Enzymes Engineer a Better Digestive System

Relief from an array of uncomfortable gastrointestinal symptoms may be found through enzyme supplements and healthy lifestyle habits. 

Digestive enzymes, made by the pancreas, are under attack by modern lifestyles and environment toxins. Shutterstock

Many Americans lack proper enzymes to adequately digest their food—a condition connected to uncomfortable gut symptoms that include gas, bloating, constipation, diarrhea, and food sensitivities.

Enzymes depend on the overall health of our gastrointestinal (GI) tract, which should be structurally and functionally sound with strong intestinal mucosa, proper stomach acidity, and a healthy pancreas. Our pancreas makes most of our digestive enzymes and sends them out to help break down food for nutrient absorption.

There’s no blaming a sudden rise in a genetic abnormality for our lack of digestive enzymes. In many cases, our shortage is caused by situations we’ve brought on ourselves. Other causes are rooted in the modern American lifestyle. But there are ways to reverse these problems, from supplementing the missing enzymes to a change in lifestyle.

Exposures That Affect Enzyme Production

Digestive enzymes are found in the juices made by the pancreas and sent to the duodenum, the beginning of the small intestine, where partially digested food from the stomach, called chyme, arrives. Smoking, drinking alcohol, long COVID-19, metabolic disease, and xenobiotics can all interfere with proper digestive function, although the mechanism isn’t well understood.

Xenobiotics are foreign chemicals such as drugs, pesticides, food additives, environmental toxins, flavorings, and fragrances. Proton pump inhibitors, given to relieve symptoms of heartburn and reflux, can also interfere with digestive enzyme production.

This broad range of triggers means most people are affected by dwindling digestive enzymes, according to Nicole Joyce, a functional nutritional therapy practitioner and health coach.

“Ideally an ordinary person who is eating a wonderful, healthy diet, who is chewing their food properly, who is in a rested and relaxed state and doesn’t have issues with their pancreas would probably not need digestive enzymes,” she told The Epoch Times. “That’s an ideal situation. We don’t live in that world.”

Are Food Triggers an Enzyme Deficiency?

There are three major classes of digestive enzymes. Lipase is made in the pancreas and breaks down fats. Protease is made in the pancreas and breaks down proteins. Amylase is made in both the mouth and pancreas and breaks down complex carbohydrates.

There are other enzymes, too, such as lactase which breaks down lactose, and sucrase, which breaks down sucrose.

Some gas and bloating are caused by a lack of certain enzymes necessary for the body to process and digest specific carbohydrates, according to Trista Best, a registered dietitian at Balance One Supplements.

“There are many forms of carbohydrates and even more enzymes needed in the digestion process,” she told The Epoch Times in an email. “If one or more of these enzymes are missing or lacking in your gut, like any of those needed to digest the Fermentable Oligo-, Di-, Mono-saccharides And Polyols (FODMAP) carbohydrates, you can experience gas and bloating.”

Foods high in FODMAPs include garlic, artichokes, apples, mango, prunes, cauliflower, and most gluten-containing foods. Reducing and avoiding these trigger foods is often enough to eliminate symptoms. In some cases, though, an altered diet could reduce needed nutrients if too many foods are avoided or replaced with unhealthy processed food.

Silent Suffering

Despite the increasing concerns over gastrointestinal tract (GI) distress, many people don’t raise the issue with their physicians. As many as 70 million Americans suffer from GI diseases, and up to 40 percent have symptoms severe enough to prevent them from participating in routines they enjoy such as exercise, running errands, and spending time with friends and family, according to the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA).

Yet the AGA conducted a poll that indicated only one in three people would discuss bowel symptoms if their doctor brought it up first.

The survey results showed that 15 percent would rather talk politics with a relative, and 22 percent would rather reveal their weight than discuss their bowel symptoms. About one-quarter try over-the-counter solutions first or research online before making an appointment with a doctor.

“It comes with a little bit of a stigma,” Keri Hayes, a nurse who worked in GI medicine for several years, told The Epoch Times. “I don’t know if people realize some of these digestion issues could be remedied without medicine.”

She has been taking digestive enzymes regularly to help with bloating and discomfort, particularly if she eats a meal with a lot of carbohydrates.

Ms. Hayes said using digestive enzymes in the form of a supplement can sometimes help patients avoid prescriptions and over-the-counter antacids, which have been shown to create additional digestive issues in the long run.

Choosing a Supplement

Supplemental digestive enzymes can be made from animals, plants, and microbes, according to Clinical Education, a nonprofit functional medicine organization that works to educate health care professionals in the United Kingdom.

Enzyme levels can be measured with a pancreas blood test, which can determine if you are deficient in amylase and lipase. However, these tests are typically used for suspected pancreatitis, according to Cleveland Clinic.

Breath tests, elimination diets, and food journaling can also offer clues about possible deficiencies based on the types of foods that cause symptoms. Besides bloating, gas, and heartburn, symptoms such as abdominal pain, stools that float, undigested food in stool, diarrhea, constipation, and feeling full after only a few bites of food can be signs you lack digestive enzymes.

Symptoms can last a day, several days, or become a chronic situation that can impact health and also contribute to obesity, autoimmune conditions, inflammatory bowel disease, fatigue, allergies and poor immune function, premenstrual syndrome, and depression and anxiety, according to Clinical Education.

The organization offers suggestions on how to choose the best supplement. Each enzyme has a food chemical codex (FCC) potency unit, which indicates the amount of activity in an enzyme—a standard that allows consumers to compare products.

According to Clinical Education: “Unfortunately, there is currently no regulation of enzyme activity in food supplements. This can make choosing a digestive supplement a bit of a lottery. It is for this reason that you should always choose a reputable brand that states all enzyme activity in FCC units so the activity and not just the amount (weight) of the enzyme per capsule is known.”

Ms. Joyce said she often recommends a supplement that contains a broad range of enzymes.

“I generally recommend people take them at the beginning of a meal because then they are available when your food hits the small intestine,” she said.

Habits That Help

While digestive enzymes are helpful and Ms. Joyce said there’s no harm in taking them even over long periods, they don’t resolve the root cause issue. In some cases, lifestyle changes can improve enzyme outputs. There are also good practices to help support the whole digestive process.

Ms. Joyce’s top tips are:

• Relax before and during meals. “I encourage my clients to take five deep breaths before they put anything in their mouth.”
• Chew your food 15 to 20 times in between bites. “That mastication is a really important part of digestion and will reduce some of the burden on your stomach.”
• Avoid processed foods and oils.
• Get regular movement and exercise.

Additionally, she said to consider using foods that support digestion.

Eating for Enzyme Support

Some websites claim that certain foods—pineapples, mangoes, avocados, bananas, and fermented foods—contain digestive enzymes and are suitable substitutes. However, Johns Hopkins said there’s little evidence that foods high in enzymes will aid digestion.

“You’re better off building a well-balanced diet that contains fresh fruits and vegetables, lean proteins, and whole grains. These foods will naturally help support the work your digestive enzymes are already doing,” according to a Johns Hopkins article.

It went on to say that highly processed foods and those high in fat are more likely to be the cause of irritation, rather than insufficient enzymes.

Some foods seem to help with digestion, though.

“Apple cider vinegar is excellent for digestive health,” Ms. Joyce said. “You can take a tablespoon of it before a meal with a glass of water.”

Beets help stimulate bile production, and fresh fruits and vegetables—raw if possible but cooked for those with sensitive digestion—offer digestive support.

Digestive bitters, a liquid botanical available in most markets, can help stimulate your body to produce the enzymes and bile on its own, she said.

“When you put them on your tongue, they send a message to your brain—through your vagus nerve—to stimulate all parts of your digestive process.”