The Enzyme Factor

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY 1 OCT 2007

A bestseller in Shinya's native Japan, where it was published in 2005, this title introduces his theory of a "source enzyme" to American readers. Shinya came to New York in 1963 as a medical resident and later pioneered the use of a colonoscope to remove polyps from the colon without abdominal incisions. Now a professor of surgery at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and head of the Endoscopic Center of Beth Israel Hospital in New York, he runs private clinics in New York and Japan. Here, he identifies a precursor enzyme that the body converts to specific types of enzymes as they are needed to support, maintain or repair the body and its functions. Shinya broadly discusses how enzymes work and are exhausted by poor lifestyle habits, medications, environmental pollution, electromagnetic waves and daily stress, and provides simple directives for holistically accessing the power of enzymes, including supplements. Myriad observations from his years of practice include that humans should not eat meat from animals with a higher body temperature than their own; the strength of Americans' digestive systems contributes to illness and obesity; drinking pasteurized milk from cows is lethal to the body; and anticancer drugs do not cure cancer. The real message of Shinya's book is that lifestyle is essential to health. To help readers develop one in tune with nature, he describes his own ascetic daily routine. While some readers may find Shinya's ideas unusual, others may welcome his unorthodox approach.