinally are fruit, seeds, stems and leaves. Papaya fruit is and excellent source of dietary fiber, folate, vitamin A, C and E. It also contains small amount of calcium, iron, riboflavin, thiamine and niacine. It is also very rich in antioxidant nutrients flavonoids and carotenes, very high in vitamin C plus A, and low in calories and sodium.

Pawpaw is rich in enzymes called papain and chymopapain which helps with the digestion, particularly it breaks down the proteins from the food we eat into amino acids. The latest research shows that amino acids are responsible for everything happening in our bodies, in every chemical reaction as well as our mental and physical health. As we age we produce less of the digestive enzymes in our stomach and pancreas, which leads to ineffective digestion of proteins.

As a result we have excess amounts of undigested protein, which leads to overgrowth of the bad bacteria in our gastrointestinal system and not enough of amino acids to perform all important chemical reactions. We can say that good quality protein is absolutely essential for our healthy being. This is where the papaya enzymes can be very beneficial.

The papain enzymes are produced in the skinny peel of pawpaw. The combination of these enzymes repels insect during the ripening, without this protection pawpaw fruit would not survive. Eating pawpaw after a meal makes for better digestion prevents bloating and chronic indigestion. It can also lower the inflammation in the body, alleviates the pain and edema caused by sport injuries.

Because of its anti-inflammatory properties papaya can relieve the severity of Rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. Because of its high antioxidant content, papaya can prevent cholesterol oxidation and can be use in preventative treatments against atherosclerosis, strokes, heart attacks and diabetic heart disease.

In everyday health papaya strengthens the immune system preventing the recurrent colds and flu. After treatment with antibiotics eating pawpaw or drinking its juice replenishes the good intestinal bacteria, which was destroyed by the antibiotic treatment.

It has been found that pawpaw enzymes destroy intestinal parasites. Papain is proteolitic enzyme, which means that it digests inert (non-living) proteins. Intestinal parasites are largely protein; the papain attacks it and causes parasites to die.

In addition home applications of leaf and bark papaya extract is used to deal with mouth gums and toothaches which is being effectively practiced in many cultures around the world.

Papaya Research and Products

Papain is also being studied for relief of cancer therapy side effects, especially relieving side effects such as difficulty swallowing and mouth sores after radiation and chemotherapy as well as boosting up the immune system and helping body to fight the cancer.

Unripened (green) papaya contains far more of the proteolytic enzymes papain and chymopapain than ripened papaya which we commonly eat.  One can also juice the leaves and stems but be prepared for the vile taste of it.  One does will not naturally like its taste but then nor do the cancer cells.

Summary of Healing Properties of Papaya

  • Increases the quality of proteins in whole organism
  • Revitalises the human body and maintains energy and vitality
  • Encourages the renewal of muscle tissues
  • Supports cardiovascular system
  • Boosts the immune system
  • Helps with the digestive system, by breaking down the proteins and supporting the production of digestive enzymes
  • Papaya can be used externally as a treatment for skin wounds that don't heal quickly.  For this one would use the papaya peel or ointments made from papaya
  • Prevents cataract formation
  • Due to high vitamin A, it lowers the risk of emphysema in smokers and passive smokers
  • Alleviates inflammation
  • Helps with nausea and constipation
  • Can benefit people suffering colan cancer and other forms of cancers and ailments of the cardiovascular and gastrointestinal systems

For more information on Papaya, Paw paws and papaine, follow this link.

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