Papaya enzyme occurs naturally in the papaya fruit, but is also a dietary supplement that some alternative health practitioners recommend for a wide variety of conditions. There's no scientific evidence to support most of these, including taking the enzyme internally for clotting. Talk to your doctor before using papaya enzyme as a dietary supplement.
Bleeding Disorders
There are many different types of disorders that relate to formation of clots. Some conditions make it more likely that your blood will clot inappropriately, producing thrombi -- clots in the blood vessels -- that can lead to heart attack, stroke or tissue damage. There are also bleeding disorders like hemophilia that make it harder for your blood to clot, explains MayoClinic.com. These can make even minor injuries very serious, as you'll continue to bleed for a long period of time either externally or internally.
Papaya Enzyme
Papaya enzyme, also called papain, is a proteolytic enzyme. Proteolytics break down protein, explain Drs. Reginald Garrett and Charles Grisham in their book "Biochemistry." The papaya fruit uses papain to help break down cellular proteins and recycle their components. Humans have historically used papaya as a meat marinade because the papain helps break down tough proteins in meat, making it easier to chew. Papain's function is similar to that of the protein-digesting enzymes your own digestive tract produces.
Papain and Blood Clotting
There is scientific evidence that papain helps to clot blood, explains Dr. R. Steiner and colleagues in a 1951 article in the scholarly journal "Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics." However, the studies done on papaya enzyme and blood didn't involve patients taking the supplement by mouth. Instead, papaya enzyme helps blood to clot when it's introduced directly into a sample of blood. This is an important distinction, and there are no studies that show clotting when papaya enzyme is taken as a supplement.
Considerations
There's no known mechanism for digestive enzymes such as papain that you take by mouth to get into your bloodstream. In fact, you likely digest the papain that you take as a supplement, since it's a protein and your digestive enzymes can't distinguish it from any of the other dietary proteins you ingest. As such, there's no reason to take papaya enzyme for a bleeding disorder. If you have such a disorder, you should see your physician for recommendations on how to treat it effectively.
References
- MayoClinic.com: Hemophilia
- "Biochemistry"; Reginald Garrett, Ph.D., and Charles Grisham, Ph.D.; 2007
- "Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics"; Light Scattering Studies on the Clotting of Fibrinogen; R. Steiner, et al.; 1951
