Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Warning: This is a long review in which I share with like-minded consumers the research I did for myself on the science behind this product. If you are not a consumer who is interested in scientific research, you will probably prefer to skip to the very bottom of this review where I give my own testimony and/or move on to reviews which consist entirely of personal testimonials for this product. Now on to the review: Most of the medical research on the efficacy of systemic oral enzymes aka proteolytic enzymes (PE), such as are contained in this product, has been done outside the US, particularly in Europe. One of the chief, well documented functions of PE is to lower levels of inflammation throughout the body. Inflammation is implicated in virtually every known disease (see my review of The Inflammation Syndrome at http://amzn.to/1Z7CvlE, and see below for more discussion of inflammation.) Thus, this supplement is often recommended for heart disease and arthritis and all inflammatory disease. It has also been demonstrated to be of great help as an adjunct therapy to conventional cancer treatment, or a treatment for cancer in and of itself. Research over the past 30 years on the efficacy of PE has shown that they help prevent metastasis of cancer, which comes about due to the inevitable presence of circulating tumor cells (CTC's), which are released into the bloodstream during a tumor biopsy, during surgery to remove tumors, and in general via what is called the "shedding" of CTC's in the general course of cancer's invasion of the body. Unfortunately, in the United States (US), there is currently only one blood test that measures CTC's in the body, and it is so ineffective, according to a prominent oncologist I interviewed recently, that oncologists rarely use it. It is called the CELLSEARCH® CTC Test. Surprisingly (or maybe not so surprisingly), even though reliable measurement of CTC's doesn't exist at the present time, that does not stop US oncologists from ordering chemotherapy for their patients to supposedly fight CTC's. However, as that same oncologist admitted to me, using chemo this way is an unscientific shot in the dark because there is no way of knowing if the chemo is doing anything at all to combat CTC's. By the same token, ordering radiation therapy at the site of a resected tumor to combat any lingering CTC's there is also a shot in the dark because, again, there is no way to measure the efficacy of that treatment, other than that it seems to, statistically, slightly lower the recurrence of the tumor in that same, localized site. However, any reputable oncologist will admit, as did the one I interviewed, that using radiation that way, to fight CTC's locally, does absolutely nothing to improve one's survival rate. Logically, this is because killing a few CTC's that adhere locally where the tumor used to be does nothing to eliminate the thousands of escaped CTC's circulating throughout the body. In contrast to these ineffectual therapies, there have been over 30 years of research in Europe with a focus on the influence of PE on the metastasis of cancer, which is defined as the formation of "secondary tumors" due to the spread of CTC's from the primary tumor site. It is well known among oncologists that it is far more common for secondary tumors to kill a patient than the primary tumor. Tragically, to varying degrees this is due not only to the CTC's themselves but to the side effects of radiation and chemo, which are so ineffectively used to combat them, because those therapies are well known to be carcinogenic in and of themselves. Since the 1960s, European scientists have hypothesized that what causes CTC's to form tumors is the "stickiness" of those CTC's, which causes them to lodge in a given part of the body and form a malignant tumor. This hypothesis further states that this stickiness results from a deficiency in PE. Stickiness of cancer cells is generally recognized to result from the body's excessive formation of fibrin aka fribrinogen. There is a close relationship between fibrin deposits and invasive, cancerous tissue growth and metastasis of cancer. One way to find and read some of this research is to search the internet for the term "adhesion molecules." Fibrin forms on the membrane of tumor cells, which has two dangerous functions. First, it supports adhesion of the tumor cells, that is their "stickiness," into the formation of a malignant tumor. Second, the fibrin acts as a barrier that defends the CTC's, and the malignant tumor that they clump together to form, against recognition by the immune system. Every human being constantly has cancer cells floating around within their body, but a healthy immune system routinely seeks them out and destroys them--as long as the immune system can see/recognize those cells. Thus, by inhibiting excess fibrin formation throughout the body, PE acts to inhibit the spread of CTC's and the formation of tumors from those CTC's. An associated significant effect of fibrin formation is inflammation (see above), which is a well known aspect of the spread of cancer. In that regard, there has been much research indicating a strong increase in cancer risk of patients suffering from chronic inflammatory diseases. A current, comprehensive list of of inflammatory diseases would be at least 100 diseases long, including, for example: asthma, hepatitis, colitis, dermatitis, all forms of arthritis, Alzheimer's, ankylosing spondylitis, Chrohn's disease, dermatitis, diverticulitis, atherosclerosis, nephritis, and Parkinson's disease. It is also well known that certain cancers are caused by infectious agents, such as the association between stomach cancer and the bacteria Helicobacter pylori, and the association between liver cancer and infection with the hepatitis B or C virus. This is because chronic infection is characterized by a state of chronic inflammation. The way that inflammation plays a role in the spread of cancer is this: Endothelium is a type of epithelium (thin tissue that forms the outer layer of the surface of the body and lines hollow structures in the interior of the body, particularly blood and lymphatic vessels). Edothelium creates an interface between circulating blood or lymph and a given vessel wall and consists of a thin layer of simple squamous cells called endothelial cells. Squamous cells are flat cells which look like the scales of a fish. Most of the cells within the epidermis (the outer layer of the skin), the linings of the hollow organs of the body, and the passages within the digestive and respiratory tracts consist of squamous cells. The endothelium of tissue that has been altered by chronic inflammation has a thick layer of adhesion molecules, and this trait of "stickiness" is strongly associated with sites where metastasis of cancer occurs. There have been many studies demonstrating the effectivenss of anti-inflammatory therapies on inhibiting metastasis. A key feature of lowering inflammation levels is the achievement of something no amount of radiation and chemotherapy can achieve: increasing survival time versus simply shrinking existing tumors. It is hypothesized that this increased survival time is due to a reduction of the spread of cancer. How? Due to reducing the adhesion or "stickiness" of CTC's. In addition to its direct link to the formation of malignant tumors, fibrin deposits within joints are frequently mentioned in scientific research in the US and abroad as a prominent feature of arthritis; it strongly contributes to the inflammation that damages joints. In addition, US and European scientists have known for decades that fibrin has consistently been shown to be strongly and independently related to cardiovascular disease, based on numerous epidemiological studies as well as widespread clinical observation. So what about this particular product? If it is supposed to help with inflammation, how would a consumer know for sure this isn't just an unsupported claim by the manufacturer? First of all, it is important to approach use of this and any supplement as a scientist would, objectively and systematically. In order to do that with this product, a first step is to realize, as the oncologist I interviewed informed me, that it is well known in cancer research that there are two sides to any therapy: the therapy itself, and the responsiveness of an individual patient to a particular therapy. And, of course, in tandem with that is the individual, unique susceptibility to unintended, harmful side effects. It is well known that such side effects are massively more prevalent in the case of pharmaceutical drugs than supplement such as this one. Research indicates that though deaths from supplements are incredibly rare, hundred of thousands of Americans die each year from taking pharmaceuticals **as directed by their doctor**. Thus, each time we take a drug prescribed by a doctor, we are in essence running a human experiment in which we are the chief subject with no real predictability as to our susceptibility to either a positive or a negative outcome. And the reliability of a prediction of the outcome becomes increasingly unknowable the more drugs one is prescribed, since there is almost no research into the literally millions of possible combinations of drugs that doctors prescribe each year in writing trillions of prescriptions. Back to this particular supplement. If one wants to be systematic in testing it out, the most obvious person who will be able to do this is someone with a diagnosed inflammatory disorder. Arthritis is one of the most common of these. According to the CDC, "From 2010- 2012, an estimated 52.5 million US adults (22.7%) annually were told by a doctor that they have some form of arthritis....[Of those patients], an estimated 49.7% of adults 65 years or older reported doctor-diagnosed arthritis from 2010-2012." That's a whole lot of arthritis patients. I'm certainly one of those patients. Of the 20 joints in my two hands, 8 have obvious arthritis. I have been taking this supplement for the past six months, and I can honestly say that I have zero pain from my arthritis. I also have a C-Reactive Protein (CRP) blood test every year at my annual physical. It is a blood test measuring inflammation, and since taking this supplement, my CRP number is very low. Regarding dosage and timing of this supplement: It is recommended, unlike the digestive enzymes one takes with a meal, that PE be taken on an empty stomach, preferably at least two hours before or after eating, longer if possible. An ideal time to take them, I have personally discovered, is when I get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. The recommended dosage is 2 per day, but some cancer patients take up to 20 twice a day. This can, of course, get extremely expensive. This particular brand of PE is the most recommended by healthcare providers that I've read about, and it is certainly the most cost effective. I've seen some brands of PE that are specifically marketed to cancer patients that cost up to $1000/month! By the way, it is vital to realize that a crucial adjunct to this or any alternative therapy is to engage in a healthy lifestyle. This includes, obviously, stopping smoking, reducing stress, getting mild, regular exercise, and eating an anti-inflammatory diet. By now most everyone knows what that consists of: plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, nuts and healthy oils such as olive, coconut and flax oil, and reducing or eliminating entirely red meat--and ideally all animal products. Another thing that helps arthritis pain is to deal with nearby trigger points (see: The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook). By consistently working on trigger points in my forearms and just above my elbow, for example, I have also, even before starting PE therapy, effectively lowered arthritis pain in my hands.