Pancreatic Enzyme Therapy
I want to say up front that it is the nature and expense of pancreatic enzymes that really makes this therapy a difficult one to do! I want to also speculate that it is exactly this difficulty in the nature of this beast both in the processing and storage of these medicinal enzymes which is the number one reason why so many varied results have occurred in over 100 years of therapeutic history from physician-to-physician and researcher-to-researcher. If a physician or researcher is working unknowingly with inert enzymes, misconceptions are bound to occur, terrible failures versus brilliant successes!
I first became familiar with the Trophoblastic Theory maybe 5 or more years ago, and I was immediately turned-off by how expensive pancreatic enzyme tablets were on the open market! At this writing, a 720 count bottle of 425mg Pancreas natural glandular (Pork) tablets goes for any where from $115 to over $130 per bottle. Outrageous, if one considers the huge number of tablets that they say must be taken per day. This is economically undoable for most people. Dr. Kelley wrote a number of years ago that it takes about $2500 worth of tablets and other supplements per month for the first 6-9 months of his treatment. If that is true, we are looking at approximately US$15,000 to over $22,000 just for the tablets that insurance companies will never pick up. Remember, this is an old years-long estimate from Dr. Kelley! No doubt, much higher now. Who can possibly afford that? Dr. Gonzalez writes: "Depending on the situation, how aggressive the cancer is, and how much they have, usually anywhere from 80 to 110 capsules a day. A capsule is 425 mg of pancrease, so it's a pretty hefty amount. You're talking 35, 40, 45 grams a day, spread through the day in six or seven doses. For anticancer effect, they have to be taken away from meals; otherwise they'll spend time digesting food. You want to take them on an empty stomach so they absorb quicker. We use a pork-based pancreas because it's more effective in humans but some people are allergic to pork. We have a lamb enzyme that's a second tier approach and it's milder. For people who have a history of ulcer disease, we'll suggest the lamb because it's a little milder. It still works, it's just not as effective as the pork pancreas." Presuming you take the low end of that estimate of 80 tablets a day, a 720 count bottle would last you only 9 days at over $100 a bottle ($300+ a month). At the high dose of 110 capsules, a 720 count bottle would last a bit over 6 days ($500+ a month). On this page, I will suggest to you a better and much cheaper way that you can get your pancreatic enzymes, canceling out the exorbitant profits of the middle-men.
I come from the herbal world which makes me quite familiar with how biologic medicinal substances can so easily deteriorate in processing and storage. It also makes me familiar with how commercial processing of these natural substances may not be generally good for final potency in the purchased retail product simply because the companies have to produce a product that can be easily shipped, used, and stored which is not necessary for the home DIY processor and on top of all this, approved by the FDA. With herbs, I much prefer harvesting my own fresh plants from the fields on my farm or general area in order to obtain the most potent and cheapest medicinal without having to resort to buying a dried herb from the commercial companies where one never knows how that herb was harvested, processed and stored. Pancreatic enzymes would be no different! You are much better off going to the local slaughter house or butcher and buying freshly harvested pancreas that you know has been immediately put on ice until you can minimally process it yourself for your own use! The key word here is minimally processed! On this page, I will show how raw pancrease that is minimally processed is better and cheaper than any tablet!
You know in these current times, patients never seem to achieve the renowned success results that were obtained by the original medical systems that were overseen by the masters. Both the Budwig and Pancreatic Enzyme therapies are no different. Many modern adherents to these two systems seem to have problems with successful cures, unlike those original documented patients that brought so much fame to these systems with 90%+ success rates. I truly believe one of the key failure points of both protocols is simply that the medicinal compounds being used are not potent as they were originally used! They are uselessly inert for various reasons unlike in the past! For instance, rancid flax seed oil is rampant on the shelves and warehouses of the USA. I cannot begin to tell you how many clients I have pointed to the Budwig protocol that buy flax seed oil for the first time ending up detesting its taste! Fresh flax seed oil should always have a pleasant, nutty, grassy taste. If there is any type of unpleasant tang, that oil is going rancid and is worse than no treatment at all. The same would be true of pancreatic enzymes, though they won't go rancid like flax seed oil, nor have an off taste. Enzymes can easily suffer degradation in harvesting, processing, and storage conditions. Temperature, pH, enzyme concentration, substrate concentration, and the presence of coenzymes, inhibitors or activators, all can affect the final potency of pancreatic enzymes with the average patient only knowing that he or she is no better for taking them. The Levin method patent writes: "Certain tissues should be treated immediately after the animal is killed, or should be deep frozen as quickly as possible in order to prevent loss of activity. The enzymes are sensitive to heat and it has been found that they are generally destroyed at temperatures above 140°F, if the temperature is held at this point for any substantial period of time. When treating pancreas, it has been found that the dried, defatted substance remaining after treatment at 158°F, exhibited no activity for trypsin, lipase or amylase. When treated below 140°F, the material had enzymatic activity, although if 140°F is exceeded, the enzymatic activity is rapidly degraded, for practical purposes approximately 122-131°F should not be exceeded, and it is preferred that the operation be carried out at about 113°F. "It should also be noted that even at room temperatures, small amounts of moisture can convert the raw pancreas precursors into active enzymes. A raw pancreas in the slaughterhouse waiting to be put on ice can easily degrade." warns Dr. Gonzalez. Use dry ice to avoid moisture as well! The more personal control you can exert on harvesting and processing your medicinal compound of choice, the better. I am a rabid do-it-yourself fan.
In the culinary world, the pancreas as a food product is called sweetbread which can be grilled, braised, breaded and seared or fried. In the pharmaceutical field, the label, pancreatin, is used to denote the medicinal pancreas extract which will contain an array of the digestive precursors of the pancreas (amylase, lipase and protease) along with the activated enzymes (trypsin, chymotrypsin) plus many other lesser known/unknown enzymes, minerals, coenzymes, etc. in one product. Note that the raw pancreas only contains inactive precursors to trypsin and chymotrypsin in the form of trypsinogen and chymotrypsingen which would only be activated once it is out of the pancreas in the small intestines where it is needed. If this were not the case, then the full strength trypsin would end up digesting the pancreas itself! Activation of the precursors as noted earlier can also occur after harvesting the raw pancreas all the way to the finished product in storage.
trypsinogen → trypsin chymotrypsingen → chymotrypsin
Dr. Beard, the father of the Trophoblastic Theory, considered the pancreas' activated enzyme, trypsin (protease) to be the primary active enzyme involved in the taming of the embryonic trophoblast--keeping it from turning into a cancer. He thought the only potent way to administer trypsin was via injection as it was thought in earlier times (still to this day) that the stomach acids would break trypsin down. Furthermore, it was thought should any trypsin survive the stomach, it would be further degraded by the alkaline juices of the small intestines. Finally, it was still further reasoned that since trypsin was a large molecule, it would be too large to be absorbed through the intestinal walls. Wrong on all counts as it was later discovered!
Back in Dr. Beard's day, it was not known that trypsin had a precursor or that it was not present in the pancreas in that activated form. Accordingly, Dr. Beard was unaware that what he was probably using was the precursor, trypsinogen and not trypsin. Dr. Beard made his extract quickly, processing from fresh raw pancreas. Keep that in mind as important further down this page. The precursors are probably the most potent anti-cancer components from the pancreas, not the activated enzymes! This misconception would also hold true for those working with pancreatin years later until digestive physiology became more advanced.
The question back in Dr. Beard's day as now is how active of a potency are the pancreatic enzymes we have access to? At the turn of the 20th century, the trypsin and pancreatin formulas on the market widely varied in quality of which Dr. Beard was quite critical. Unfortunately, not much has changed in this day and age. There is still a lot of trash out there on the open market. Dr.Kelley approved pancreatic enzymes for his patients made using the Levin process which involved azeotrophic distillation with all fat being removed and with the precursors activated. His thought evolved into feeling that the more concentrated, activated, refined pancreatic supplements were, the better. In contrast, Dr. Gonzalez prescribed minimally processed freeze-dried enzymes which contained the natural fats with high precursor content. Dr. Gonzalez makes a compelling defense for this and I agree. After studying Dr. Kelley's patient success rates over 20 years, he came to the conclusion that Kelley's best years were approximately the decade of 1970-1980 with many brilliant cancer case recoveries. During this time frame, Kelley was prescribing a low concentration, less refined pancreatic enzyme that contained over half as precursors versus the activated enzymes. Dr. Gonzalez further writes that Kelley switched over to a high concentration formula in the 1980s which seemingly resulted in the worse success rates of his 20 year career. Dr Gonzalez writes:
"But I knew from my exhaustive evaluation of Kelley's files that as he opted for a more potent enzyme formulation, his response rate fell significantly. In frustration, he assumed he only needed to prescribe an even stronger enzyme, or change encapsulators, etc, instead of retracing his steps and going backward to the less active 4x enzymes he had earlier used with great success. I became convinced that as brilliant as Kelley had been in his prime, he had erred in his later years by assuming that "purer and stronger" is always unquestionably better. I suspect that the fat depleted, highly activated supplements may have been prone to deteriorate once encapsulated, susceptible to rapid auto-digestion on the shelf. I also became convinced that the fat in the gland might not only help stabilize the mix, but provide synergistic factors to assist the proteolytic enzymes in their fight against malignant cells. Finally, I came to believe that an enzyme with less activity, with more of the total potential as precursor, might not only be more stable in the bottle but more effective against cancer. "
Fat was too often thought of as a by-product in years past. New research suggests that fat is far more than a calorie storage device, but an active secreting organ. As a 2013 monograph writes: "Originally considered as simply a storage organ for triacylglycerol, interest in the biology of adipose (fat) tissue has increased substantially. Over the last decades there has been considerable accumulation of experimental data about the biology and biochemistry of adipose (fat) tissue. This tissue is no longer considered to be an inert tissue that just stores fat. Adipose tissue is a metabolically dynamic organ that is the primary site of storage for excess energy but it serves as an endocrine organ capable of synthesizing a number of biologically active compounds that regulate metabolic homeostasis." The commonly used, Levin method of pancreatic enzyme extraction that defatted the raw pancreas seems to produce an inferior enzyme formula even though Kelley did see some spectacular results with the lower concentrated 4x version. For the do-it-yourselfer, this is perfect! It allows us to conveniently minimally process the raw pancreas for the most efficient and cheapest product. What could be better?
The enzyme supplements you can buy out there are not guided by any government standards in processing or quality control specs. Each company is basically on its own. As I have written previously, glands offer many challenges to the extractor and processor not found in other more hardy medicinal materials due to the delicate stability of enzymes, vitamins, fats, precursors, etc. Of the four commonly used means of processing pancreatic enzymes (azeotrophic,salt precipitation, freeze-drying, Predigestion), only freeze drying seems to be the preferred method in processing quality glandular material on a commercial level. Freeze-drying consists of freezing the pancreas to or below -40° F, placing under a vacuum and evaporating its water content. This appears to be the best process to preserve very delicate proteins and fat components with the minimum of damage. For the Do-it-yourselver, none of this is probably necessary as one can achieve the medicinal benefits from raw pancreas without needing to resort to these commercial processes though freeze-drying systems for the home are out there and useful!The main drawback is its expense and that it will not sterilize glandular material that may be contaminated with virus, bacteria, fungi--a possible health hazard! There is really no good way to sterilize glandular material without also destroying its medicinal components. A major conundrum!
Before freeze-drying, the Levin method of extraction was widely used and still is in the cheaper formulas. As the patent reads: "This invention relates to a method for producing from glandular materials and other tissues, defatted and dehydrated powders of high enzymatic activity, useful per se, or as a source of individual enzymes. More particularly, it relates to a process for recovering enzymes and activating the inactive form of enzymes in glandular tissue. Formerly, fresh glandular substances from cattle, sheep, hogs, horses, etc., were macerated and then extracted with water solutions, dilute alcohol, dilute glycerol, or the like, to obtain a crude extract of enzymes. These crude extracts were dried or further purified by various methods described in the literature. The process must usually be carried out at low temperatures, approximately C. to inhibit enzymatic activity during preparation. Pancreatin powder, for example, is conventionally prepared by mincing pancreas with water, pressing the mixture to recover a liquid extract, and adding absolute alcohol to precipitate the active enzymatic substance. The precipitate is filtered, dried and sold as pancreatin USP and contains trypsin, amylase and sometimes lipase. By United States Pharmacopoeia (USP) standards pancreatin must be able to render twenty-five times its weight of casein non-precipitatable by acid-alcohol after incubation for one hour at 40. It must contain amylase enough to hydrolyze twenty-five times its weight of potato starch past the erythrodextrin stage in five minutes at 40. USP standards do not require lipase activity, this being the most readily destroyed of the pancreatic enzymes, but British Pharmacopoeia (BP) standards require lipase activity whereby mg. of pancreatin in 10 cc. of cream suspension incubated for four hours at 40 C. will produce acid equivalent to 1.0 cc. of 0.05 N sodium hydroxide."
The old Levin method allows the trypsin precursor (trypsinogen) found in the raw pancreas to be converted to trypsin and chymotrypsinogen to chymotrypsin by digestion for periods of time ranging from several hours to several days at a temperature of about 15 to 45 C. As we now know this is not good for our purposes as we want the precursors intact in our preferred pancreas product. Certain enzymes exist in their particular tissues in an inactive form, such as trypsinogen and 'chymotrypsinogen in the pancreas, + in the stomach, etc. For example, if the pancreas is removed shortly after an animal is killed and the trypsin content measured, very little evidence of trypsin activity will be found. The Levin method activates the trypsinogen and chymotrypsinogen.
The Levin method also defats its final product when we want the fat to remain intact.
Pancreatic Supportive Herbal Therapy
The pancreas has received scarce attention in herbal medicine over the years. Herbal therapy to support and possibly regenerate the defective pancreas in the Trophoblastic Theory of cancer seems to never to have been considered by any of the practitioners of that speciality, even as an adjuvant. I consider certain herbs to be invaluable in regaining the health of the pancreas and should be used in conjunction with pancreatic enzymes in treating cancer. Dr. Christopher (1909-1983) should be a past herbalist, one looks to for some insight into how to treat the pancreas. He is rather unique in that he had a wide herbal practice as a working clinician and simply did not regurgitate herbal ideas from a book or books. He specifically has treated the pancreas with:
1) Cedar berries (Juniperus monosperma) . . . . . . note that this juniper berry is different from other juniper berries, but the question is, how different? It does have one seed per berry while others are multi-seeded. For instance the eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) predominates my farm and a large part of the USA has 1-3 seeds per berry. The Junipers are known to naturally contain deoxypodophyllotoxin & Podophyllotoxin which both are cancer fighters. Dr. Christopher's western cedar berry (j. monoperma) seems to directly effect the pancreas. It was used by him in treating diabetics with remarkably good success along with all other types of pancreatic abnormalities.
2) Goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis) . . . . . . . . is a superb glandular aid
3) Uva ursi (Arbutus uva-ursi) . . . . . . . . . .
4) Licorice root (Glycyrrhiza glabra) . . . . . . .
5) Mullein (Verbascum thapsus) . . . . . . . . . . .
6) Cayenne (Capsicum annuum) . . . . . . . . . .
Dr. Christopher's pancreas formula was formulated as 16 parts Cedar berry and one part of each of the others (uva ursi, golden seal, licorice root, mullein, cayenne).
A 2004 Indian study, "Digestive stimulant action of three Indian spice mixes in experimental rats" came to some interesting conclusions on the stimulating effects of some herbs on the pancreas. They found that curcumin (154%), ginger (133%) capsaicin (120%), and piperine (165%) stimulated trypsin activity from 120% to 165% when fed continually. If only fed once, then effects were less with ajowan (18%), fenugreek (13%) and fennel (17%) having the most stimulation power. Chymotrypsin was stimulated the maximum of 73% with curcumin though asafoetida (45%), fenugreek (43%), ginger (30%), onion (15%) and piperine (30%) also showed significant activity when these herbs were incorporated into the diet with continued intake. If given only one time, stimulating activity was less with coriander having the most chymotrypsin stimulation at 15%.
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