Macro nutrients and Their Role in Healing and Anti-Aging  By John M. Taggart

Everyone has heard the word protein. If asked what they were one would be inclined to say that proteins are what is in meat, milk and eggs. Proteins are a very important part of our diet, but are often overlooked because they are such a fundamental essential that our search more often leads us past them toward finer details.

This is why they are referred to as macro nutrients. Most discussions regarding health and well being focus on vitamins, minerals, hormones, antioxidants or other micro nutrients.

In order to impart the significance of proteins I am going to refer to an analogy that has proven useful time and again. It is often helpful to compare the human body to an automobile. If we were to view our diets as if we were a car, the three major constituents of our diets - carbohydrates, fats and proteins would equate as follows.

Carbohydrates are our fuel, they give us the energy we need to operate. Fats are the oil, they act as lubricant and insulator. Proteins are the raw materials for our parts, they are the building blocks of our cellular material. The cellular material that constitutes the tissue of our organs, glands, muscles and bones.

When a part of an automobile malfunctions it gets replaced. Since we are organisms our parts are continuously being replaced one cell at a time. As no two things are identical each new cell is either better than its’ predecessor - it has regenerated; or it is inferior to its’ predecessor - it has degenerated.

We live in an age where tremendous progress has been made in treating infectious diseases. So much so that our leading causes of death are now degenerative diseases. For some reason the scientific methods that were so effective at conquering infectious diseases are not yielding the same results with degenerative diseases.

Ask yourself - are we winning the war on cancer, AIDS, atherosclerosis, heart disease, arthritis or diabetes? This, just to name a few. Perhaps our researchers are too close to the trees to see the forest. Instead of searching for some errant molecule, miracle compound or a gene strand with unique properties they should concentrate on the basic raw materials that we need to regenerate instead of degenerating.

Proteins are the macro nutrient that could help in reversing degeneration. Proteins get broken down in our body into things such as peptides, omega fatty acids, amino acids and vital amino acids (vitamins). It takes a considerable amount of work for your body to break ingested food proteins down into the constituent parts that get put back together as cellular material.

A healthy adolescent is approximately 80% effective at breaking down ingested proteins. With the senior set or those that have significant health problems that ratio can be as low as 20%. Yet who do you know that eats four times as much as they did when they were a teenager? There is an index for measuring the efficiency of this process. It combines the bio-availability of the food source and the mechanical capability of the organism.

It is referred to as Net Protein Utilization or NPU. This article is about a protein source that is 98% assimilable. Yes, it has an NPU of 98. It’s a hydrolyzed fish protein called SEACURE. Otherwise referred to as pre-digested fish. So, we’ve got a group of degeneratives discussing what they’re going to do with predigested fish and they’re not punk rockers? No, we’re would be centenarians, read on.

THE SeacurE STORY

Proper Nutrition Inc. uses a proprietary fermentation technology of natural marine origin that permits the bio-conversion of white fish fillets into a concentrate of high-quality, pre-digested protein, omega-3 fatty acids, and other vital nutrients.

The fish concentrate has been shown through exhaustive testing to be a highly useful dietary complement in attaining as well as maintaining good health. Most importantly, however, and beyond its use as a health-related dietary supplement, the fish concentrate has been shown in extensive clinical studies to be highly effective in alleviating the symptoms of certain protein-related disease states.

The initial research and source of clinical information reported here was obtained from testing Seacure on thousands of patients by over 200 leading physicians and surgeons among staff members of the School of Medicine, University Hospital, University of the Republic of Uruguay, Montevideo, and various other hospitals in Uruguay for a period of 15 years.

These specialized staffs and hospital facilities rival the best found in the United States. The more recent sources of information come from North American observations of patients with particular health problems, who've taken Seacure.
Some doctors believe, however, and recent evidence might support the conclusion that the somewhat unexpected high-level positive results may be attributed to certain other naturally occurring agents which may be making a contribution to the overall benefits achieved.

In considering the reported observations, please keep in mind that they are just that -- observations with but few absolute controls with which to compare them (except for the report on Enteral Nutrition). However, some data is better than no data; and these results do indeed pave the way for projecting the conduct of further clinical trials under carefully controlled conditions.

Presented first are the recent North American results.

NORTH AMERICAN RESULTS

Chemotherapy; Mrs. Vivian Agnew was provided with SEACURE capsules in 1981 to possibly help her overcome some of the severe side effects of chemotherapy she was receiving for advanced lymphatic cancer.

Her testimony states that SEACURE significantly improved the quality of her life, that her severe side effects disappeared almost completely, and that she resumed a normal full life. Of course, Seacure did not cure the cancer. Mrs. Agnew died of a heart attack in 1983.

Wound-Healing; Mr. Timothy Phillips was in danger of losing his leg because of a venous ulcer. After he had taken the fish-derived protein capsules, Mr. Phillips experienced a gradual reduction of the inflammation. The ulcer dried up and healed. Archbishop Benjamin C. Eckardt of Canada (Anglican Church) lived for 10 years with a sore on his beltline that resisted healing. After taking SEACURE for 30 days, the sore healed.

Protein Allergies

Robert E. Morrow, M.D. used SEACURE in 1990 to feed his premature daughter who had developed allergies to all commercial pediatric formulas. Results were highly favorable.

Medical Practice; Dr. Leonard Giunta, has prescribed Seacure for variously ill patients in his medical practice. A summary of one-month results follows: Dr. Leonard C. Giunta - 7/26/94

The significant clinical benefits shown here should support impressive potential in the health care field. Additional results have been reported to us verbally:
-Two middle-aged women patients receiving chemotherapy report a considerable improvement in their quality of life. A world-class male marathon runner and a serious male body builder on Seacure report recovery after workouts that are requiring one fourth the time with the supplement.

- One elderly woman showing advanced capillary fragility on her face experienced an immediate marked reduction.

SEACURE AN EMERGING SUPPLEMENTATION CONCEPT

The amazing qualities of Seacure, the newly available fish protein concentrate, promise to provide all the healthful benefits of fish in capsule form. Soon you will start to see and hear about this remarkable protein supplement made from fish. Proper Nutrition, Inc. is putting the finishing touches on an intriguing 40-year-old story that started, and almost ended, in Montevideo, Uruguay, and by tortuous route found its way into the U.S. health food market.

Seacure is almost entirely pre-digested protein in capsule form made by means of a unique, natural biological process from white fish fillets. Dr. Donald G. Snyder, Ch.B. of PNI, explains that the protein and fat contents of Seacure may vary depending upon the type of fish used as beginning raw material.

Generally, however, the protein content will exceed 85% and the fat content will hover around 6%. Snyder believes that it's important to note that Seacure doesn't provide just some extracts from fish. In fact, the only component extracted in the Seacure process is water, so that all the vital nutrients of the fish are retained.

THIRD-WORLD MALNUTRITION

About 35 years ago, the academic and political communities awakened to the specter of third-world malnutrition -- especially among babies. Although the causes of malnutrition are complex and interrelated, a major factor has always been the unavailability of inexpensive animal protein.

Paradoxically, the world was desperately short of quality protein at the very time that vast resources of underutilized so-called "trash" white fish roamed free in the seas -- inexpensive animal protein for the taking. The problem, however, was getting this protein from the sea to the people who needed it in a form they could use and at a price they could afford.

An important step toward meeting these objectives was the development of an inexpensive technology to convert the protein from the sea into a concentrate of quality, biologically available protein suitable for use as a protein supplement to predominantly starchy diets. Fisheries scientists at research stations around the world responded laudably to the challenge.

The supplement was referred to as FPC or Fish Protein Concentrate; and the research programs that ensued worldwide were called the FPC Programs. At the time, Snyder, a biochemist out of Georgetown University, headed up the U.S. Department of the Interior's Fisheries Research Laboratory located on the College Park campus of the University of Maryland.

The idea was to get the job completed in as little time as possible. The search for a suitable Fish Protein Concentrate was on.

FISH PROTEIN CONCENTRATE

To achieve concentration of any proteinaceous raw material such as fish means that most of the fat and water have to be removed -- a process called reduction. In this form, the product is stable and micro-biologically safe. Suitably dried and ground, it becomes a powder-like material available for use as a food supplement.

THE BERTULLO PROCESS

Dr. Bertullo's technology uses a proteolytic marine microorganism he had discovered accidentally on the liver of a Golden Croaker while fishing with his son Enrique on the Platte River. The method involves the controlled enzymatic digestion, also called hydrolysis or solubilization, of fish through enzymes created naturally by the microorganism.

This digestion separates the tissue components into their constituent parts and hydrolyzes protein into peptides and amino acids in the l-form. Concentrating the digest is simply and gently performed because all the water has been unbound from the tissue.

The only parts removed are water and some trace amounts of volatiles present. All the nutritional components from the fish as well as those from the microorganism remain -- including lipids associated directly with the fish tissue. Overall, the protein is 70% digested into peptides and amino acids in a ratio of 60:40.
Needless to say, when these digestibility results were presented to the Academy Scientists, the M.I.T. and Harvard nutritionists in the group were excited because the product could be fed directly to badly malnourished babies who cannot handle intact protein -- very often the case in starvation scenes and sometimes the case with the elderly.

PROGRAM DETOUR

Success in every world feeding program has always hinged on the cost of supplying the food to those in need. The doctors in Montevideo were attempting to produce, not only an effective protein source, but also a cost-efficient nutritional supplement made from whole or degutted whole fish as the starting raw material.

In the U.S. the FDA would not permit it because the inclusion of scale and gut material made it an impure product by their standards. Frustrated, Snyder, under orders from Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall, transformed his well-designed research program into a vast data collection machine with highly political overtones to overcome FDA's objections.

The eight-year, 40-million-dollar battle that ensued wasn't pretty, but in the end the FPC proponents won. The price paid for victory, however, was heavy. All research on FPC worldwide had stopped, there being no use in developing technologies for worldwide feeding if programs couldn't use inexpensive raw materials.

THE NORTH AMERICAN DEBUT OF SEACURE

During 1991 and 1992 Proper Nutrition, Inc. conducted extensive pilot-plant work using the technology to recycle fish, poultry, and other biological-wastes. This opened the door for once again tackling the human nutritional aspects presented by the technology.

This time, Snyder targeted the health conscious and clinical market places: "We have a responsibility to provide the benefits of Seacure, to people in developed countries. At a later date, perhaps, we can think about world feeding again."

Snyder is encouraged after reviewing current high-tech pursuits for pharmacological agents by bio-technical companies. He cites articles reporting one high-tech company looking at peptides as a means of destroying pathogenic bacteria.

He states further that after they heard how the protein hydrolyzation process kills competitive pathogens and viruses, they're interested in talking with PNI. Other biotechnology companies are developing novel pharmacological agents as adjunct treatments in chemotherapy to minimize side effects. Still other new technologies based on peptides are being examined by companies to fight immune system diseases.

"Aside from past results, recent U.S. wound-healing experiences with Seacure are fabulous," says Snyder. He cites several cases of both diabetic and non-diabetic persistent lesions and sores that quickly and effectively healed after one or two month regimens of Seacure. "Medical doctors are scratching their heads," Snyder reports.

"As convinced as I am, I hesitate to talk about these and other recent spectacular U.S. results," Snyder says, "because they're just several isolated cases, whereas the work in Uruguay involved a great number of patients, for instance, the work with geriatrics." Snyder pointed to another high-tech outfit that is looking at cost-effective treatment of diseases that particularly affect the elderly.

He also states that recent studies have shown that peptide developments promise significant effect in the treatment of systematic degenerative diseases such as multiple sclerosis. One company is even selectively looking at bone healing.
"You've got to remember," Snyder says, "that with Seacure we are dealing with naturally processed peptides and amino acids not only from deep-ocean fish but also from the micro-organism proliferation process as well. Glucans are present in the microorganism cell walls. High levels of l-tryptophane are present. The microorganism secretes decarboxylase that works on the glutamic acid of the fish to produce gama-amino-butyric acid and gama-n-amino butyric acid.

We're hearing exciting things about these compounds. Phospholipids, sphingomyelin, lecithin, and sphingosine are also present in the finished product."
New results reported in the medical literature suggest that isolated fish oils are far less useful therapeutically than fish oils associated with fish tissues such as found in Seacure, and far less is required. Recently reported in the Journal of Clinical Nutrition is the fact that one meal of fish a week can modify fat levels in blood for the better. In addition, a Dutch study reports, in Prevention Magazine, September 1993, that the elderly who eat as little as one ounce of fish per day were least likely to become glucose intolerant (diabetic).

"Aside from recently-reported omega-3's possible role in brain development and all the improvement we've gotten in patients with serious immune deficiencies," Snyder says, "forward-thinking health conscious professionals have been touting the advantages of raw fish for years." Natives of a certain Amazon tribe in the wilds of Ecuador quite often live to be 120 years old. This longevity has been attributed to their diets of exclusively raw fish.

SEACURE CLINICAL AND TECHNICAL INFORMATION

Blood Defenses; In hospital tests patients showing a syndrome of mismanagement of blood defenses, good to spectacular results have been achieved. In all cases, immunoglobulin synthesis, improved considerably.

Tissue Formation; Exciting beneficial results were achieved with patients suffering problems of new tissue formation on the surfaces of various wound-like skin areas (fistulas, lesions, abscesses, perforations, necrotic dermic areas, infected stumps).
Resistance to healing and repairing of tissue, including bone healing rarely failed to respond positively Generation of new tissue usually occurred in less than half the time than in patients on normal quality hospital diets.

Chronic Diarrhea; In clinical settings, patients with acute and chronic diarrhea recovered completely.

Premature and Malnourished Babies; In world feeding studies, 3,200 premature and malnourished babies with symptoms related to premature birth and poor nutrition were fed our pre-digested fish protein concentrate. Edema and respiratory insufficiency ceased. Tolerance was excellent.

Geriatrics; In two geriatric groups with blood problems, blood chemistry returned to normal.

Nutrition in Surgical Patients; -In surgical patients, results showed a significant advantage of post-operative enteric feeding with our pre-digested fish concentrate over milk protein concentrate.

SUGGESTED DOSAGE: As a dietary supplement for adults, six capsules (3 grams) of SEACURE daily.

CHEMICAL ANALYSIS

PEPTIDE AMINO ACID RATIO Protein of the fish muscle is hydrolyzed into peptides and amino acids. The proportion of polypeptides and l-form (actively assimilable) amino acids is 60:40.(All amino acids in the l- form)

SEACURE

Proper Nutrition, Inc. (PNI) manufactures and sells SEACURE, a preferred dietary supplement derived from deep-ocean undenatured white fish. SEACURE contains 80% unparalleled quality predigested protein along with omega-3 fatty acids, the kind that are said to protect the heart and arteries.

Nutritional tests have shown SEACURE to be highly effective in both attaining and maintaining good health. Over 3000 premature and malnourished infants have been fed the pre-digested protein with exciting beneficial results.

Additionally, in clinical and hospital settings, scores of physicians have shown (and continue to show) the fish protein concentrate to be highly effective in alleviating symptoms in thousands of patients with certain protein-related disease conditions.
SEACURE is in compliance with FDA regulations and carries a host of factual promotional advantages which are missing in many other commercial protein supplements. We'll briefly review in this report general background on and various quality and promotional advantages of SEACURE.

EXCLUSIVE BIO-CONVERSION TECHNOLOGY

In 1994, the Company began marketing SEACURE, suitably packaged and labeled. The product is derived from concentrating deep-ocean white fish using a patent-pending bio-conversion technology derived from nature. The bio-conversion process is a method for the controlled enzymatic digestion of biological material by the action of a unique marine microorganism.

The action of the digestion (or fermentation ) separates the tissue components of the material and solubilizes protein into its constituent parts: peptides and amino acids. Subsequent concentration of the mixture, a slurry, results in a product in powder form, which is then suitable as a supplement to human diets as such or for formation into tablets or capsules.

Only water and some volatile components are removed from the fish. All other vital fish components remain. The fine powder that results is light cream in color and non-gritty. As expected, it contains a slight fish odor.

The history behind PNI's process is generously idealistic as well as technologically exciting. Throughout the sixties, the staff of the Fisheries Research Institute, Veterinary College of the University of Uruguay strove to perfect a fermentation technology involving a marine microorganism that was discovered accidentally.
A multi-disciplinary team composed of skilled food technologists, microbiologists, nutritionists, and engineers finally accomplished the task in the 70's.

The object of this work was to come up with a satisfactory means of translating the vast stores of underutilized sea fish into concentrates that would serve as protein supplements to the diets of starving people, especially children, in third-world nations.

The Uruguayans were not alone in this effort. Staffs from about 30 other research stations around the world were conducting research for the same purpose. Twice a year the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, National Research Council, gathered these worldwide researchers in Washington, D.C., where their research and development work was reviewed and assessed by an invited team of experts in related fields of science and medicine.

The extensive and highly visible U-S. Government research program on FPC (Fish Protein Concentrate) was included in this review process. Dr. Donald Snyder of Proper Nutrition Corporation, the parent company of PNI was the Director of the laboratory (located on the College Park campus of the University of Maryland) conducting this research. He was also a member of the Academy review team.

All efforts under conduct at the time (with the exception of the work in Uruguay) were physically and chemically oriented procedures to concentrate the fish protein by removal of oil and water from fish tissues. These procedures leave product with intact and denatured protein.

In contrast to these processes, the Uruguayan technology, a biological process, results in solubilization of the large protein fragments; that is, undenatured protein is pre-digested into smaller fragments called peptides, a small series of amino acids joined together, and simple amino acids - the individual basic building blocks of proteins.

Scientists on the Academy Review Committee (especially some notable nutritionists from Harvard and MIT) were excited about any procedure that would result in pre-digested or even easily digested protein because badly malnourished babies lose their ability to digest large protein fragments.

Feeding intact protein to these infants is nearly worthless and sometimes fatal, even in such forms as liquid milk. This condition is also often observed in the elderly.
Nutritional Superiority; The result of the Uruguayan work is SEACURE, a product comprised of over 80% protein of exceptionally good character, low amounts of ash, and approximately 5% lipids. The essential amino acid pattern of the product exceeds that of the reference milk protein, casein.

The protein is nearly 100% assimilated by the animal organism. Biological value scores, chemical scores, and amino acid balance studies show excellent results. Values for Net Protein Utilization (NPU) and Protein Efficiency Ratio (PER) exceed those of milk protein.

Fish oil analysis shows a value of 30% omega-3 fatty acids. Research has shown that fish oils associated with fish tissue (like we find in SEACURE) is more highly beneficial than isolated fish oils. Also, less fish oil is needed to produce the same beneficial results.

Medical and Academic Approval; Product prepared from white fish at a model plant at the Fisheries Research Institute was under test for a period of 15 years by over l00 leading physicians and surgeons principally among staff members of the school of Medicine, University Hospital, University of the Republic of Uruguay in Montevideo.
Many thousands were fed SEACURE in order to study its nutritional effects on various states of under nutrition or disease-induced malnutrition. In almost all those malnourished who were fed SEACURE, quantifiable improvements in health could be measured.

PNI’s proteolytic fermentation product has been recognized and approved nutritionally by the Ministry of Health of Uruguay and the National Medical Association of Uruguay (comparable to the American Medical Association [AMA] in the U.S.).
PNI’s fermentation technology has received favorable review by various authorities in academe in both the U.S. and abroad and by staffs of international organizations such as the Food and Agricultural Organization of the U.N., the Organization of American States, the lnteramerican Development Bank, and in the U.S., the National Research Council and the Office of Technical Assessment.

FDA Compliance Lot #10107 of dried fermented product from fish destined for a clinical trial under Dr. Snyder's direction in a well-known nursing home was sampled, tested, and released by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as being safe and in compliance with the regulations.

Other lots were similarly released. A lot of coated tablets was also rated in compliance by the F.D.A. Recently, SEACURE was rated in compliance by Canada, Denmark, and Taiwan.

Superior raw material. SEACURE is prepared from prime (fresh) lean white fish fillets harvested from the deep waters of the North Pacific. This raw material is in sharp contrast to the use of contaminated land-sea animal processing by-products, or excess milk and reject eggs as starting material.

Gentle processing conditions; Most of the protein concentrates   are prepared by harsh physical or chemical methods.

PNI's process is derived from nature, and subsequent concentration is accomplished by gentle spray-drying. Final protein quality is unaltered.

Predigested protein; Nearly all familiar protein supplements, such as desiccated liver, containprotein in their intact (original) complex form. Intact proteins, of course, must still be digested by the body into simpler protein segments such as amino acids before they are of any use to the body.

Therefore, all other factors being equal, the pre-digested protein resulting from PNI's process is more easily absorbed and utilized than intact protein. Accordingly, pre-digested proteins are especially valuable for premature babies, persons with chronic digestive problems, and anyone who is poorly nourished such as is often seen in the sick and elderly.

Vital factors; Commercial manufacturers of feeds use fishery reduction products in their formulations because the market is convinced that these products contain vital, though unidentified, nutrients that improve or stimulate growth. Indeed, research reported in scientific literature supports this claim. These reports also support the claim that fishery reduction products provide a benefit to animals under stress as in overcrowding.

No Chemical Contaminants; In concentrating natural tissue components, it stands to reason that alien substances that might be present in the raw material will also be concentrated. And chemical contaminants are ubiquitous to a varying extent in all crops, land animals, and land contaminated fish. Not so for SEACURE, all of which is processed from fish caught in deep unpolluted ocean waters.

Safety Results; Of multiple generations (in excess of U.S. FDA requirements) of rats fed SEACURE protein at high levels show that the supplement is safe beyond question. The bacteriological quality of SEACURE is excellent. Coating or encapsulating the product ensures against contamination. No pathogenic bacteria or parasites are ever detected. Spores, sometimes found in poor quality raw material, are never found in SEACURE.

TWO Sources of protein were contrasted: the standard reference milk protein, casein, and SEACURE Protein. The nutritional benefits of both high-protein complements were rated statistically as to their overall effectiveness.

Results in patients were grouped into three categories based on weight gain or loss, blood complement variables, skin and muscle tone, nitrogen balance, and metabolism: good, fair, and poor overall condition. Results reported in 1981 from these carefully controlled trials show that only 10% of the patients fed casein were rated in good condition, whereas 58% of the patients fed SEACURE were rated in good condition.

These results suggest a significant advantage from enteric feeding with SEACURE over casein. This advantage is further evidenced by noting that 40% of the casein-fed patients were rated in poor condition, whereas only 22% of the SEACURE-fed patients were rated poor. Of those in poor condition, many suffered from post-operative complications of such severity as to preclude recovery.