What are enzymes and what do they do?

Here is another bit of information about Pro EM•1® Probiotic that you may find interesting.

Enzymes are specialized proteins that speed up the reaction times of various reactions. Many companies sell enzyme products to help with digestion such as caseinase to break down a milk sugar known as casein. Other products may be sold for increased absorption of protein (proteinase) or fats (lipase). Enzymes are crucial in the process for breaking down sugars for your body to be able to use the sugars for energy.

Do you know where enzymes come from? You guessed it, they are ALL produced by microbes. The average number of enzymes that a single microbe can produce ranges from 10 to 30 different type of enzymes. Which enzyme is produced depends on exposure to something needed to break down that substance. Here is an example, Lactobacillus casei is exposed to milk. The microbe produces the enzyme caseinase to start breaking down the casein, digesting parts of the sugar molecule to perform its own bodily functions (metabolism). There are other enzymes produced by L. Casei including: proteinase, high peptidase, esterase-lipase. 

There are smaller, even more specific, proteins known as "co-enzymes". These enzymes assist the main enzymes in breaking down large molecules such as polysaccharides (starches) into smaller and smaller chains. Again, one microbe can product up to 30 different co-enzymes! Imagine the diversity of enzymes alone when you think of how many microbes are in and on us, in our food, in our water, etc. 

If you are having digestive problems, that means something is out of whack. Why take one enzyme product when you can take a whole bunch of microbes that can produce a whole bunch of different types of enzymes and co-enzymes...ones that are produced when the need is addressed (or confronted!)?   Pro EM•1® Probiotic contains 6 different strains of microbes. Each can produce up to 30 different enzymes (potentially up to 180) and up to 30 different co-enzymes...this is in addition to a slew of other beneficial metabolite compounds produced by the live-active microbes in Pro EM•1® Probiotic.

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What makes Pro EM-1 different than other Probiotics On The Market

Pro EM•1® Probiotic is unique, not only in its formulation, but also in how it can be consumed and how it works. Most other probiotics on the market consist of freeze dried microbes that are selected because they are “found in the human gut”, put into a capsule, and bottled. Let’s look at why there are issues with some of these ideas.

1. High colony counts are important for freeze dried because 85-90% of the freeze dried microbes do NOT survive the freeze drying process. This is why so many companies stress how many cultures they have in their product.  Pro EM•1® is not freeze dried and contains all live, active, naturally occurring microbes that are not genetically modified.

2. Time.  According to the Mayo Clinic (http://www.mayoclinic.org/digestive-system/expert-answers/faq-20058340) the average time from ingestion to elimination can vary from 33 hours to 53 hours. The first 6-8 hours are from mouth to small intestines. The rest of the time is between small intestines to excretion. Freeze dried microbes need to re-hydrate before then can become active again. Most need 10-14 hours of hydration time before the microbes are able to start working. Once they do, they then need to start multiplying by eating foods and then take several more hours to days to establish themselves. During this time they are confronted with a harsh environment, having to compete with beneficial and pathogenic bacteria in the gut and their respective metabolites. If this is correct, the time from ingestion until the microbes can establish themselves is about as long as it takes the average person to completely digest and eliminate food. Many companies also put a coating on their capsules to “protect” their microbes from being exposed to stomach acids. Following that line of thinking, this means the first 6-8 hours of exposure time have not even started hydration and reanimation. Then we add 10-14 hours and we are up to 16 to 22 hours. That means 16 to 22 hours of exposure time are lost all due to way the probiotic is made in the first place. Pro EM•1® is a live liquid that start to be absorbed by your body as soon as you put it in your mouth.

3. The Stomach Acid Myth. It is believed that probiotics are weak and not able to survive the low pH of stomach acids. For microbes that are never exposed to low acids, this is mostly true. EM Research Organization ran a few studies a couple of years ago to see how their microbes stood up to low pH solutions. They compared three major company’s products to theirs and discovered there was nearly 100% survival of the microbes in Pro EM•1®. The microbes in Pro EM•1® will easily survive passage through the stomach acid.

4. Diversity is key to health and survival. Most products lack diversity of microbes. Take a look at the major probiotics on the market and look at the list of microbes in the products. The first word is the genus. The second word is the species. Most probiotics use a few different species of lactic acid bacteria. These include Lactobacillus, bifido, and bacillus bacteria. The species are different, yet being in the same genus, they all generally produce the same metabolites, with slight variation between species. This means, although they may have 4 or more species, they are all doing pretty much the same thing. What is needed is a diversity of genus so there will be different metabolites produced that will support the digestive system and the establishment of the beneficial microbes (the probiotics).

Pro EM•1® Probiotic contains microbes from three genus: Lactobacillus, Saccharomyces, and Rhodopseudomonus.
 

5. Lack of Metabolites. If the entire product ingredients were not fermented together, they lack metabolites. Freeze dried products are isolated species of microbes that are usually grown on agar. The microbes are scraped off the culturing plates, the sprayed on some filler like maltodextrin or dextrose (both are corn sugars...usually from genetically modified GMO corn). There are no metabolites (vitamins, antibacterial compounds, minerals, enzymes, co-enzymes, peptides, bioflavinoids, amino acids, organic acids, etc.). This means, when the micorbes enter a hostile environment, such as a compromised digestive system that is teaming with various microbes, acids, and gases, the microbe survival rate declines dramatically.  Pro EM•1® Probiotic is fermented at 100ºF and contains all the natural metabolites produced by the microbes during fermentation.

So, how does your probiotic compare to Pro EM•1®?

Is Yogurt A Good Probiotic?

People often say, "I take a probiotic, I eat yogurt every day." Is yogurt really a probiotic? It depends if you are eating real yogurt or not.

How do you know if the yogurt has been fermented or not? Well, if it is sweet it is likely not fermented. If it is really thick, it likely hasn't been fermented. If it has some fake coloring in it, it is likely not fermented either. What does all this mean? Let's look at how yogurt is made.

Commercially-produced yogurt is often made from dried milk and milk proteins and re-hydrated with water. An acid is added to the milk to thicken it. Then a bunch of sugar is added to it (we just go to have everything sweet!). After the sugars are added only then are the probiotics (which are often freeze dried, meaning 95% of the microbes are dead!) added and the "yogurt" is put in the chiller to prevent fermentation. This means no fermentation occurs at all in the process. 

This process is completely different than how traditional, real, yogurt is made. None of the milk sugars have been fermented and broken down, nor have any of the beneficial enzymes or other metabolites been produced. As for these sugary non-fermented yogurts, this means that all the health benefits that are touted about the probiotic aspects of yogurt are not really true. When you consume these popular yogurts, you are consuming quite a lot of sugars and some fairly ineffective microbes. It is totally different than if you consume a traditional, fermented milk product that is thicker than milk and pretty sour in taste, not sweet. Take a look at these resources on how to make your own REAL yogurt:

• Sandor Katz, in his book, The Art of Fermentation, has a very traditional recipe for making home made yogurt. You can read about it here: http://www.splendidtable.org/story/yogurt-an-excerpt-from-the-art-of-fermentation. 
• For those of you who prefer the thicker Greek style yogurt: http://www.happysimpleliving.com/2011/03/06/make-your-own-homemade-greek-yogurt/.

Please note, you can always add ProEM-1 as a starter to your fermented foods. You can also add some EM-X to the recipe to add in some prebiotics.

*photo from: Image by Profet77 from Pixabay.

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How do Probiotics and Prebiotics work together?

Prebiotics and Probiotics working together

The concept is pretty simple as to how prebiotics and probiotics work together. Basically, a prebiotic feeds a probiotic. The prebiotic is food and the probiotic is the living organism that eats it.

In our previous posts we went into some detail about how prebiotics work. The image on the right show that not only do prebiotics feed probiotics, they also have a direct affect on the immune system... stimulating it. The prebiotics help the probiotics establish themselves faster so they can help their host (us, or animals) sooner than if they had to do it all on their own. 

Imagine you bought a rundown home and moved into it right away before fixing it, or perparing it. You moved in and then had to start setting in, but nothing was quite right. You would be pretty stressed.  Now, imagine that you had a crew come in and clean it all up, repaint it, even move all your stuff in..right where you wanted it. You would be able to get right into the swing of things without skipping a beat and would be ready for action. The crew your hired is the prebiotc in this scenario. In reality, we are the broken down house that needs cleaning up and both the prebiotic and the probiotic are working together to fix it all and make it a happy home. Pretty simple, isn't it? When they work together you have synergy. This is why combining a prebiotic and a probiotic is called a synbiotic.

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What is the difference between a Probiotic and a Prebiotic?

Prebiotics/Probiotic Extracts

• A collection of metabolites produced by beneficial bacteria during fermentation/co-culturing (do not contain live microbes)
• Maintain a healthy gut environment by regulating the growth and development of beneficial bacteria
• Not affected by the gut environment and stimulate immune system directly

Probiotics

There are more than 100 trillion microbes in the human gut (approx. 2.2lbs/1kg).

Gut microbes will produce enzymes for the body to digest certain foods that the stomach and small intestine have not been able to digest and produce some vitamins that are necessary for the body. They also play an important role in the immune system and in production of serotonin, which influences mood.

• Various types of live microbes (bacteria) that are similar to the beneficial bacteria found in the human gut
• Help restore the balance of gut flora by improving the ratio of good to bad microbes
• Popular probiotic foods (fermented foods): 
yogurt, miso, sauerkraut, kefir, kombucha, and kimchi. 

Check out all the TeraGanix Info on the web!

TeraGanix has a LOT to say and share! We have created blogs for specific subjects to streamline information. If you are interested in it all, please check out the various blogs we have and subscribe to the ones you like and share with friends.

Here is a list of our blogs:

ProEM1/Digestive Health: Here we discuss digestion, new probiotic and prebiotic information, health, exercise, food preparation, and other topics of healthy lifestyles.

Bokashi: In this blog we discuss food waste recyling, recycling, uses of bokashi in the US and around the world.

TeraGanix: This blog covers a wide range of topics that involved EM Technology in some way.

Effective Microorganisms: This blog mostly focuses on household uses of Effective Microorganisms, including growing vegetables, lawn care, growing flowers, have a healthy home, etc.

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Prebiotics: How much should you take?

EM-X Gold Probiotic Extract

EM･X GOLD is a health drink so there is no specific dose you need to take. You can drink as much or as little as you want to match your condition or lifestyle. The average person will drink 10ml to 30ml (2 teaspoons-1oz) per day.

Each one of us is different; moreover, the same individual also has different condition from day to day. EM•X Gold will stimulate the microbes in the digestive system. This may cause some people may have loose stool or some slight stomach pain or diarrhea-like symptoms after drinking. In that case, adjust the amount to suit your physical condition. You may need to take less than the recommended dosage. Other people may not feel anything. You can't really take too much, but the average person doesn't need more than the suggested dosage above.

EM･X GOLD is made with all natural and gluten-free ingredients so that it is almost flavorless and odorless.

Because the probiotic extracts in EM･X GOLD have heat-resistance, you can mix it with any (hot or cold) drink or even use it in cooking.

What is EM-X Gold?

What is EM-X Gold? This question has been on everyone's mind for quite some time. In 2010 Dr. Higa made some drastic changes to the EM-X formula.  The old formula, which many people considered amazing, was a fermented liquid made from fermenting EM-1, Rice Bran, Papaya, Kelp, and molasses. There was a long fermentation process and the product was micro-filtered down below 5 microns to filter out the microbes. EM-X was introduced to the market in the mid-1990's and had been fairly well-researched in various countries through various universities. Several of these original studies were published in journals and are still available on PubMed. Research was being done on Parkinson's, cancer treatments, and several on radiation exposure. For some unknown reason, Dr. Higa decided to completely change the formula and EM Rearch Organization in Okinawa, Japan (EMRO Japan) released a new formula called EM-X Gold in 2010.

The next generation in EM Technology--EM-X Gold. 
The new EM-X Gold is no longer made with rice bran, papaya or kelp. Earlier this year (2015), EMRO Japan presented new information on the product that shed some light on what it was and how it worked. To sum it up very simply, EM-X Gold acts is a highly complex prebiotic and synbiotic, boosting the effects of probiotic microbes, such as Pro EM-1 through tiny particles produced during a unique fermentation process developed by EMRO and Dr. Higa.

In our previous blog posts we've covered what prebiotics are. We now introduce the next level of prebiotics and the term "synbiotics". Synbiotics, are simply the combination of the a prebiotic and a probiotic. Traditional prebiotics are defined as "a non-digestible food ingredient that beneficially affects the host by selectively stimulating the growth and/or activity of one or a limited number of bacteria..." Essentially, prebiotics are lumped into the same category as fiber.

(Gibson GR, Roberfroid MB. Dietary modulation of the human colonic microbiota. Introducing the concept of prebiotics. J Nutr 1995;125:1401–12.)

However, EM-X Gold goes beyond the average prebiotic, which are usually fructooligosaccharides or FOS. EM-X Gold contains substances that are not only digestible, but are also small enough to go through cell walls and nourish cells and stimulate the immune system in addition to increasing the effectiveness of probiotic microbes. EM-X Gold is made through a unique fermentation process. This unique co-culturing technique makes a wide variety of active components. Thus, EM-X GOLD contains more than 600 beneficial components such as lipopolysaccharide, nucleic acid and physiologically active substances. These metabolites (compounds produced by microbes' metabolic processes) include short chain amino acids (peptides), enzymes (which are specialized proteins) are low molecular weight, meaning they are extremely small (on the "nano" level!). For example, the largest metabolites in EM-X Gold are 1/10th the size of the enzymes in pineapple. Some are 1/1000th the size! Therefore, EM-X GOLD is extremely easy to digest and is quickly absorbed by digestive organs. 

How Do Prebiotics Work?

Shortly after the prebiotic is consumed it becomes a food source for probiotic bacteria, dramatically stimulating their activity. A probiotic extract is a prebiotic because it stimulates the growth and activity of probiotic microbes. Probiotic extracts will improve the balance of gut flora by acting as feed for beneficial bacteria. Moreover, they will also directly promote and regulate immunity, reduce stress, and inhibit aging.

EM-X Gold Probiotic Extract

EM-X GOLD is a probiotic extract that re-creates the ideal gut environment and makes it possible to produce beneficial extracts in a stable way.


Approximately 70 % of our immune system is located in the gut. The immune cells in the gut protect our body from infections by fighting harmful bacteria and viruses. However, modern lifestyles filled with processed foods and stress can disrupt the gut environment and therefore compromise our overall health. Also, there is growing evidence that the gut is like your “second brain” and it even influences your thoughts, feelings and stress levels.  (see this article from Johns Hopkins)  Thus, the key of both mental health and physical health is hidden in the gut. Due to poor diet or stress, beneficial microbes decrease and gut microbes will deliver harmful substances to the body. An example of this is E. coli. E. coli is essential to our health, but is considered a pathogen because it has genes that produce toxic compounds and can grow exponentially, producing excessive amounts of toxic metabolites that will make use sick...or kill us. Thus, the ideal cycle of metabolites when you are not healthy, becomes unstable, and you get sick. The gut environment changes from day to day, therefore it is difficult to produce beneficial metabolites consistently.
 This is possible by stimulating the growth of the good microbes, or probiotics, through the use of prebiotics and probiotic extracts.

By making the extracts outside the body, we can produce high quality probiotic extracts free of influence from living environments. Outside factors such as stress and diet make relying on production of probiotic extracts in the body very unpredictable.

Prebiotics are known to improve the efficacy of probiotic microbes. In other words, prebiotics are little energy power packs that feed probiotics. Here is an illustration of how they work together:

You can see the probiotics alone directly promote a good balance of gut flora. Probiotic microbes also produce lactic acid and suppress the growth of harmful microbes, promote the peristalsis of the intestines and prevent constipation, and stimulate the immure system to adjust metabolism. All this takes time as the probiotic microbes establish themselves and begin to secrete metabolites in the system. By adding the metabolites into the body, the probiotics can immediately use them and stimulate the immune system and begin to help get the host's gut back in balance. The combination of prebiotic and probiotic is known as a synbiotic effect.

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