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Dr. Edward Howell was born in Chicago, IL in 1898. After obtaining his medical license from the state of Illinois in 1924, Dr. Howell joined the staff of the Lindlahr Sanitarium in Illinois. At the Lindlahr Sanitarium people were treated for chronic degenerative diseases, mainly tuberculoses. Patients were put on a raw food and juice diet with dramatic results of improved health. After seeing these results Dr. Howell measured the enzyme activity levels in the cooked and raw vegetables and found in the cooked foods the enzyme levels were missing. His enzyme research led him to the canning industry where enzymes are killed in the canning process. Dr. Howell theorized that if he could replace the enzymes lost in the cooking or processing of food, he could enhance nutrient assimilation and in turn, promote general good health.

In 1932, he established his private practice for the treatment of advanced illness utilizing nutritional and physical therapies. Through extensive clinical and laboratory research, Dr. Howell developed a way to cultivate and extract certain plant enzymes. He then added those enzymes to the diets of his patients. This led to improved health in Dr. Howell's patients. Dr. Howell created NEC to package and sell his Genuine n•zimes brand of enzymes, which are still available today.

Dr. Howell is the true pioneer in his field, having been the first researcher to recognize and delineate the importance of the enzymes in food to human nutrition. In 1946 he wrote The Status of Food Enzymes in Digestion and Metabolism. He then took more than 20 years to complete Enzyme Nutrition. The most authoritative work on the subject of enzyme nutrition.

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