Digestzymes

Is Enzyme Supplementation Really Necessary?

Today's typical diet of cooked, canned, and convenience foods make it very important to take supplemental enzymes to relieve some of your body's digestive stress. Since your body will put a higher priority on digestion than on maintaining health, it will steal enzymes from the immune system to finish digestion. Taking a supplemental enzyme can help take stress off not only your digestive organs, but also your immune system.

At the biochemical level, how do enzymes aid digestion?

Enzymes are catalysts. They initiate or speed up a reaction. When food is ingested, enzymes are released in the mouth (ptyalin) that aid in breaking open carbohydrate cell walls. As the food progresses through the digestive tract, other enzymes are released. The ultimate breakdown of food occurs in the small intestine assisted by the release of pancreatic enzymes. Raw food contains its own enzymes which help to facilitate this process. However, if food is cooked or processed, these "food" enzymes are inactivated, and therefore the burden of digestion is left to the body's own enzymes, mostly those produced by the pancreas. Often incompletely digested food is passed into the colon taking vital nutrients with it, and possibly causing intestinal upset.

The enzymes naturally present in food play an important role in digestion by helping to predigest the ingested food in the upper stomach before hydrochloric acid has even been secreted. This predigestion is hindered when food is cooked or processed because the enzymes are destroyed by the processing procedures. Placing the full digestive burden on the body, the body�s digestive process can become over-stressed and incomplete. As a result, vital nutrients may not be released from the food for assimilation by the body, and gastrointestinal problems may result.

The primary purpose of enzymes in supplement form is to enhance the enzymes available in raw food, and replace those enzymes lost when food is cooked or processed. In addition, supplementation enables more digestion to begin in the gastric region, easing the burden on the digestive system, including the pancreas. The earlier that digestion can begin, the greater the likelihood that no undigested food will enter the colon where bacteria can feed upon it, causing such problems as gas and bloating.

Nearly every person can benefit from supplementation with enzymes. Even healthy people may improve their absorption and utilization of nutrients through the use of digestive enzymes. Of course the benefits will vary, depending upon the individual�s diet and general health. Individuals in good health can expect to notice less fullness after meals, increased energy, faster emptying of the stomach contents, decreased gas, and more regular bowel habits.

Enzymes are an integral part of the digestive process. From the time food enters the mouth, enzymes are at work breaking the food down into smaller and smaller units until it can be absorbed through the intestinal wall. These enzymes come from two sources, those found in the food itself, and those produced in the body.

All raw food naturally contains the proper types and proportions of enzymes necessary to assist in the process of decomposition. In addition, when raw food is eaten, chewing ruptures the cell membranes and releases these indigenous food enzymes, many of which survive and contribute to the digestive process. These enzymes include protease, which breaks long protein chains (polypeptides) into smaller amino acid chains and eventually into single amino acids, amylase that reduces large carbohydrates (starches and other polysaccharides) to disaccharides including sucrose, lactose, and maltose, lipase that digests fats (triglycerides) into free fatty acids and glycerol, and cellulase. Cellulase, which is not found in the human system, breaks the bonds found in fiber.

Ideally, the human body is capable of producing these same enzymes, with the exception of cellulase, necessary to digest food and allow for the absorption of nutrients. However, with estimates of as many as twenty million Americans suffering from various digestive disorders, optimal conditions are not the case.

Most food enzymes are essentially destroyed under the conditions used to cook and process food, leaving foods devoid of enzyme activity. Placing the full digestive burden on the body, the body's digestive process can become over-stressed. Digestive problems can result, causing improper digestion and malabsorption of nutrients that can have far reaching effects. Consequences of malabsorption can include impaired immunity, allergic reaction, poor wound healing, skin problems and mood swings. Supplemental enzymes can improve the level of digestion and help assure that the maximum level of nutrient absorption is attained.

Why take a supplemental enzyme formula?

Supplemental enzymes replace the enzymes once present in raw food. Most enzymes are lost in cooking and processing. Only raw or uncooked food contains enzymes. Nature put these enzymes in food to aid in digesting the food you eat so your body's enzymes would not have to handle all the work. By taking a supplemental enzyme you free up your body's enzymes. When enzymes are missing from your food, the full burden of digestion falls on your own digestive system. Food sits in your stomach for nearly an hour before your body's digestive enzymes are secreted. It is during this time that food enzymes do their best work breaking down complex food molecules. These supplemental enzymes are temporarily inactivated in the stomach, but not before they have already accomplished much of their mission of breaking down the food molecules. During the first 30 to 60 minutes after eating, enzymes are hard at work, predigesting food long before the stomach acids render some of them inactive. Enzymes not destroyed in the stomach are re-activated in the small intestine.

Each capsule contains:
Pancreatin 5X supplying:
Amylase 20,000 USP
Protease 20,000 USP
Lipase 1,600 USP
Pepsin NF (1:10,000) 65 mg
Ox Bile 50 mg
Betaine HCL 200 mg
Papain 6 mg

Other ingredients: gelatin, water,
microcrystalline cellulose,rice bran
silicon dioxide. GMP Certifiec

The information presented here is meant only to be educational in nature. The statements contained herein have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.