Allergies are a disorder of the immune system.

Allergies manifest as an extreme sensitivity to a normally harmless substance (allergen or antigen), resulting in over stimulation of the immune system to that substance.

In a healthy body, external substances entering are quickly broken down and eliminated by white blood cells of the immune or digestive system. However, in someone with allergies this does not happen.

Allergies on the RISE

Over the last fifty years, allergies have dramatically increased to the point where 1 out of 3 children are seriously affected, even to the point of being life threatening. Allergic reactions usually occur from microscopic substances that may be toxic (heavy metals, petrochemicals, or venom) or non-toxic (animal dander or pollen). Symptoms may include the following:

• Coughing, wheezing or choking
• Difficulty in breathing or swallowing
• Dry, stuffed, or runny nose and sinuses
• Feeling light-headed, dizzy or faint
• Itching, rash or red tinge to skin
• Swelling of area, face, neck, or mouth

Most of the above symptoms are the result of histamine, a chemical released by white blood cells that cause tissues to become swollen and inflamed.

What do you do?

Typically antihistamines, decongestants, and corticosteroids, are taken. These suppress symptoms without addressing the root cause and come with serious side effects, creating other health problems. Antihistamines cause drowsiness, dizziness, restlessness, nervousness and upset stomach, dry mouth, dry nose, irritability, difficulty urinating, and blurred vision.

Decongestants relieve a stuffy nose. Congestion results when membranes lining the nose become swollen. Decongestants reduce the blood supply to the swollen membranes causing them to shrink. When taken by mouth, side effects include nervousness, restlessness, excitability, dizziness, drowsiness, headache, nausea, weakness, and sleep problems. When taken as a nasal spray, side effects include high blood pressure, headache, fast, slow or fluttery heartbeat, nervousness, dizziness, nausea, and sleep problems.

Side effects of corticosteroids with short-term use are weight gain, fluid retention, high blood pressure; side effects with long-term use are growth suppression, diabetes, cataracts of the eyes, bone thinning osteoporosis, muscle weakness. Side effects of inhaled steroids include cough, hoarseness, and yeast infections of the mouth.

While drugs may temporarily alleviate symptoms they do not cure allergies. Symptoms usually re-occur because one has not addressed the chronic underlying problem that led to the reaction in first place. Fortunately there is a way to remedy allergies at their most fundamental level. Enzyme therapy corrects the overt immune response that constitutes an allergic reaction.

What are Enzymes?

Enzymes are biologically “alive” protein/mineral elements. They are essential for all living things. They initiate, speed up, slow down, and stop every biochemical process. They help us see, hear, smell, taste, digest food, breathe, and move muscles. Allergies are evidence that poor digestion leads to chronic conditions. An allergy is the body’s inability to “digest” (breakdown) the substance (allergen) causing the immune reaction. It can be an acute reaction like that of a bee sting or a chronic reaction to substances such as food.

As early as 1935, evidence for enzyme treatment of food allergies was published in medical journals. In the American Journal of Digestive Disease and Nutrition 1935/36, Anton W. Oelgoetz MD et al. demonstrated that administration of enzymes resolved food allergies in most patients. “…food allergy may be caused by a decrease in the concentration of serum enzymes, which permits whole…proteins to reach the cells, where, because they cannot be used as food, they exert their own physiological action which is essentially that of irritation.” (Inflammation) “…allergy to foods is caused by an excess of food…with reference to the (deficiency of the)…necessary quantity of enzymes for complete digestion …”

All raw food contains the precise enzymes necessary for that food to digest itself. A raw apple digests itself. A baked apple does not. Our body must produce enzymes to digest that cooked apple. This does not always happen. Undigested food passes into the blood stream triggering an immune response and depletes our body’s enzyme reserves. This is known as digestive leukocytosis and was shown to occur every time one eats cooked food. It is the medical term for the rapid increase of white blood cells (leukocytes) into the blood after eating cooked food to finish processing undigested food remnants that have passed through the GI tract into the blood stream.

Learn more about our Digestive Health and how it can aid in digestion and reduce inflammation…

What are Circulating Immune Complexes (CIC’s)?

Antibodies are specialized proteins attached to the surface of antigens (substance causing allergy) forming the antibody-antigen complex. These antibody-antigen immune complexes allow the body to identify, break down this immune complex, and eliminate the antigen. Immune complexes can originate from incompletely digested food, pollen and other air-born allergens, or environmental toxins. They are a source of chronic stress. When the body cannot eliminate these immune complexes they are known as Circulating Immune Complexes (CIC’s) and can circulate in the body for weeks, months, even years.

CIC’s are the “background noise” of the immune system; the trouble the body continually tries to recognize. CIC’s have been identified in allergies, asthma, cancer, autoimmune diseases, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, and many other illnesses. A few studies have shown enzymes to be the only substance to thoroughly eliminate CIC’s from the body.

Enzymes are the Alpha and Omega of the Immune System

Our immune system relies on a variety of elements to protect us from foreign invaders such as bacteria, molds, fungi/yeast spores, and viruses. We also are exposed to many non-pathogenic allergens like animal dander, dust mites, plant pollens, and environmental pollutants like household chemicals, pesticides, and heavy metals.

White blood cells produce enzymes while engulfing pathogenic microorganisms to destroy and digest them. This is called phagocytosis. When stimulated by foreign matter in close proximity to its membrane, all cells have the ability to behave like white blood cells. They can trap undigested food, microorganisms, and other allergens, engulf and digest the matter with enzymes. This is pinocytosis.

Enzymes are used in the liver to break down chemicals and safely eliminate them. However, in today’s excessively synthetic world, exposure to toxins may overwhelm the kidneys, liver, and lymphatic system. Without a continuous supply of simple enzymes from food or supplements these organs become stressed, further hindering critical detoxification and elimination.

Based on this new paradigm, allergies can be seen to be an exaggerated immune response due to the underlying chronic enzyme deficiencies. Allergies are evidence of the body’s inability to break down and eliminate material entering the body.

What is the Best Solution?

Enzymes offer the best chance for full recovery for those suffering from allergies because:

• Enzymes taken with meals prevent and rectify food allergies
• Enzymes resolve sensitivities to air born allergies and chemicals
• Enzymes break apart circulating immune complexes, relieving the burden of the immune system.

Over time, using specific enzyme formulas and other nutrients, implementing a detoxification program to relieve the lymphatic system, one will resolve allergic reactions without side effects. Knowing which enzymes to take requires a few simple tests. This includes a 24-hour urinalysis and the Digestive Challenge Test. Modifying what one consumes daily relieves much of one’s dietary stress and allows for rapid recovery. Eventually, many people are able to return to foods that once caused allergic response without having any reaction.

This article is written by:

Mark Rojek is a Certified Acupuncturist and Enzyme Therapist. He is a published author and has written articles on natural health for other publications. He is an advisor to several doctors and consults with clients in Europe, Australia and across the US. He has worked with patients in the U of MI hospital and the Integrative Medical facility at U of MI. Mark specializes in allergies, pediatric health, immune disorders, gynecological disorders, neurological disorders, injury and pain in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Mark is the owner of Phoenix Health Services where he specializes in health care for living in the modern world. Phoenix Health provides many services such as Nutrigenomic testing, Loomis Digestive Function testing and 24 Hour Urine analysis which help you understand your digestive function, stress factors, pH and what’s going on inside. Learn more HERE