The herbs are analyzed for protein, carbohydrates, fats, and fiber, and appropriate enzymes are added to the encapsulation to ensure proper assimilation. Nutrients are then delivered, past an incompetent digestive system, and the body is nourished. This is the original concept on which Dr. Loomis founded Enzyme Formulations®, Inc.

Whole herbs and even certain foods were used long ago for their healing properties, before active ingredients were thought to be the answer to "what ails you." High-potency herbal supplements, extracts, and vitamins and minerals are really concentrated chemical compounds, needing to be detoxified by the body just like any drug. When your diet is lacking in raw foods and fresh fruits and vegetables, take enzymes to supplement your nutritional needs and assist in digesting your diet. Above all else, however, exercise and a good diet consisting of fresh fruits, vegetables, and protein are important to leading a healthy lifestyle.

In developing a product line using herbs, we must blend theory not only with physiology and biochemistry but also with common sense. Theoretically, the fresh plant, straight from the garden or field, would seem to have the most effective and pure applicability to human health. Such a plant would be unspoiled by any processing and intact in its contents.

Many medicinal plants are best in the fresh state, especially the culinary herbs. The aromatic oils and oleoresins are actively present, and any water-soluble vitamin loss is minimized. But, the use of drying renders some plants, which would otherwise be far too active to use at all, tame and safe. It is a basic principle of botany that the drying of plants reduces alkaloid activity, reducing this content further the longer the drying proceeds.

Any assumption about the action of a plant that relies solely on the basis of the action of a constituent should be resisted. It should always be recalled that the action of the whole plant is more than the action of its parts. We look at constituents for the following reasons:

• to provide possible explanations for the already perceived action of the whole plant;
• to point to possible actions, beneficial or harmful, that might have been missed because of the context of traditional use (cardiac benefits and certain long-term toxic effects, for example, may both have escaped notice in the past);
• to find any evidence for the particular therapeutic approach traditionally applied to the use of herbal remedies–particularly for the claim that they provoke recuperative responses;
• to illustrate the full diversity of plant pharmacology.