Digestive Enzymes Articles

In this section, you will find articles about digestive enzymes, their properties, functions and applications. You can learn about the purpose of specific enzymes and well as get information about evaluating enzyme products. We will cover how to read and interpret labels to understand what you are buying. We’ll also look at digestive problems that can be addressed using digestive enzyme products.

Check the Digestive Enzymes Articles link in the lower right of these pages for links to our current articles.

Zygest

For more information about Zygest, the professional quality digestive enzymes by Physiologics, click here.

Physiologics Discounts & Bonuses

Physiologics is famous for the clinical strength and superior quality of their nutritional supplements. Their products are distributed only through licensed healthcare practitioners. (If you see them at cut-rate prices on an Internet shop – beware. Those are not authorized vendors, and there’s no telling where their stuff is coming from.)

Although rarely available at a discount, you can now order directly from  Physiologics through my clinic’s account, and get 10% off every order with access to their full range of health & nutrition products. When you register to use my Professional ID# (there’s no charge, by the way)You’ll also get:

• Free shipping on orders over $65
• Free access to the best database of consumer healthcare information available online. (Once you’ve gone through the free registration at the Physiologics site,  click on the “Health Notes” tab.)
• Free, one year subscription to the nutrition and supplement magazine Rx Complement, courtesy of my clinic: Ponder Natural Health, with any order.
• My free nutrition mini-course about vitamins and supplements. I’ll cover topics that:

• • Help you understand the importance of key vitamins & supplements
  • Teach you to read product labels and decipher what you are really buying
  • Give you easy-to-follow health and and nutrition tips.

• No more having to see your doctor to get these professional grade nutritional vitamins, herbs and supplements.
• No more paying retail prices or running to the vitamin store.
• Get factory fresh products directly from the manufacturer.
• Access to the full range of Physiologics health & nutrition products.
• Stay on top of nutritional news & get the facts with your free magazine subscription.

Wishing you the best of health,

Braxton Ponder, L.Ac.
Board Certified Herbalist
Licensed Acupuncturist

Ponder Natural Health Clinic
Pagosa Springs, Colorado

First, let’s briefly define the roll of digestive enzymes. These are chemical molecules, proteins, actually, that help the process of breaking down the foods we eat into a form that the body can process and absorb. Each enzyme has a different function, and works on a specific class of food, such as fats, sugars, or proteins. If we are deficient in one more typeof digestive enzyme, we will have trouble digesting the related type of food.

Some people have problems with all types of fats, for example, whereas others are only intolerant of lactose, the natural sugar found in milk. Normally, we produce the different enzymes at various points along our digestive tract. But as we age, we all tend to see a decrease in that natural production. Many people are constitutionally deficient in certain enzymes, and may have difficulty with certain types of food, like fats and oils or dairy products, even from childhood.

If you’re suffering from a lack of enzymes in your digestive system, leading to abdominal discomfort or pain, bloating or acid reflux, the good news is that it is simple, safe, and affordable to supplement your current enzyme levels. Let’s take a look at a great digestive enzyme supplement from Physiologics.

Physiologics is a top-tier manufacturer of clinical quality vitamins and supplements, sold only through licensed healthcare practioners. This is no fly-by-night newcomer to the business. They have been making quality products for 18 years, and have some of the best quality control and research behind their products, in the industry.

Zygest is Physiologics’ flagship product for supplementing deficient enzymes. This is a comprehensive blend of vegetarian derived enzymes, covering a broad spectrum of needs. It is suitable for most people with related digestive problems due to low enzyme production.

zygest digestive enzymes label

Take a look at the Zygest ingredients label. I’m going to give you a quick mini-course in label reading. You want to know how much of each enzyme is in the bottle. Stay away from those products that say “proprietary blend”. It means they are hiding the actual quantities of ingredients from you, and typically are loading up their formula with whatever is cheapest, and adding just a bit of whatever is expensive or popular.

In the case of enzymes, milligram (mg) measurements are also meaningless. Enzymes have a specific biochemical activity to carry out, and their usefulness is determined by how well they do that process. The result is measured in different activity units for each type of enzyme.

You’ll notice that Zygest lists each included enzyme and gives you the activity unit measurement for each one. I’ll briefly go through the list in case you are unfamiliar with them. Zygest contains a lot bromelain and papain (papaya enzymes), these are both especially good for proteins, and work well with the proteases you also see listed. The protease quantities are relatively low, because most of the protein processing is going to be taken care of by the bromelain and papain.

You’ll also see amylase which helps process sugars, or simple carbohydrates. Lipase breaks down fats or lipids and oils. Lactase breaks down lactose. So if you’re lactose intolerant and have difficulty with dairy foods, this one is your new best friend.

Cellulase and hemicellulase work on cellulose, the tough, difficult-to-digest cellular structure of many plant foods. Unlike cows, we don’t have 7 stomachs or chew our cuds, so we need these enzymes to break down the tough structural parts of plants.

Overall, it’s a very nicely balanced, comprehensive product that does a great job for a wide range of people with multiple enzyme deficiencies. And there’s more good news. Although rarely discounted, I can now offer you the ability to order Zygest online, directly from the manufacturer, with a 10% discount on your entire order. Plus, you’ll also get free shipping on orders of $65 or more. When you place an order of any size, you’ll automatically get signed up for a free one year subscription to Rx Complement – a great quarterly report on health and nutrition, complements of my clinic, Ponder Natural Health. And that’s not all! You’ll also get my mini-course on nutrition and supplements, absolutely free.

All you’ve got to do is sign up using the box on the right side of this page. It’s completely free with no obligation of any kind. When you sign up, I’ll send you my professional ID so you can go right to the Physiologics website, enter my ID number, and you’ll be ready to go. You’ll have full access to the Physiologics website, and you’ll see your discounted prices as you shop. If you decide to make a purchase, you’ll automatically be signed up for your free Rx Complement magazine subscription.

By the way, Physiologics has an excellent drug, herb and supplement database on the site called Health Notes. You’ll see it on the top menu of their website after you sign in. It’s a really great resource with everything from published research, to herb-drug interaction – to recipes and tips on weight loss. It’s all there, and free for you to use at anytime.

What are Enzymes?

Enzymes are molecules that speed up or enhance a chemical process. They must have exactly the right shape and chemical makeup in order to interact with other molecules. They are very specific in their functions and typically perform only one chemical activity. Enzymes can help to build up biochemical structures, or help to break them down. They can also help convert energy into a form the body can use.

There are two major categories of enzymes in the human body: digestive enzymes, and systemic enzymes. Digestive enzymes work inside the digestive tract, breaking down the food we consume into particles of the right size and chemical forms so that they can be properly absorbed and utilized by our bodies. Systemic enzymes exist, and carry out vital functions in our blood, tissues and inside every cell of our body.

Here is an animation that shows how the shapes of the enzyme and the substrate (the molecules affected by the enzyme) interact:

Digestive Enzymes

Because the nature of enzymes is that they do only one job well, you need to get the right type of enzymes for the specific type of foods you want to work on. For example, lactase is an enzyme which acts on lactose (a milk sugar). In this case, the action of the enzyme is to break the lactose down.

When using digestive enzyme supplements, you should consider the foods you have problems with and then choose a product that contains at least those types of enzymes. Many enzyme supplements include a broad selection of these, to ensure good digestion of the most common food types. Here is a list of the common digestive enzyme types and foods they help to break down.

• amylase – breaks down carbohydrates, starches, and sugars which are the primary component in most fruits, vegetables, and many snack foods
• diastase – also helps to digest vegetable starch
• glucoamylase – breaks down starch to glucose

• lactase – breaks down the sugary component of milk – lactose • sucrase – digests complex sugars and starches
• maltase – digests disaccharides to monosaccharides (malt sugars)
• invertase – breaks down common white table sugar (sucrose)

• alpha-glactosidase – helps with digestion of beans and legumes, including soy products, seeds, roots, and tubers

• protease – breaks down proteins found not only in meats, but in nuts, eggs, and cheese
• pepsin – breaks down proteins into peptides
• peptidase – breaks down small peptide proteins to amino acids

• bromelain – from pineapple stems and juice. It breaks down a broad spectrum of proteins, has anti-inflammatory properties, and is effective over very wide pH range
• papain – from raw papaya. Works on a broad range of substrates and in a wide pH range. Good for breaking down both large and small proteins

• trypsin – this is an animal-derived product, made from their pancreases. It also breaks down proteins
• alpha – chymotrypsin – another animal-derived enzyme, for the breakdown of proteins

• lipase – breaks down fats from most sources: dairy products, nuts, oils, and meat

• cellulase – breaks down cellulose, which is a tough-to-digest plant fiber

Virtually all enzymes are proteins, made up of amino acids (as are all other proteins). As in many areas in science, the naming of enzymes follows some general guidelines and rules, which can help you understand their origin and purpose.

Early on in their study, enzymes were given names ending in the letters -in. Some examples are trypsin, rennin (familiar for its use in making cheese ), pepsin and chymotrypsin. Most of the enzymes with the -in ending are pancreatic enzymes, since those were the one that were identified first.

Later, the practice shifted to naming newly discovered enzymes with an ending of -ase. This convention is applied to both metabolic (systemic) as well as digestive enzymes. This is perhaps a more helpful construct, because the part of the name preceding the -ase indicates the type of substance on which the enzyme acts.

For example, the chemical names for different types of sugars usually end in -ose (for example: lactose, sucrose and fructose). So, you can infer that sucrase is an enzyme which acts on sucrose. Similarly, you could expect that the enzyme lactase acts upon the milk sugar lactose. (In both of these cases, the enzyme action is to break down the substrate upon which it acts.)

Here’s a little more complex example: the metabolic enzyme pyruvate dehydrogenase is found to act upon pyruvate. It enzymatic action is to remove a hydrogen molecule – that is to dehydrogenize the pyruvate.

Of course, there are many types of enzymes, besides the digestive types, and not all action involved a simple breakdown of the substrate involved. Enzymes can transfer molecules or combine and build up molecules.

There is some concern and controversy about using certain types of digestive enzymes with gastritis. The issue is specifically about taking strong enzymes that help digest proteins (proteases), and it may be best for gastritis patients to look for enzyme formulas that have little or no proteases in them.

On the other hand, there are clinical studies indicating that taking proteases can have a beneficial effect on the healing of ulcers and tissues damaged by gastritis. So the issue is not completely clear.

One reason that people take protease enzymes, besides for improved digestion of proteins, is that that appear to reduce inflammation and stimulate healing. That’s generally considered a good thing. But they also tend to clean up the debris from inflammation and infection, leaving behind exposed, sensitive tissue.

If you have a bad scrape or wound that gets infected, but is scabbing over and generally nasty inside, the best treatment may involve a cleaning out of the wound. This is not going to feel good. The underlying tissue is irritated and inflamed. The nerves are “raw” and sensitive. The cleaning up process may even cause some bleeding, and any topical medication can sting.

Taking proteases with gastritis may be beneficial in the long run when carefully done, but can result in stabbing pain, stomach ache, irritation, and even a little bleeding. It is probably best to start with a low/no protease formula at first to improve the overall digestive process without the irritation from a strong protease formula. You can then add in a proteases separately (so you can control the dosage).

If you have discomfort, reduce the dose or stop them for a few days, then start again slowly. Pain is a warning sign! It’s not always inappropriate to go through an uncomfortable process as you heal, I’d strongly recommend “toughing it out” if you experience pain or bleeding, unless you are under the close supervision of your doctor and are proceeding with his informed approval. Healing often takes time, especially with chronic conditions. It may take patience and perseverance to finally achieve your desired results.

Many people suffering from acid reflux or GERD find that digestive enzymes can be of great benefit for their conditions. Although the enzymes provide no known direct mechanism to affect dysfunction of the valve between the stomach and esophagus, many do report clear reduction of symptoms. Many people combine the enzymes with probiotics. It may be that improving the overall function of the food breakdown and digestive processes not only normalizes acid levels, but in some way affect the valve function as well.

Some people report excellent improvements in as little as a couple of days. Others find that it can take a month to see clear changes and 2-4 months for satisfactory resolution of the symptoms. I’ve seen reports of good results with children as well as adults.

Being consistent, and persistent can pay off with good benefits. It might be best to start with lower levels of enzymes and work up to stronger formulas/doses over the weeks.

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