The Complete Book of Enzyme Therapy
by Anthony J. Cichoke
Book Review

The Complete Book of Enzyme Therapy, by Anthony J. Cichoke, is a practical, consumer-friendly guide to using enzyme supplements for minor and major medical conditions.

It's exceptionally useful, with many extras, such as the excellent 78-page introduction to enzymes. The book's subtitle is: "A Complete and Up-to-Date Reference to Effective Remedies Using Enzymes, Vitamins, and Minerals."

The best-known conditions helped by enzyme therapy include: injuries, arthritis, autoimmune disorders, and viruses; but this book covers many more conditions and diseases. Everybody will find something that will help them get started with enzymes, such as the entries on indigestion, headache, or sprains and strains.

The preface is the author's touching story of his young son David's recovery from traumatic brain injury suffered at age 3. David learned to walk again through neurologically-oriented physical exercises, persistence, and an intensive nutritional program that included enzymes. Cichoke's experience with his son eventually led to this book, as well as to his chiropractic degree and expertise in nutrition.

The Conditions

The bulk of The Complete Book of Enzyme Therapy: more than 150 conditions or diseases are described, from a treatment perspective, with much useful information for the patient. Each condition's description is followed by suggestions for enzymes and other non-enzyme nutritional supplements.

The suggestions are fairly comprehensive, usually a good-sized list that includes brief explanations. They're a great starting point. Yet, few people would use or need to use every mentioned supplement: some supplements would duplicate each other or not be cost-effective. Thus some knowledge and judgment is required to choose effectively from the lists.

The introduction does contain enough information to interpret the enzyme supplement suggestions, which is, after all, the book's purpose. The question of which nutrients or "coenzymes" and "cofactors" (specific nutrients that are needed to build additional enzymes to address the condition) to choose from the suggestions is more complicated but not insurmountable.

One possibility for an overwhelmed patient could be to show an entry to a nutritionally-oriented medical professional, whether a nutritionally-oriented M.D., naturopathic doctor, or chiropractor. I myself grew into the book over time, as I learned more about nutritional supplements.

About Enzymes

The 78-page introductory material about enzymes contains a remarkable amount of concise information. You get enough background for the basic use of enzymes and a basic understanding of the suggested enzyme supplements.

The sections include:

  • "A Look at Enzymes and How They Function": what enzymes are and how they work
  • "Enzymes and Digestion": how enzymes digest our food
  • "Enzyme Depleters in Our Lives": the foods, drugs, and toxins that make our enzymes ineffective
  • "Maximizing Enzymes in Our Diet": how to eat the right foods to increase enzyme consumption; raw and fermented foods
  • "Enzyme Supplements": the enzymes that are available in supplements and what they do; how to choose them and how to take them
  • "Enzyme Helpers": the nutrients that make the enzymes work; vitamins as coenzymes and minerals as cofactors; plant foods/extracts; many kinds of nutritional supplements and their uses

Although published in 1999, the book is still current apart from changes in easily found enzyme products. There are many excellent readily available enzyme supplements in addition to brands listed in the book.

Indispensable Resource

This arrangement by condition is like that of Prescription for Nutritional Healing, by Phyllis A. Balch and James F. Balch, a reference book from the same publisher that for the most part discusses nutrients other than enzymes. The two books cover different material, with different emphasis and choice of conditions, and complement each other.

Prescription for Nutritional Healing and The Complete Book of Enzyme Therapy are the best two such sources available, and indispensable, even when deeper assistance is sometimes needed. In any event, the nutrition-oriented discussions will help you better understand the conditions.

See The Complete Book of Enzyme Therapy at Amazon



More Books About Enzymes

Enzyme Nutrition
An overview of enzymes, how digestion requires enzymes, and how and why to get more enzymes in food. Read more

Enzymes: The Fountain of Life
Describes how enzymes treat medical conditions in therapies used in Europe and Japan. Read more