All You Need to Know About Digestive Enzymes

Digestive enzymes have been around since people started chewing on their food. It is only recently that the role of enzymes in our bodies has become well known. Digestive enzymes products can help you digest dairy foods and they act as catalysts in breaking down foods so we can absorb the nutrients we need.

Digestive Enzymes

Digestive enzymes are digestive lipids that are produced by the body to digest food. These globular proteins, also called lipase, are usually categorized according to the kind of enzyme reaction created. Lipase, for example, breaks down fat into simple sugars. This is why it is used for the treatment of diabetes and heart disease: when the body cannot produce enough insulin or doesn’t get enough blood sugar, it needs to break down fat by using digestive enzymes.

Many factors can affect the production of digestive enzymes in the body, among them stress, anxiety, poor nutrition, vitamin deficiency, medication, stress, diarrhea, vomiting, and pregnancy. Stress can cause a rise in blood pressure and therefore increase bloating. Also, anxiety causes the release of a hormone called cortisol, which increases the rate at which food leaves the stomach.

Poor nutrition leads to a decreased intake of nutrients, which in turn stimulates the pancreas to secrete insulin, which not only increases blood glucose but also increases the rate at which food leaves the stomach. Lastly, medication, whether prescribed by a doctor or not, causes a change in the levels of digestive enzymes, which can either increase or decrease the ability of the body to digest foods.

Probiotics

Products like Probiotics can help your digestive system to help itself by introducing good bacteria to your tummy. Probiotics contain “friendly bacteria”, which are virtually always good for your gut. The beneficial bacteria are introduced into the system using digestive enzymes, which are already present in the intestine. The interaction of friendly bacteria with the additional digestive enzymes can lead to an improved immune system and the prevention of illnesses such as irritable bowel syndrome. For example, research has shown that the addition of probiotics – tiny food units that the body cannot digest – prevents the onset of irritable bowel syndrome.

Necessary role in digestion

Since digestive enzymes play such a necessary role in digestion, you must ensure that you are eating your food thoroughly. This will allow the undigested food to be eliminated from the system more quickly. It is essential to ensure that you make time for a regular, disciplined feeding routine and take your supplements regularly. To help your body break down and absorb food thoroughly before swallowing, you must eat your food ‘slowly’ enough. To ensure that this is possible, try to eat the food at a slower pace – about 2 minutes – than normal, and pay close attention to portion control.

While eating slowly aids digestion, it can also help you lose weight. By making the food digestible, it makes it harder for fat and toxins to be stored in your digestive tract. This is because the undigested food goes right through undigested parts of the digestive tract before being eliminated. As a result, you can cut down on your waist size by making your food digestible. Also, it is important to note that eating too slowly can lead to nausea, so if you experience this issue, then consider increasing your speeds so that you will have maximum effect.