Enzymes

How does your stomach's digestion work? Digestive enzymes work their magic to transform the food you eat into nutrients your body can actually use. Without them, your body is unable to feed itself. However, enzymes are often neglected. There is talk of proteins, vitamins, and virtual amino acids, but less so of enzymes. And yet, they keep us alive and well. Bearing in mind that there are 75,000 different enzymes in the human body, they deserve more attention!

The Story of Digestion

The story of digestion begins the moment food touches your tongue. Enzymes like salivary amylase start breaking down starches even as you chew. 

As food travels through your digestive tract, different enzymes take over at each stage, like a well-choreographed dance. Protease enzymes begin to break down proteins in your stomach. Ιn your small intestine, they are joined by lipase to break down fats, and dozens of other specialized enzymes that process everything from fiber to lactose.

This chain of enzymes, working like well-oiled cogs, has evolved over millions of years. But for many people, this system doesn't function as nature intended. Modern lifestyles, stress, aging, certain medical conditions, and dietary choices are compromising the body's natural enzyme production.

When enzyme levels fall short, food isn't completely broken down. This incomplete digestion causes bloating that makes you want to loosen your belt and gas that causes embarrassment and discomfort. It’s that heavy, overfull feeling that lingers long after a meal. Some people experience acid reflux and heartburn, others have inconsistent bowel movements, and some even have nutrient deficiencies despite eating a healthy diet.

Digestive enzyme supplements help support a healthy digestion. They provide supplemental enzymes from plant and microbial sources to help your body absorb the nutrients from the food you eat.

What Are Digestive Enzymes?

Digestive enzymes are specialized proteins that accelerate chemical reactions that would otherwise occur far too slowly to sustain life.

Each enzyme has a particular job: it recognizes particular molecular structures in food and breaks specific chemical bonds. This specificity is what makes enzymes so effective and why a digestive enzyme supplement contains multiple different enzymes rather than just one. We need all of them to digest all the nutrients from the food we eat:

• Protease enzymes cut the peptide bonds that hold amino acids together in proteins.
• Amylase enzymes break the glycosidic bonds in starches and complex carbohydrates.
• Lipase enzymes split the ester bonds in fats and oils.
• Lactase breaks down lactose, the sugar in dairy products.
• Cellulase helps break down plant fiber that human enzymes can't process on their own.

Your body produces digestive enzymes in several locations throughout the digestive tract.

• The salivary glands release amylase when you chew.
• The stomach secretes pepsin, a potent protease that initiates protein digestion in its acidic environment.
• The pancreas is the major enzyme factory, as it produces and secretes amylase, lipase, and different proteases into the small intestine.
• The small intestine produces enzymes like lactase and maltase in the brush border - the absorptive surface of intestinal cells.

This multi-location production system makes sense when you consider that different foods require different pH levels for breakdown. Proteins begin digestion in the highly acidic stomach. Most carbohydrate and fat digestion occurs in the more neutral environment of the small intestine.

The Seven Essential Digestive Enzymes

Here’s a more detailed look at each of the main digestive enzymes:

Amylase

Amylase breaks down starches and complex carbohydrates into simpler sugars that your body can absorb. Starches from bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, and grains all require amylase for digestion.

When amylase is insufficient, undigested starches pass into the large intestine, where bacteria ferment them, producing gas and bloating. Amylase starts working in the mouth and continues in the small intestine. It is one of the first and longest-acting digestive enzymes.

Protease

Protease breaks down proteins into amino acids and smaller peptides. Different proteases work at distinct pH levels: pepsin in the acidic stomach, trypsin and chymotrypsin in the more neutral small intestine. Incomplete protein digestion can lead to the uncomfortable feeling of food sitting heavily in your stomach. It may even contribute to food sensitivities when partially digested protein fragments trigger immune responses.

Lipase

Lipase breaks down fats and oils into fatty acids and glycerol, which can then be absorbed. Fat digestion is challenging because fats don't mix with the water-based environment of the digestive tract. When lipase is insufficient, fats pass through undigested, which causes vitamin deficiencies and digestive discomfort.

Lactase

Lactase breaks down lactose, the sugar found in dairy products. Many adults produce decreasing amounts of lactase as they age, which can cause lactose intolerance that often manifests as gas, bloating, and diarrhea after consuming milk, cheese, or ice cream. Supplemental lactase helps people with lactose intolerance enjoy dairy products without uncomfortable symptoms.

Alpha-galactosidase

Alpha-galactosidase breaks down the complex sugars found in beans, legumes, cruciferous vegetables, and whole grains. Humans don't naturally produce this enzyme, so these oligosaccharides pass undigested into the colon, where bacteria ferment them, making the gas that gives beans their notorious reputation. Supplemental alpha-galactosidase helps transform these hard-to-digest foods from gas-producing troublemakers into nutritious foods.

Cellulase

Cellulase helps break down cellulose, the structural fiber in plant cell walls. While humans can't digest cellulose on their own, supplemental cellulase can help break down plant fibers and improve how well our bodies access nutrients from vegetables. It may also help reduce the bloating some people experience from high-fiber diets.

Bromelain

Bromelain is a protease enzyme derived from pineapple stems. Beyond its protein-digesting properties, bromelain supports digestion.

How Digestive Enzymes Support Your Health

Because the digestive system is distributed throughout the body, multiple points can become problematic or slow. So how can digestive enzymes support your health? One obvious benefit is that you don’t feel bloated after a meal. But the work of enzymes goes far beyond that.

Better nutrient absorption

Nutrient absorption improves when enzymes work well. Some have reported that digestive enzyme supplements help with "mysterious" nutrient deficiencies. The issue wasn't insufficient nutrient consumption but their inadequate breakdown and absorption.

Digestive comfort

Enzymes prevent the fermentation of undigested food by intestinal bacteria. That means less bloating, less gas, and no more feeling uncomfortably full after meals.  

Energy levels

Energy levels often improve with better digestion. Your body spends considerable energy on digestion: up to 10% of daily calorie expenditure goes to processing food. When digestion is inefficient, your body works even harder trying to break down food. This explains why people often feel tired after eating, especially after large meals.

Better immune function

Partially digested protein fragments can trigger immune responses when they cross the intestinal barrier, contributing to food sensitivities and other issues.

Gut microbiome

The gut microbiome flourishes when you digest food properly in the upper digestive tract, allowing nutrients to reach your beneficial bacteria in the colon. When undigested food floods into the large intestine, it can feed less beneficial bacteria and disrupt the delicate microbial balance.

Who Needs Digestive Enzyme Supplements?

While everyone's body produces digestive enzymes, many people don't make enough for digestion.

Age

Age naturally reduces enzyme production. Enzyme production at age 60 may be only 75% of what it was at age 20, which explains why foods you happily ate in your youth may cause problems as you age. The decreased enzyme production isn't a defect; it's a natural part of aging, which may require enzyme supplements.

Stress

Stress impacts digestion. The "fight or flight" response diverts blood and resources away from digestion, reducing enzyme production and digestive efficiency. Many people spend a lot of time in a state of stress. If you frequently eat while stressed, rushed, or distracted, your natural enzyme production likely isn't keeping pace with your needs.

Diet

Dietary choices influence enzyme needs. Raw foods contain natural enzymes that help digestion, but cooking destroys these.

Modern processed diets lack the enzyme-rich fermented foods that traditional cultures relied upon. If your diet consists primarily of cooked and processed foods, you're depending entirely on your body's enzyme production without the help that food enzymes once provided.

Specific intolerances

Digestive enzyme supplements can provide the specific enzyme your body isn't producing in sufficient amounts. Specific intolerances often respond remarkably well to supplementation. For example, lactose intolerance improves with lactase supplementation. If you find dairy products hard to digest, this may help. And high-protein meals may be better digested with protease. 

Eating out

People who eat out frequently may need to take enzyme supplements, as restaurant meals tend to be larger, richer, and harder to digest than home-cooked meals. These meals often combine multiple protein sources, heavy sauces, and decadent desserts in a single sitting. Dining out can be a digestive challenge even for people with healthy enzyme production. Enzymes may help the digestive process.

The Right Digestive Enzyme Formula

Different digestive challenges require different solutions. Flora Health offers three specialized enzyme formulations to address your specific digestive needs.

Daily Maintenance Digestive Enzymes

Daily maintenance supplements have enough digestive enzymes to support your everyday meals. These formulations contain normal levels of several enzymes to support healthy digestion of everyday mixed meals containing proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. 

The enzymes found in this supplement work well for people who want consistent digestive support, for people with mild, occasional discomfort, and for anyone over 50 looking to compensate for age-related enzyme decline. They are also great for people who follow primarily cooked-food diets and want to replace the enzymes destroyed by cooking.

Immediate Support Digestive Enzymes

Immediate support supplements offer targeted relief. These formulations contain specific enzymes for common food intolerances and digestive difficulties.

With higher levels of lactase for dairy, cellulase for fiber, and amylase for starch-heavy meals, immediate support formulas make digestion easier when you need extra support.

Urgent Support Digestive Enzymes

This supplement is Flora's most potent enzyme blend for persistent digestive difficulties.

The formulation contains higher levels and a broader enzyme profile, plus alpha-galactosidase for beans and legumes. The enzymes may help with chronic digestive discomfort or recovery after illness or antibiotic use. They may also be helpful for conditions that affect the body’s natural enzyme production.

Digestive Enzymes Make Life Better

Here are a few tips about how to take digestive enzymes for maximum effect:

• Take enzymes at the beginning of meals, ideally with your first bite. Enzymes need to mix with food as it enters your stomach to work most effectively.
• Start with the recommended dose and adjust as needed. Some people need only one capsule per meal, while others might need two or even three with larger meals.
• While enzymes work immediately, the full benefits often build over time as your digestive system finds its rhythm.
• Combine enzyme supplements with good eating practices. Chew your food well, take your time to enjoy your meals, drink plenty of water, and include naturally enzyme-rich foods like raw fruits and vegetables, fermented foods, and sprouted grains when possible.

Good Digestion for Your Health

Digestive discomfort is a signal that digestion isn't happening as it should. Digestive enzyme supplements are a natural, effective solution that addresses the root cause rather than masking symptoms.

If your digestive system needs enzyme support, Flora Health’s enzyme collection may be precisely what you need. Your body may better absorb nutrients, which may support your energy levels. Your body may thus find its balance, improving your overall well-being. Enzymes are integral to our digestive system and should be included in our wellness plans.

The best investment you can make today is to keep your gut healthy with plant-based supplements. Your body will thank you!