Enzymedica announced today that three of its products, Acid Soothe, Digest Gold + Probiotics and Kids Digest Chewable, have been recognized by nutrition expert Ashley Koff, RD, as “Ashley Koff Approved (AKA).”

Koff has been named among the Top 10 Registered Dietitians in the US by Today’s Dietitian Magazine, and can be regularly seen appearing on leading national media outlets, such as Dr. Oz, CNN, and E!. She has also been frequently featured in national publications such as The New York Times, Readers Digest, and Oprah Magazine.

In 2002, she began presenting the AKA recognition to assist consumers, healthcare practitioners, and the media identify products that best contribute to an individual’s healthy lifestyle.

According to her website, products that are AKA Approved have been evaluated by Koff as not including any nutrition “no, no’s” (artificial ingredients, too much of an ingredient, too little of an ingredient, etc.). In addition, a product’s marketing message must be truthful and fit into “a nutritional plan for optimal health.”

The AKA stamp is presented throughout the year, and is applied to a wide range of products, including: groceries, dietary supplements, prepared foods, restaurants, lifestyle accessories and beauty care.

Listen as Dr. Stephen Shore shares that autism doesn’t have to be a roadblock to success!

Oh, the possibilities…

Watching this type of an interview can fill you with so much hope and it continues to remind us that we must never give up on all of the dreams we have for our own children.  Stephen Shore is truly amazing.  He is brilliant, he has dedicated his life and his passion to helping people with autism, he has an amazing and charismatic personality and he is happily married and enjoying his life.   Stephen Shore was diagnosed with autism and non-verbal until age 4 and he was recommended for institutionalization as very young child. Today, he is a professor, an international author and presenter, and he travels the globe with his message of hope and the healing power of music.  I am so excited to let you know about this interview and I encourage everyone to hear Stephen’s story and become inspired!

In this blog entry, Enzymedica Educator Dave Barton answers a question he has regularly been asked while on the road working to spread the word about enzymes to consumers and retailers both across the country and internationally. In coming months, we’ll be sharing similar features from the education department and other departments within Enzymedica.

What do you study in the Education Department of Enzymedica?

We’re fortunate in the Education Department when it comes to our own education. Tom Bohager (Enzymedica’s Founder and Operating Chairman) allows us and encourages us to read and research a variety of topics to expand our understanding of natural health. This to me is so much better than focusing exclusively on enzymes. Though it’s extremely important to study enzymes specifically and their activities, most of the research is extremely deep and has little direct application to natural health because the information is so complex.

By reading a variety of topics from various writers both conventional and accepted as well as the unconventional and so-called heretic we see the overall complexity of health and the variety of ideas of how the body works as well as various opinions of the best way to achieve health. I have personally benefited from such study.

By reading a variety I’ve been more easily able to see how enzymes are interconnected in so much of the literature and research even when enzymes are not necessarily given the credit in a specific article.

I’m reading 3 books right now. Eat for Life, Harvey Diamond. The Sinatra Solution, Metabolic Cardiology, Stephen Sinatra, M.D., F.A.C.C. Confessions of a Medical Heretic, Robert Mendelsohn, M.D.

Enzymedica’s popular Enzyme Deficiency Test has not only gone digital, but it has also been revised and updated for increased accuracy and a better end-user experience for our customers. The new test has been specifically designed for instant access on either a desktop computer or on a mobile device, such as a smartphone or tablet computer.

Taking around 2-5 minutes to complete, this highly-convenient test is designed to generate a personalized profile of possible enzyme deficiencies as well as food intolerances that the test-taker may be experiencing.

Test results are generated based on user feedback on topics such as diet preferences, personal health assessments, and other contributing factors that may demonstrate an enzyme deficiency.

To preview the test, mobile device users can go to the Mobile Enzyme Deficiency Test and computer users can go to the Desktop Enzyme Deficiency Test.

Once a user has completed the questionnaire, their personalized enzyme profile will be displayed, with additional options to send via email or share via Facebook.

Take the test and let us know how it has worked for you. Were you surprised by the results? Let us know on our Enzymedica’ s Facebook page.

One of the goals of almost any company is to work to achieve greater efficiency within their processes. This goal is shared by Enzymedica, and it is our belief that through becoming more efficient, we improve both the quality of our product and our customers’ experience. In pursuit of that goal, we are pleased to welcome Lean Six Sigma consultant Bill Trudell to our team.

Lean Six Sigma is best described as both a management concept and a philosophy. Six Sigma seeks to minimize defects (errors) in a process by removing variability. Lean is a philosophy of eliminating waste from processes (time, materials, and energies). Together, they form an unbeatable combination that will help to lead Enzymedica through continual growth and during development of new products.

“All company’s have waste. Some choose to work on it and some just don’t. […] “The goal in Lean is satisfying customers and eliminating waste in the product flow so that customers don’t have to pay for it,” said Trudell.

Trudell is no stranger to eliminating waste in processes. His career has centered on improving processes in companies for 25 years. He initially developed an interest in process analysis while working as a supervisor at a boat manufacturer, and says that his favorite part of his job was working through solutions that would address concerns within his company.

Over time, he gained further training on eliminating process waste and decided to build his career on those ideals. He is the author of the book Lean Six Sigma That Works: A Powerful Action Plan for Dramatically Improving Quality, Increasing Speed, and Reducing Waste, and has another book, Relentless Improvement: True Stories of Lean Transformations, which will soon go to print.

Change can be intimidating for many companies.  In certain cases, the very culture of a company can be to ‘resist change.’

“Culture eats tactics for breakfast,” says Trudell. By embracing a culture of change and constant improvement, company processes can be improved, products can be improved, and employee relations can see improvement.

Lean Six Sigma uses a variety of tools to identify waste within processes. In one exercise, a group of team members at Enzymedica worked together to create a “map” showing each and every step that the company takes to create a new product.

Employees also completed surveys that served to identify perceived areas for possible improvement in processes, as well as to gain a feel for which departments within the company communicate with each other the most.

As part of the mapping exercise, employees designated certain areas along Enzymedica’s new product process as “bottlenecks.” These bottlenecks, for various reasons, cause the process to slow down, usually to wait for a decision or some other input.

After the bottlenecks have been identified, process improvement teams are created to better understand the root causes of the bottlenecks, and work towards creating a solution.

Numerous other Lean Six Sigma exercises also take place to understand how a company works. Production facilities are carefully measured and the movement of staff mapped out. Departments within the company meet to discuss what they need from other departments in order to complete their goals. Employees are surveyed to help determine areas for improvement already noted by the staff.

The goal of these exercises is two-fold. First, waste is eliminated from within current processes, and Enzymedica can work to bring our already exceptional quality to a new level. Second, Enzymedica staff will learn new ways of approaching problems and receive a wide arsenal of tools to improve our quality and customer experience into the future.