By Dr. Albert Zehr, Ph.D.
For years scientists have pondered the dramatic increase of disease in the Western World. Why are diseases such as coronary heart disease, diabetes, cancer, constipation, appendicitis, diverticulosis, varicose veins and hernia much more common where food and medicine is abundant than in the undeveloped third world?
Dr. Dennis Burkitt, M.D. who studied this matter for years concluded that changing from a primitive diet to refined processed and high fat diet is the prime reason. Furthermore, the key element lost in this process is fibre, which was considered of little consequence until recently.
Fibre Basic to Good Health
After extensive research, David Reuben, M.D. concluded that the major diseases of Western civilization could be greatly alleviated simply by an increase in dietary fibre. Concerning, cancer of the colon and rectum, ischemic heart disease, diverticular disease of the colon, appendicitis, phlebites, and obesity, Dr. Reuben concluded, "Each of these conditions is directly related to the digestion and metabolism of food and the operation of the digestive system." All these body functions are greatly frustrated by a shortage of fibre in our diet.
Since fibre appears to just pass through the body and does not seem to contain any significant nutritional elements, it was considered of little consequence. More recently, it has been found to be very crucial to good health. Acting as an intestinal "sponge" and "broom", it holds toxicity and sweeps mucus and debris from the intestinal tract. Fibre is crucial to regularity, and greatly reduces "transit time" for body wastes. This is very important in keeping the body clean and avoiding self toxication, known as autointoxication. When the bowel is sluggish and full of putrefying waste the entire body becomes toxic, the immune system is overloaded and susceptibility to disease greatly increases.
Enzymes Crucial in Digestion
Another weak area in our Western diet is the lack of active enzymes, many of which are lost in processing. All live and raw foods have active enzymes intact and are thus easy to digest. Once they are processed, enzymes are destroyed and digestion is less efficient due to minimal enzyme activity.
It has been found that digestion can be improved if enzymes are taken in supplement form. One of these enzymes, bromelain, occurs naturally in pineapples. Bomelain is known as a protelytic enzyme, in that it is active in the digestion of protein. It is believed that it can digest up to 1000 times its own weight.
Patrick Quisling, Ph.D. is a nutritional scientist at the Cancer Clinics of America in Tulsa, OK. He has found that bromelain stimulates the immune system, and that if it is taken on an empty stomach, 10% of it will be absorbed into the blood stream where it has a lipolytic, (fat burning) function. Here it will quickly break down fat stores.
Medium Chain Triglycerides (MTC) perform a similar "fat-burning" function. Dr. Quillin reports that MTCs have been demonstrated in Harvard studies to elevate resting metabolism (RMR) by an average of 15% while also preserving lean body mass. Long chain triglycerides can be stored whereas MTCs cannot, and are only used for the immediate need to "priming the pump for burning fat" in the burning of fat storage and increasing the rate at which our bodies burn fuel. He concludes the MTCs are truly a safe and scientifically proven way to accelerate fat burning and weight loss.
Chromium from yeast. All humans require the trace mineral chromium in the diet to become part of an important "sugar burning" factor in the blood, Glucose Tolerance Factor (GTF). GTF helps to escort glucose through the cell membrane for burning as a preferred fuel. Symptoms of chromium deficiency are similar to both hyperglycemia (diabetes) and hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) since the body can no longer properly burn glucose. Up to 90% of all people on a typically refined Western diet are deficient in chromium intake. Researchers at the United States Department of Agriculture have estimated that 25% of all heart disease in Western society stems from chromium deficiency. Unfortunately, most chromium supplements are poorly absorbed, often with as little as 2% absorption from the intestines into the bloodstream. Chromium from yeast is vastly superior since there is a 20 fold improvement in the chromium absorption, plus yeast contains the active agent GTF intact. Many studies have shown that optimal chromium intake will lower the levels of fats in the blood, keep the arteries clean, and preserve lean tissue throughout weight loss.