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“Similase” is one of the broadest-spectrum plant-derived digestive enzyme formulas we've used, excellent as an anti-inflammatory and digestive support for vegetarians or meat-eaters. With four types of proteases in high amounts, it gives maximum protein absorption. It has highly effective levels of two varieties of lipase, to enhance assimilation of a wide variety of fats and oils, along with extra cellulase, maltase, phytase, galactosidase and lactase to help digestion of plant material, beans and dairy foods. “Similase” has an exceptionally broad pH range: standard digestive enzymes can be inactivated by stomach acid, but “Similase” has proteases and phytases that work at a pH of 1 to 3, the ultra-acidic conditions that naturally occur in the stomach and promote protein breakdown. Its other proteases, lipase and carbohydrate-digesting enzymes have an outstanding pH range: they are potent all the way from acidic pH levels of 2 to 3, through neutral pH 7, to highly-alkaline pH of 10 or 11, so they are effective in all conditions throughout the gut, whatever the state of health. Research shows that digestive enzymes work best when they are not enteric-coated, another reason that we find “Similase” very effective. Its constituent enzymes are produced from microbial sources, and are free of additives and residues: Many of our patients are uneasy about taking bovine or porcine pancreatic enzymes from animals raised on commercial feeds, because of the risk of their dietary pesticides or fertilizers concentrating in organs including the pancreas and its enzymes. Plant-derived enzymes also have more consistent levels of activity. We see excellent results with “Similase” for our patients with digestive conditions including GERD, Crohn's disease, colitis, and it can help people over 60 whose pancreatic enzyme output may be decreasing. Taken between meals it is a fine anti-inflammatory for tendinitis or plantar fasciitis. We also use it to improve the absorption of fat-soluble nutrients such as vitamin D3, and bio-identical hormones. Taking “Similase” along with a hormone dose can even out low-hormone symptoms in patients who don't want to increase their prescription dose, or whose blood test levels show they don't need to raise their doses.

About digestive enzymes

Enzymes are molecules that occur throughout Nature in plants and animals, and which speed up essential metabolic chemical reactions that otherwise would occur too slowly to sustain life. Most enzymes are proteins that function along with essential vitamin and mineral cofactors that help or activate the enzyme. Proteases disassemble the bonds between amino acids so that proteins can be absorbed in tiny fragments. Pure plant-derived digestive enzymes ideally include several proteases that can break down animal and vegetarian proteins in a range of pH from very acidic pH 1 or 2 through neutral pH 7 to ultra-alkaline pH 10 or 11. At rest the stomach has a neutral pH, it becomes highly acidic after eating, then the food next enters a very alkaline small intestine. As proteins must be dismantled in all conditions, but no protease works for all, a formula needs several proteases including an acid-stable one. Amylase is a starch-digesting enzyme that breaks down long-chain carbohydrates in root vegetables, beans and whole grains into disaccharides and trisaccharides which are then converted to glucose for an energy supply. Studies show that higher levels of amylase activity are actually associated with better blood sugar balance following starch ingestion in adults, so amylase poses no risk and may be helpful for diabetes. Maltase and sucrase, or invertase, dismantle saccharides into simple usable sugars. Alpha galactosidase acts upon complex carbohydrates in beans and roots, preventing them from passing undigested into the colon where they would otherwise be fermented by bacteria to cause gas, bloating and flatulence. Lactase digests milk sugars: At birth, mammals release ample lactase to absorb milk of their own species, but it steeply declines in childhood, and low lactase levels afflict 70% of the world population. These people suffer gas, discomfort and abnormal stools from consuming cow, sheep or goat milk foods. About 35% of Americans and up to 80% of Japanese people are so lactase-deficient that they qualify as lactose-intolerant and suffer more severe symptoms. Phytaseis a phosphatase enzyme that catalyzes the hydrolysis of phytic acid, an indigestible organic form of phosphorus that is in grains and seeds, to release a usable form of inorganic phosphorus. Cellulase is not produced by the human body, though it naturally occurs in raw foods. It dismantles the fiber matrix and cell walls of plants that shield and bind plant nutrients, to free up vitamins and antioxidants such as carotenoids in carrots, polyphenols in berries, and folate in beans, spinach and broccoli so they can be absorbed. The group of lipase enzymes break down fat molecules and also help carry fat-soluble vitamins such as D3 and the vitamin E family from the bowel across cell membranes into the blood stream. The internationally accepted standard for enzyme measurement is by Food Chemicals Codex (FCC) Units or United States Pharmacopeia units.

For GERD with heartburn, reflux or excess stomach acidity, plant-based digestive enzymes can speed food breakdown, which enhances normal gastric emptying, reducing distention of the stomach and food reflux. With acid reflux disease, liquid from the stomach backs up into the esophagus. This regurgitated stomach contents may contain acids and bile, and can cause inflammation, esophagitis, irritation, and damage to the esophagus. Several factors may cause GERD, including hiatal hernia (when the stomach pushes up through a hole in the diaphragm muscle), abnormally weak contractions of the lower esophageal sphincter, and delayed emptying of the stomach after a meal. Digestive enzymes can facilitate the pre-digestion process that is often lacking: If we ate a diet high in whole raw foods and chewed each mouthful thirty to forty times, the ptyalin in our saliva, or salivary amylase, would break down at least 25% of starch in our mouths, and our foods would provide enzymes that once eaten would be activated to help absorption. This “pre-digestion” fails with processed refined flour, white rice, pasteurized foods, canned and chemically preserved meals, soda pop, sugary sweets, and packaged foods, and heating above 120 degrees, as food enzymes are lost. The body tries to compensate by producing more stomach acid than normal, and intensifying salivary amylase: the ptyalin level in saliva for people eating a processed diet can be 40 times higher than with a whole food diet. Even then, without enough pre-digestion food tends to sit in the stomach, increasing the odds for hiatal hernia, reflux and heartburn. Hydrochloric acid is normally secreted in the stomach with the enzyme pepsin, and this acid-pepsin mix inactivates pre-digestion enzymes and continues to break down protein, turning it into an amino-acid concentrate. This slurry moves into the duodenum, where bile emulsifies fats and the pancreas adds its highly alkaline bicarbonate and, what should be modest amounts of its proteases, lipase, and amylase to finish food breakdown. Once digestion is completed, nutrients pass through the intestinal wall and into the bloodstream. But if food from the stomach enters the small intestine largely undigested, the pancreas is pressured to force out huge volumes of its enzymes, with extra bicarbonate to neutralize the excess stomach acid, in an attempt to break down chunks of food. Eventually the pancreas becomes exhausted and produces fewer enzymes, and absorption declines as bloating, gas and the risk of food allergies due to larger food particles entering the bloodstream undigested increase. So in the absence of a mostly-raw diet with abundant chewing, digestive enzymes can ease the stomach's work, reduce over-production of hydrochloric acid, relieve pancreatic insufficiency which is surprisingly common, maximize the extraction of energy and nutrients from food, reduce digestive effort and prevent depletion of the body's energy reserves.

Digestive enzymes help inflammatory bowel disorders including Crohn's and ulcerative colitis by ensuring that amply-digested food residues arrive in the intestines, thus reducing fermentation and irritation. Also, enzymes may enhance the breakdown of immune complexes made from antibodies and the antigens they attach to, which are higher in ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. Pancreatic insufficiency is relieved by broad-spectrum digestive enzymes: this common condition is a consequence of poor enzyme output from the pancreas, leading to impaired food breakdown, malabsorption and nutrient deficiencies, with gas and bloating after meals.Food allergies can also be helped by a digestive enzyme formula: both pancreatic insufficiency and abnormal stomach acid contribute to incomplete breakdown of food particles. If these enter the circulation they can be perceived as foreign material due to their abnormal size and constituents, so that the body mounts an immune response against them. Studies since the 1930s and 1940s and recently have shown digestive enzymes help food allergy reactions.

For inflammatory connective tissue conditions such as plantar fasciitis and tendinitis, broad spectrum plant-derived digestive enzymes, taken between meals so that they do not act upon food, are effective for reducing pain and helping restore normal function. They can work in two ways: 1, During inflammation, the body produces fibrin which forms a wall around the inflamed area to contain it and concentrate the inflammatory process. This fibrin wall impedes blood and lymph flow, contributing to swelling and pain. The natural healing perspective is that enzymes can break down fibrin, known as fibrinolysis, helping to disperse inflammatory mediators, and also reduce the formation of fibrin clots which may dislodge and could increase the risk of heart attack or stroke.2, High levels of immune complexes, between the body's defending antibodies and the antigens they attach to, are common in auto-immune disorders including rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and scleroderma. Proteolytic enzymes appear to help dissolve and remove immune complexes, reducing inflammation and further contributing to resolving inflammatory arthritis. Proteolytic enzymes have been found in studies to help acute and chronic inflammatory conditions including sports injuries, tendinitis, rheumatoid arthritis, and auto-immune collagen-disorder arthritis related to lupus or psoriasis. The benefits can build with long-term use, as enzymes contribute to gradual healing of fasciitis, tendonitis, and reduced inflammation of ligaments and connective tissues

Contents

2 capsules provide: Pure Plant Enzymes^TMAssay Method613 mg:Amylase USP (pH 6.8) 32,000USP, FCC (pH 4.8) 23,800 DU; Protease I, II, III, IV USP (pH 7.5) 30,000 USP, FCC (pH 7.0) 48,750 PC, FCC (pH 4.7) 82,000 HUT; Lipase I, II FIP (pH 7.0) 2,100 FIP, FCC III (pH 6.5) 970 LU; Lactase I, II FCC III (pH 4.5) 1,600 ALU; Phytase Phytic Acid (pH 6.0) 1.7 PU; Cellulase I, II FCC (pH 4.5) 350 CU; Sucrase (Invertase) FCC (pH 4.6) 300 INVU; Maltase (Malt Diastase) FCC (pH 4.6) 32,100 DP°.

Other Ingredients: vegetable capsule (modified cellulose) and cellulose.

Free of: - This product does Not contain: artificial coloring, artificial flavoring, preservatives, parabens, gluten, dairy, corn, ingredients of animal origin, shellfish, egg, salt, sugar, soy, wheat, yeast.

Cautions

Always take natural remedies under the supervision of your health care provider. Do not use ‘Similase' without consulting your physician if you take anti-inflammatory medications or medicines for auto-immune arthritis or other auto-immune conditions: ‘Similase' may lead to needing lower doses of medications. Do not use ‘Similase' without the advice of your healthcare professional first if you have persistent upper abdominal pain, heartburn or reflux, or lower bowel symptoms such as diarrhea or blood in your stools: have a thorough medical evaluation to determine the cause, peptic ulcer complications such as bleeding, perforation or obstruction are medical emergencies, and inflammatory bowel disease needs to be accurately diagnosed and medically supervised. Do not use ‘Similase' during pregnancy or nursing unless under the guidance of your physician, as there is insufficient data on safety during pregnancy.

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