Digestive corrections seen as key to health problems

While food science has made tremendous strides over the last several decades, some of those gains have come at the expense of nutrition, a local internal health specialist said.

"Unfortunately, in the interest of prolonging food's shelf-life, enzymes - what the body uses to promote healthy digestion - have been deliberately removed from about 90 percent of what we eat," said Dr. Linda Dehnert, DC, IHS of the Brookfield Wellness Centre. "Digestion is a very energy-intensive process, so when enzymes are taken out of the food equation, more workload is placed on the body - specifically, the immune system - to pick up the slack. Even though the body is equipped to handle stress, it can only rob Peter to pay Paul for so long before it becomes exhausted and diseased."

The Brookfield Wellness Centre addresses this problem with either enzyme therapy or a supplement program that caters to clients' unique biochemistry. Treatment options also include dietary modifications and an exercise regimen. It's an approach, she said, that differs from those offered by many other wellness practitioners.

"Our society has become so dependent on pills being a cure-all that most healthcare professionals forget that digestive problems can be the root cause when their patient is sluggish or fatigued," said Dehnert, who's been in practice for more than 20 years. "Someone can have the most pristine diet possible, but if they don't have digestive enzymes that break down fats, carbohydrates and proteins to assimilate nutrients and eliminate waste, then their health will be compromised."

Most of the Brookfield Wellness Centre's business, Dehnert said, comes from young women, families and middle-aged adults; it's a clientele that's been exposed to a genetically and chemically altered food supply.

"The segment of our population that's been born over the past 40 to 50 years has increasingly consumed more processed foods and are the ones who have the most nutritional inadequacies and depletions in their diets," Dehnert said. "The demand for wellness treatment is only growing."

For information about Brookfield Wellness Centre, log on to BWCentre.com.

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JUST THE FACTS

BUSINESS: Brookfield Wellness Centre

ADDRESS: 15400 W. Capitol Drive, Brookfield

PHONE: (262) 754-1211

OWNER: Dr. Linda Dehnert, DC, IHS

INCORPORATED: 2008

TYPE OF BUSINESS: health/wellness

PEARLS OF WISDOM: "Enzymes are the spark of life; without them we would not exist."