Integrative Health Blog

The Key Benefits of Digestive Enzymes

Posted by on Thu, May 06, 2021

Digestive enzymes are necessary to break down the food we eat. If we are not breaking down food properly, we do not gain the nutrients needed for the body to absorb and turn into energy for good digestive health

Both kinds of digestive enzymes, animal-derived and vegetarian, are involved in many biological functions, including digestion of proteins and fats and cell signaling. Amylases digest starch, carbohydrates and sugar, Proteases digest protein and Lipases digest fats, the three principle components of food.

The Building Blocks of Life

Proteins are the “building blocks” of life, and the proteins we consume had been assembled, according to the DNA instructions in plants and animals, which we then break down into its amino acids with our digestive enzymes when we eat them, and then use our DNA to reassemble them into new proteins in our body. After we die, they will be broken down again, especially by fungus, so that our amino acids can be recycled and reassembled into another life form. The amino acids and fatty acid that make up our bodies have a long history of being components of many previous life forms, perhaps all the way back to ancient bacteria and dinosaurs.

Digestive enzymes may be the most important nutrients I prescribe for my patients, because when good digestion occurs, a lot of very important healthful benefits will happen as well.

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Tags: functional medicine, digestive health, gastrointestinal issues

Colon Cancer Testing

Posted by on Wed, Mar 24, 2021


March Is Colon Cancer Awareness Month. Get Tested.

An article about colon cancer testing may seem irrelevant at a time when everyone is discussing coronavirus, but let’s not forget that there are equally important health risks lurking in the shadows. 

Assessing patients for colon cancer is part of my functional medicine comprehensive gastrointestinal evaluation that all of my patients over 45 years old receive, especially those with a strong family history of colon cancer and those who have endured long-term severe symptoms of gastrointestinal/ GI dysfunction, such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), Crohn’s Disease and chronic constipation.  To do this I use the Cologuard Stool Test. Once in a while the Cologuard test comes back positive, and it is very gratifying to pick up colon cancer at an early stage when it has the greatest chance to be treated.  Of course, I also proceed to investigate my patient’s biochemistry to find the underlying causes of colon cancer so that it does not recur, which usually includes a search for genetic vulnerabilities and an in-depth stool test to find abnormalities in my patient’s microbiome.

Cologuard:  At-home Colon Cancer Screening Test

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Tags: cancer prevention, gastrointestinal issues