It stands to reason that if you’re not digesting your food properly, you’re not absorbing the nutrients from your food either.

Few of us ever give a thought to the enzymes in our bodies, yet without them we would go into meltdown. They are the substances which make life possible, the labour force which powers every activity in the body.

Enzymes digest your food and produce the substances needed to move your muscles, stimulate your nerves, make your heart beat, keep you breathing and work your brain, says US enzyme specialist Dr Larry Andrews, recently in South Africa on a lecture tour.

Scientists believe that we inherit a certain capacity for making enzymes at birth, and that we must live with this metabolic capacity for the rest of our lives. But bad diets, stress and the fast pace at which we live has meant that our demand often exceeds the supply, and illness and chronic disease are a result.

How does that happen?

Take an average day. The early morning before work is chaotic, and breakfast is eaten if at all on the run, before you rush into a meeting. Your heart rates up, your brain is working overtime, and your body’s desperate for enzymes to keep this engine moving. So it steals the enzymes from your digestive system and your food lies unattended, fermenting. Your stomach bloats and cramps. You’ll probably become constipated too. If you’ve eaten a fatty meal and the fat isn’t properly digested, you may get diahorrea.

It stands to reason that if you’re not digesting your food properly, you’re not absorbing the nutrients from your food either.

And if your enzymes are working hard at keeping you moving, coping with stress or digesting food, they’re neglecting your immune system, which then becomes vulnerable.

Dr Andrews says enzymes are in greater demand during certain illnesses, during very hot or cold weather and during strenuous exercise. Bodybuilders, for example, often suffer digestive problems because the enzymes needed to digest the huge amounts of food they eat are being used up building muscle.

If I can’t make more, where can I get more enzymes?

Raw foods like fruit and vegetables are an excellent source of enzymes but the moment food is cooked, those enzymes are destroyed.

Scientists have concluded that many of the life-threatening diseases we know today began when man started cooking his food. However, not all raw foods are good sources of enzymes. Raw seeds and raw nuts, for example, contain enzyme inhibitors which may neutralise your bodies own enzymes. But bananas, avocados, mangoes and foods that have higher kilojoule content are rich in enzymes.

Why fasting helps

Because our diets consist of such large quantities of cooked food, our enzymes are kept busy digesting that food. During fasting, enzymes are not needed by the saliva, the stomach or the pancreas, which leaves the body free to work on healing and rebuilding diseased tissue. But all this does require nutrients, so we must soon return to eating and digesting what we eat.

So, I cant fast forever?

Scientists are now suggesting that supplements are the only way to go (unless you have a totally raw diet). Supplementing your body’s own enzyme production with digestive enzymes means the labour force needn’t concern itself with the entire burden of digestion, for example, but can get to work on the immune system, protecting your body from illness and disease. As long as you intend to eat food, take enzymes, says Andrews.