At least that’s what one enzyme expert says.

Her name is Lita Lee and she happens to have a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Colorado in Boulder. She’s also a well-known author, lecturer, nutritionist and enzyme therapist.

Lee spent her early years as a research chemist at SRI International in Menlo Park, California. Her interest in nutrition, environmental health and natural organic foods, however, prompted her to leave the chemistry laboratory and go into clinical practice.

As a certified enzyme therapist, she naturally focuses on enzyme nutrition. She is, however, also interested in balanced body chemistry, hormonal balance, the makings of a healthy diet and how to protect yourself from environmental toxins.

When it comes to knowing about enzymes, though, this woman is at the top of her game. She has some pretty enlightening words, too, for those who want to know more about enzymes. Take, for example, Dr. Lee’s thought-provoking words on the necessity of enzymes for vitamin and mineral assimilation.

“People think that if they simply take vitamins and minerals they will be healthy, but every vitamin and mineral requires an enzyme,” says Lee. “You can eat pounds and pounds of vitamins and minerals, but if you don’t have the proper enzymes, they don’t work.”

Lee’s book The Enzyme Cure (1998) is loaded with these types of observations on enzymes, and it encapsulates 11 years of research and clinical experience with enzymes. In her book, Lee points out three major categories of enzymes: metabolic, pancreatic and food or plant enzymes.

Metabolic enzymes run the body’s chemistry and are directly involved with physiologic processes such as breathing, thinking, talking, behaving and immunity. Pancreatic enzymes continue the work of digesting food in the small intestine after plant enzymes have begun the digestive process in the stomach.

Eating raw foods and supplementing with plant enzymes can spare the pancreas from having to do 100% of digestion, according to Lee. Interestingly, Lee also points out that if you take enzymes on an empty stomach, they enter into the bloodstream and go to work there.

It’s pretty impressive work, too.

“Like little PAC men,” says Lee, “these enzymes support a healthy immune system by digesting and disposing of toxins and eating the coating of certain viruses, enabling immune system workers to then destroy them. Each type of enzyme has a positive effect on inflammation and can help support healthy inflammation.”

“Your life, vitality and your health depend upon an adequate supply of enzymes,” Lee concludes.

Maybe vitamins and minerals aren’t the only ones that might be useless without enzymes.

Sources: Garden Of Life