Role of Digestive enzymes:

Why should we take digestive enzymes?

By Dr. Gordon Chang, Ph.D.

 

Many chronic problems such as food allergies could be related back to poor digestion.  With food allergies small quantities of partially digested foods (e.g. the proteins or carbohydrates) may be absorbed by a process called pinocytosis (where the food particle is absorbed whole without full digestion) and thus act as a stimulus for an allergic response to a particular food.  Digestive enzymes taken with meals will supplement the body’s digestive enzymes to ensure a more complete breakdown of the foods.  This means that partially digested foods will no longer be present to initiate an immune response.  Certain chronic diseases may be related to the quantity of waste products produced by the naturally occurring microflora.  If the body is incapable of fully digesting a meal, much of the undigested food will pass into the large intestine from which it will be excreted.  However in the colon this extra undigested food can act as a nutrient source for the native microflora thereby encouraging the growth of the bacteria (i.e. increase their number).  Normally the body can handle a certain amount of waste products produced by the bacteria.  However, if the number of bacteria increases and the individual is undergoing a particularly stressful time, the ability of the body to handle the waste is severely compromised.  The net result is the onset of an illness.  These illness symptoms can then lead to an increased sensitivity to the waste produced by the microflora leading to a downward spiral.  Digestive enzymes will ensure full digestion of the meal and minimize the amount of partially digested food going to the large intestine for the bacteria.

           

All commercial enzyme sources are obtained from animal (usually bovine or porcine), plant, bacteria and fungi. There are many different digestive enzyme products on the market.  Some of these enzymes (the proteases e.g. papain and bromelain) are only able of digesting protein.  They do not digest fat, carbohydrates or sugars and are thus limited to digesting the protein component of your meal. 

 

A total digestive enzyme supplement should contain a minimum of 3 enzyme classes: Proteases to digest protein, Amylases to digest carbohydrates and Lipases to digest fats.  However in the western diet we usually have nutrients from the following sources: (1) Proteins from plant sources (e.g. beans), milk, eggs and meat. (2) Carbohydrates from plant sources (rice, potatoes, breads). (3) Simple sugars such as sucrose, fructose and lactose.  The most plentiful sugar in the western diet is usually sucrose. (4) Fats from meat, nuts and other vegetable sources. (5) Phytonutrients (vitamins, bioflavanoids, minerals etc.) from fruits and vegetables.  Therefore a complete digestive enzyme supplement should contain the following classes of enzymes: Proteases, Amylases, Lipases, Sucrase, Lactase, Cellulase (to partially digest plant material to increase the bioavailability of phytonutrients).

 

Many enzymes sold today come from non-animal sources as a result many of these enzymes do not have a broad range of activity.  For example some protease enzymes may only digest meat protein but will have a more difficult time digesting plant proteins and vice versa.  It is thus important that when you choose a digestive enzyme product it should contain enzymes that have been tested for its ability to digest proteins from various sources.  The same concern should be raised for amylases (enzymes that digest carbohydrates).

 

If the digestive enzymes in your enzyme supplement are derived from non-animal sources it is also important that their activity is measured at normal body temperature (37^oC).  As previously stated, enzymes are extracted from many different sources (plants, fungus, bacteria and animal) and there is no way of manipulating these enzymes so that they will provide their maximum activity at 37^o C.  While animal-sourced enzymes are fully functional at 37^o C, enzymes from non-animal sources may not be.

 

Since the vast majority of digestion occurs in the small intestine it is very important that your digestive enzymes survive passage through the acid environment of the stomach.  Given that all enzymes are proteins there is a good chance that they can be destroyed in the stomach.  However, some digestive enzymes are more resistant to the stomach acids than others.  The enzymes that are more resistant to stomach acids can only be determined by careful experimentation.  It is therefore vitally important that the enzyme manufacturer checks whether their enzyme product maintains its functionality after passing through the stomach otherwise it will be totally useless.

 

In conclusion, when choosing a digestive enzyme supplement choose one which (1) has good activity at body temperature (37^o C); (2) Survive passage through the stomach (that is the acid environment); and (3) Contains a broad spectrum of activity to digest proteins from various sources; and (4) Contains a broad range of enzyme types (protease, amylase, lipase, sucrase, cellulase, and lactase) to digest the food types found in a typical meal.