Digestive Enzymes
Written by Paula Owen
Expert Review By KBS Research Team
In our current day and age, it’s common knowledge that our gut health has a large impact on our health. It seems like a fad, but it really isn’t. Our gut health has huge impacts on how our bodies operate and digestive enzymes are a large part of that.
In this article, you’ll learn:
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- What are digestive enzymes?
- Why are digestive enzymes important?
- What is the correlation between digestive enzymes and IBS symptoms?
- What are the best sources of digestive enzymes?
What are digestive enzymes and why are they important?
Digestive enzymes are proteins that help your body break down food into smaller molecules that are easier to use and absorb. The majority of your digestive enzymes are excreted from your pancreas and are used to break down the large molecules in your food.
There are 3 main, naturally occurring, digestive enzymes that our bodies use:
- Amylase — breaks down carbohydrates and starches
- Protease — breaks down proteins
- Lipase — breaks down fats
Along with the pancreas, digestive enzymes are made and excreted in other places throughout your body like your saliva, stomach, and small intestine.
Carbs, proteins, and fats are your main source of energy and are some of the most important nutrients in our diet. However, they are such large molecules that without digestive enzymes, our bodies wouldn’t actually be able to absorb and use them.
Digestive enzymes are important because they are what help our food to be absorbed by our digestive system. Without them, much of our food would be pointless to eat.
There are some conditions where the body doesn’t produce enough digestive enzymes and it leads to malnutrition as a result of poor digestion.
How do digestive enzymes work?
As we mentioned earlier, digestive enzymes work by breaking down these large molecules into smaller molecules.
Amylase takes starches and carbs and breaks them down into sugar molecules.
Lipase and liver bile work together to break down fats. This helps your body receive important nutrients like fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K.
Protease breaks proteins down into their building blocks (which you might remember from biology class), amino acids. Protease has another important function and that is keeping the intestines free of bacteria, yeast, and protozoa.
The broken down molecules are then absorbed by the intestines and circulated through the bloodstream. They’re then used where they are needed throughout the body.
How to know if you need more digestive enzymes
Some conditions cause your body not to have enough digestive enzymes. When this happens your body can no longer break down these compounds the way it should. This leads to malnutrition and nutritional deficiencies. Some of the conditions that cause depleted digestive enzymes include:
- Congenital sucrase-isomaltase deficiency — this condition is one people are born with and they are unable to digest certain sugars
- Exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI) — is a condition that affects the pancreas causing the body to be unable to digest carbs, fats, and proteins. This condition often coexists with other diseases that cause EPI (pancreatitis, cystic fibrosis, IBD, diabetes, celiac disease, pancreatic tumors, HIV/AIDS, and birth defects)
- Lactose intolerance — the body doesn’t produce enough lactase to break down the sugar molecules (lactose) found in dairy products
If you’ve been experiencing any of the following symptoms, you may want to talk to your doctor about testing for an enzyme insufficiency.
- Abdominal pain or cramping
- Gas
- Bloating
- Diarrhea
- Oily Stools
- Unexplained weight loss
These symptoms could be signs of other conditions as well, so bringing it up to your doctor along with food diaries can help with diagnosis. Although, additional testing will likely be needed for a confirmed diagnosis.
What are the best sources of digestive enzymes?
Digestive enzymes are found endogenously in our bodies. They are one of the many postbiotic metabolites that we can get from certain foods. Just like the digestive enzymes themselves help to break down other molecules, our digestive system extracts digestive enzymes from the foods we eat.
Some of the foods for digestive enzymes include:
A lot of these foods also offer natural forms of probiotics which can help improve digestion as well. Sometimes people can’t get enough of these in their diet, so, supplementation is an option
Digestive Enzyme Supplements
The easiest way to add in things our bodies are missing is supplementation. There is often controversy over supplementation since it isn’t as regulated as it should be. There are two different routes of supplementation when it comes to digestive enzymes; prescription and over-the-counter.
Prescription Digestive Enzyme Supplements
After testing and a confirmed diagnosis, your doctor can give you a specific recommendation on what digestive enzyme you need. They’ll then write you a prescription with the proper dosage for a legitimate supplement.
There are 6 FDA approved supplements, including:
- Creon
- Pancreaze
- Zenpep
- Ultresa
- Viokace
- Pertzye
Going this route, you can be sure your doctor will give you the proper dosage for your situation and that you’re taking a safe, tested supplement. If you are prescribed one of these, you’ll often either be referred to a registered dietitian or given additional supplements to combat any nutritional deficiencies you may have.
Over-the-counter Digestive Enzyme Supplements
If you walk down the supplement aisle in any convenience store or pharmacy, you can become overwhelmed with the options at your disposal. If you’re going the OTC route, make sure your preferred choice has the NSF Certified for Sport stamp on it. NSF ensures that what the bottle says is actually in the supplements.
Digestive Enzymes and IBS
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a condition in which patients suffer from bloating, abdominal pain/discomfort, excessive gas, constipation, and/or diarrhea related to bowel movements. You may have noticed that these are very similar symptoms to those of digestive enzyme insufficiency.
Symptoms of IBS can range from mild to severe. Patients with moderate to severe symptoms can have major negative impacts on their daily life. If you suffer from IBS, you’re likely looking for something to help improve digestion which should help improve symptoms.
This, in addition to the similar symptom list, leads doctors to look at digestive enzymes as a path for symptom relief. Especially considering some of the major instigators of symptoms (FODMAPs) are carbs that are difficult to digest.
Certain enzymes can be replaced to help the body absorb nutrients better like lactase for those who have difficulty digesting lactose.
This research is still quite new and results have been somewhat scattered. Working with your doctor can help you find a treatment specific to your type of IBS and your unique triggers.
Ultimately, talking to your doctor about your symptoms, getting the right testing done, and getting a diagnosis about what is causing your symptoms will set you in the right direction — whether that is taking digestive enzymes or something else.
Atrantil for Digestive Health
While you are waiting for your diagnosis, taking Atrantil can help with your symptoms. It was crafted specifically to help with bloating, gas, and abdominal discomfort related to eating/bowel movements. Talk to your doctor about settling your digestive woes with the powerful and natural help of Atrantil today.
Grab your bottle here.
Find a nearby store that sells Atrantil here.