What Are Digestive Enzymes?

Under ideal circumstances, your body is able to break down food and absorb nutrients effectively. Unfortunately, we are not living in an ideal world, and many people are dealing with digestive issues. Perhaps you are one of them.

If you are dealing with digestive difficulties or other symptoms that may be related to nutrient deficits, you may benefit from taking digestive enzymes.

What are digestive enzymes? How do they work? Who should take them? Are there any side effects? This article will answer all your questions you may have about digestive enzymes. Let’s dig in.

Do I Need Digestive Enzymes?

Digestive enzymes are important enzymes that help your digestive system by breaking down large macromolecules in your food into smaller molecules that your body can absorb. There are three classes of digestive enzymes. Proteolytic enzymes digest protein, lipases digest fat, and amylase digest carbs.

Digestive enzymes that humans need include:

Amylase: breaks down carbohydrate
Pepsin: breaks down protein
Lipase: breaks down fat
Cellulase: breaks down fiber
Lactase: breaks down lactose
Sucrase: breaks down sugar sucrose into glucose and fructose
Maltase: breaks down sugar maltose into smaller glucose molecules

How Do Digestive Enzymes Work?

Digestive enzymes are absolutely essential for your digestion.

First, salivary amylase is released through your saliva to start breaking down your food.
Next, the parietal cells of your stomach release acids, pepsin, gastric amylase, and other enzymes to break the partially digested food into chyme, a semifluid semi-digested food.
Then your stomach acid helps to neutralize the salivatory amylase to allow the gastric amylase to work better.
An hour later, the chyme moves into the duodenum, the upper small intestine, where the hormone secretin gets released.
This is followed by the pancreas releasing hormones, bicarbonate, bile, and enzymes, such as lipase, amylase, nuclease, and trypsin.
With the help of the bicarbonate that changed the acidity of the chyme to alkaline, the enzymes can break down your food.

Digestive Enzyme Benefits

Assist in breaking down of nutrients
Improve digestion
Improves IBS, acid reflux, and other digestive disorders
Enhance nutrient absorption
Prevent nutritional deficiency
Prevent and treat leaky gut

Do You Need To Take Digestive Enzyme Supplements?

While your body naturally has digestive enzymes, many people don’t have enough, making supplementation beneficial, and often necessary. If you experience any digestion difficulties or symptoms, you may benefit from digestive enzymes.

If you have the following symptoms, you may benefit from taking digestive enzymes:

Cravings for certain foods
Thyroid problems
Heartburn, indigestion or burping
Hair that is thinning or falling out
Dry or lackluster skin
Trouble concentrating or brain fog
Morning fatigue
Trouble sleeping well
Feeling too tired to exercise
Mood swings, depression or irritability
Headaches or migraines
Worsened PMS

Sources of digestive enzymes

Fruit-sourced: from pineapple and papaya
Plant-sourced; from probiotics, yeast, and fungi
Animal-sourced: from ox or hog

Enzymes to look for in a full spectrum digestive enzyme supplement

Alpha-galactosidase
Amylase
Cellulase
Glucoamylase
Invertase
Lactase
Lipase
Malt diastase
Protease (or acid proteases)
Peptidase
Beta-glucanase
Pectinase
Phytase

Foods With Natural Enzymes

Pineapple
Papaya
Kiwi
Kefir and yogurt
Bananas
Mango
Miso, soy sauce and tempeh (fermented soy products)
Sauerkraut and kimchi
Avocado
Bee pollen
Apple cider vinegar
Raw honey

Potential Side Effects Of Digestive Enzymes

Digestive enzymes are usually well-tolerated and beneficial. Side-effects may include nausea, diarrhea, stomach cramps, gas, headaches, dizziness, and allergic reactions.

If you have a history of liver or gallbladder disease or ulcers, some digestive enzymes may not be right for you. Always talk to your doctor before taking them. If you take any daily medications, have health problems, or have any questions, talk to your doctor before taking digestive enzymes.

Digestive enzymes can greatly improve your digestion and other symptoms by helping your body to break down food and absorb nutrients effectively. Most people can benefit from taking digestive enzymes. However, always talk to your doctor before taking them.

Do you take digestive enzymes? Do you have any questions regarding digestive enzymes? Comment below, we would love to hear from you.