1. Digestive Enzymes By Lacey Elko HW499 Unit 4
Many of us suffer from digestive issues from time to time or even for long periods of time; acid reflux, constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating…the list could go on. But has anyone ever been told that supplemental digestive enzymes could be greatly beneficial in alleviating several of your digestive issues? Chances are the answer is “NO”.

2. Intro Brief overview of the digestive process.
What digestive enzymes are and why are they important?
What causes digestive enzymes to stop working or become deficient?
How do we correct a digestive enzyme deficiency?
What Are the Best Digestive Enzyme Supplements?
Conclusion
Today, we will learn a little about the who, what, and why behind digestive enzymes and more importantly how they can help to alleviate several of our everyday digestive issues and help us reach our optimal health. When you eat, your body has to break down the food into micro and macro nutrients that can then be absorbed and used by the body. Digestive enzymes are small proteins that act on specific molecules within foods to break them down. Each type of enzyme is responsible for breaking down specific molecules. If you are deficient in one of these enzymes it causes the body to work that much harder to compensate which in turn causes several issues within the digestive tract.

3. Enzymes and the digestive process.
Enzymes produced by the pancreas:
Amylases: break down starches (carbs).
Lipases: break down fats.
Proteases & Peptidases: break down protein.
Additionally, there are many more enzymes located near the lining of the small intestine that work to break down disaccharides into simple sugars, which is then absorbed from the intestines into the bloodstream.
In order to understand enzymes, we must first review the digestive process. The digestion process begins in your mouth, where saliva starts breaking down your food. From there your food travels to your stomach, where stomach acid, primarily hydrochloric acid (HCL), begins breaking down proteins. Finally, the majority of digestive enzymes are made by the pancreas. When you eat, the pancreas receives a hormonal signal to release pancreatic juice into the small intestine. Pancreatic juice contains several digestive enzymes, as well as bicarbonate to neutralize the acid from your stomach. The enzymes work in the small intestine to break down the food so it can be absorbed (Myers, 2016).

4. Benefits of Digestive Enzymes
Help heal leaky gut by taking stress off the GI tract.
Assists the body in breaking down difficult-to-digest protein and sugars like gluten, casein and lactose.
Greatly improve symptoms of acid reflux and IBS.
Enhance nutrition absorption and prevent nutritional deficiency.
Counteract enzyme inhibitors naturally in foods like peanuts, wheat germ, egg whites, nuts, seeds, beans and potatoes.
Without them, we couldn’t process food! With that said, here are a few other reasons why digestive enzymes are important to our over all health (Axe, 2017). We all have heard the saying “ you are what you eat”. However, it should be you are what you digest and absorb. If your food is not properly digested and absorbed in your small intestines, this can lead to malnourishment, because not enough nutrients are being absorbed by your body. In addition, the undigested food travels down through the digestive tract and provides food for the “bad” bacteria, causing gas and bloating, and leading to dysbiosis as the bad bacteria thrive and outnumber the good bacteria. The amount and type of undigested food that reaches the large intestine may have an important impact on the balance of good and bad bacteria in the colon (Myers, 2016)

5. What Causes Digestive Enzymes to Become Deficient and/or stop working?
Conventional Medicine
Functional Medicine
Acute or chronic Pancreatitis
Cystic Fibrosis
Cancer of the Pancreas
Gallbladder removal
Diseases of the small intestine (Crohn’s or Celiac Disease)
Leaky gut
Inflammation from food sensitivities and toxins
Chronic stress
Genetics and aging
Low stomach acid
There are several reason why a person can become enzyme deficient. However, they why is different between conventional medicine and functional medicine. Conventional medicine refers to modern western medicine. A system in which medical doctors and other healthcare professionals (such as nurses, pharmacists, and therapists) treat symptoms and diseases using drugs, radiation, or surgery. Functional medicine refers to the medical practice or treatments that focus on optimal functioning of the body and its organs, usually involving systems of holistic or alternative medicine. In functional medicine underlying issues are the focus rather than the symptoms of another issue altogether (Myers, 2016). As you can see the issues on the right are all underlying issues that could/can play a role in developing many of the issues on the left.

6. How to correct a digestive enzyme deficiency?
4R approach to healing an unhealthy gut
Remove: Remove the bad. The goal is to get rid of things that negatively affect the environment of the GI tract such as inflammatory foods, infections, and gastric irritants like alcohol, caffeine or drugs. Inflammatory foods such as gluten, dairy, corn, soy, eggs and sugar can lead to food sensitivities.
Replace: Replace the good. Add back in the essential ingredients for proper digestion and absorption that may have been depleted by diet, drugs (such as antacid medications) diseases or aging. This includes digestive enzymes, hydrochloric acid and bile acids that are required for proper digestion.
Reinoculate: Restoring beneficial bacteria to reestablish a healthy balance of good bacteria is critical.
Repair: Providing the nutrients necessary to help the gut repair itself is essential through whole natural foods.
In functional medicine, there is a 4R approach (remove, replace, reinoculate, and repair) is used to heal an unwell gut. And replenishing your digestive enzymes through a digestive enzyme supplement is a key part of step number two, restore the good. Restoring digestive enzymes not only ensures that you properly break down and absorb the nutrients from your food, a recent study showed that digestive enzymes may improve not only gastrointestinal symptoms, but also behavioral symptoms in children with autism (Myers, 2016)

7. Who should take digestive enzymes?
People with---
Digestive Diseases
Age-Related Enzyme Insufficiency
Hypochlorhydria
Liver Disease
Other illnesses, which may at first diagnosis appear unrelated to enzymatic deficiency, also deserve attention:
Crohn’s disease may result in enzyme deficiency.
Iron deficiency or vitamin B12 deficiency may suggest that the digestive process is failing to cleave these nutrients from food.
Vitamin D deficiency may indicate another malabsorption issue, just like night blindness can result from a vitamin A deficiency.
Typically, these are the main people who should most definitely be taking supplemental digestive enzymes. However, it is not limited to just this short list that would benefit from supplemental digestive enzyme therapy. It all depends if you like to take a proactive or reactive approach to your health. People of all walks of life could benefit.

8. Who should take digestive enzymes? (Cont)
Symptomatic indicators of enzymatic insufficiency:
Stool changes — If the stool is pale and floats in the toilet bowl, because fat floats, this is indicative of pancreatic enzymes not functioning correctly. Another indication can be greasy or fatty deposits left in the toilet water after you poop.
Gastrointestinal complaints — Another indicator, together with stomach distention, around an hour after eating is diarrhea. Flatulence and indigestion are also indicative that the patient may have an enzyme insufficiency.
Fluoridated water — Further, according to Dr. Axe of Food Is Medicine, recent research suggests that fluoride in water may be responsible for the decreased activity of both pancreatic lipase and protease.
Although some of these symptoms could be attributed to other conditions, several relate primarily to the failure of pancreatic enzymes to be released (Axe, 2017)

9. What Are the Best Digestive Enzyme Supplements?
Digestive enzyme products are derived from three sources:
Fruit-sourced — usually pineapple– or papaya-based.
Animal-sourced — including pancreatin sourced from ox or hog.
Plant-sourced — from probiotics, yeast and fungi.
Full Spectrum Digestive Enzymes:
Be sure to look for a full-spectrum enzyme blend for general digestive improvement. Here are some tips:
If you have gallbladder issues and are looking for a gallbladder diet natural treatment, purchase one with more lipase and bile salts.
Where you see betaine HCL listed as a product ingredient, make sure pepsin is also included.
Others contain lactase, which until recently was only available as an individual product. This enzyme is designed to assist those with specific issues relating to sugar absorption from dairy products.
Choose a blend with herbs, such as peppermint and ginger, that support digestion.
Also, because some people need more pancreatic enzymes than others, you need to bear in mind the level of each dependent on your needs. Most products contain some level of pancreatin, which is a combination of all three pancreatic enzymes.
Products in the digestive enzyme range can present a dizzying array of ingredients. Some contain only plant-based enzymes, which are aimed at vegetarians and vegans. These usually at least contain the health benefits of bromelain, an enzyme derived from the pineapple, and many more include papain enzyme from the papaya.
In addition, some have complementary herbs and spices. Amla (gooseberry) extract — which isn’t an enzyme but a herbal remedy from Ayurveda medicine taken for general well-being — is often included. It’s believed to work in synergy with the other compounds.
Products designed specifically for vegans are available. In most cases, the pancreatin source in these products are, as with lipase, derived from Aspergillus niger. This is a fungus-based, fermented product rather than ox or hog bile, which is the usual extract (Axe, 2017).

10. Conclusion
Despite if you have chronic digestive issues or not. All people could benefit from taking digestive enzyme supplements. However, it is always important to talk with your physician before adding any new supplements to your daily regimen.
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11. References
Axe, J. (2017). Absorb More Nutrients with Digestive Enzymes. Retrieved from
Myers, A. (2016). Should You Be Taking Digestive Enzymes? Retrieved from
Myers, A. (2013). Love Your Gut, Heal Your Gut, Heal Yourself. Retrieved from gut-heal-yourself/