What Exactly Are The Health Benefits Of Digestive Enzymes? How Do Digestive Enzymes Help The Body?
Our bodies naturally produce digestive enzymes to break down polymeric macromolecules into their smaller constituent parts and to then facilitate the body’s absorption of those smaller components.
Sometimes it can be the case that our bodies become unable to produce certain types of digestive enzymes, or that deficiencies in them are causing us to experience certain medical conditions.
Therefore, taking digestive enzyme supplements as a way of increasing the levels of digestive enzymes in our system can reap a whole host of different health benefits. Most digestive enzymes are released by our pancreas and aim to break down the fats, sugars (carbohydrates), and proteins that are ingested in our food.
There are three main types of digestive enzyme classifications which are recognised, each responsible for breaking down different kinds of macronutrients within our bodies.
Amylases. These digestive enzymes are primarily responsible for breaking down the complex carbohydrates we consume into the more simple sugars such as glucose.
Proteases. Digestive enzymes which focus on the breaking up of different proteins in the body for us to be able to process them in the form of amino acids.
Lipases. Named from the Ancient Greek word Λίπος (Lípos) meaning fat, Lipases are responsible for processing exactly that in our bodies. They break these fatty acids down into things like glycerol in order for our body to correctly process them.
When we as humans become ill, or have a serious long-term/lasting medical condition certain body functions which enable the creation of these enzymes can be impaired. This results in deficiencies of certain digestive enzymes, and we need to turn to supplements in order to have their bodies process certain foods correctly.
A common example perhaps, may be for people who have a gluten intolerance. Supplementing their bodies with additional DPP-IV enzymes for breaking down gluten can allow these people to begin to rebuild their body’s tolerance for gluten and open up the possibility of them consuming food and drink which includes gluten within it.
As well as this, having well regulated enzyme levels within our bodies can then positively impact the rest of our bodily functions. Improving things such as immune functions, cardiovascular health, hormone regulation, bones and joints and even our respiratory system.
So in this extended and detailed article we’re going to address the ten most important health benefits that come with taking different digestive enzyme supplements.
What Are The Health Benefits Of Enzyme Supplements?
As aforementioned in the introduction to this article above, there are many different benefits to taking digestive enzyme supplements. Below we have briefly summarised each of the top ten we consider most beneficial to health when it comes to enzyme supplements.
1. The Digestive Support For Those Who Struggle With Certain Macronutrients
Often there are certain medical conditions and/or intolerances to certain macronutrients which prevent people from being able to enjoy their favourite foods without incurring side effects. Ranging from lactose intolerance to gluten intolerance – there are multiple ways that regulating your body with digestive enzymes which support the breaking down of these complex macronutrients can enable you to begin eating different foods once again.
Digestive enzymes such as Aminolase can help to boost the absorption of proteins into amino acids. Whilst others, such as Devigest will aid with the breakdown of dairy and gluten within the body.
2. Digestive Enzymes Can Help Improve Your Body’s Immune System
Certain enzymes within the body are specifically designed to prevent the build of bacteria and to strengthen the immune system to prevent illness. When we become enzyme deficient, this leaves us vulnerable to more common ailments and illnesses, therefore by supplementing the correct enzymes we can actually boost our immune system naturally!
All round immuno based enzyme supplements such as Neprinol help offer the best protection for our immune system as a whole. Other enzyme supplements such as Syntol can also be used in order to protect specifically against types of bacteria building up in our bodies.
3. Enzyme Supplements Keep Our Heart Healthy
One of the macronutrients which needs to be broken down by enzymes is calcium. When we have an excess of calcium in our body, it can lead to the calcification of blood vessels making it harder for our cardiovascular system to function correctly. This coupled with having too many fatty acids in our body can really cause strain on our body’s most vital organ.
Enzymes like KD Ultra are specifically designed with the goal of breaking down calcium build ups on blood vessels. Whilst others like Nattovéna help reduce impurities in our blood streams and take pressure off of our hearts.
4. Enzymes Help With Hormone Regulation & Support
Not all enzymes serve the sole function of breaking down the macronutrients found within food. Some help regulate other bodily functions, and with women in particular there can be many hormonal changes such as; during the menopause or following pregnancy where hormone instability can cause problems in the body. With this, there are then enzymes which can help regulate hormonal changes and keep the body feeling as normal as possible.
Femesse, for example, is an enzyme that helps alleviate symptoms of the menopause and has been found to have anti-aging side effects. On the flip side, some women have an abundance of oestrogen which can cause hormonal imbalances, enzymes such as Proféria help to mitigate against this.
5. Enzyme Supplements Improve Health In Your Bones & Joints
A more regulated body from immune to cardiovascular and respiratory systems allows for the body to heal more effectively and for pains and aches to be elicited more naturally. The use of enzyme supplements as such can really benefit your bones and joints and relieve them of certain causes of pain and stiffness.
For example, many doctors recommend supplementing the body with enzymes like Serrétia after back surgery, as they have been found to help boost expected post-op recovery times.
6. Enzymes Can Improve The Function Of Your Respiratory System
This ties kind of into the benefits which enzyme supplements have on our immune systems. When the body becomes ill (especially with something like a cold) from having a weaker immune system, our respiratory system will often begin producing more mucus in order to trap harmful bacteria. This then causes shortness of breath or coughing and can be incredibly debilitating for us.
As such, immuno positive enzyme supplements such as Neprinol and Serrétia have the added benefit of helping regulate mucus levels in the body and help the respiratory system.
7. Taking Enzyme Supplements Can Give You More Energy
When we regulate and/or supplement our bodies with additional digestive enzymes, we are able to process the food and drink we ingest much more effectively. As this food is being processed properly, we get the entire benefit of these different macronutrients.
As such, digestive enzyme supplements unlock our potential to have seriously increased energy levels in comparison with before we were taking them.
8. Enzyme Supplements Offer Psychological Benefits
When we’re taking care of our body, it will always naturally have a positive impact on our mental health too! However, when it comes to certain conditions such as Anxiety, we can actually see bio-psychological benefits in the infestation of digestive enzyme supplements.
Amino acids power the neurotransmitters in our central nervous systems, and if we are properly processing amino acids with a regular level of Proteases then these neurotransmitters are less likely to be erratic and cause harm to us psychologically.
9. Enzyme Supplements Can Help With Weight Loss OR Maintaining Weight
When we correctly process foods in our body, we are much more able to maintain a healthy weight or even lose weight if we so desire. Sometimes when our bodies are incapable of properly processing fatty acids – we can struggle to move weight without entering a calorie deficit.
Enzyme supplements help support people who need some extra help with properly processing the foods that they are eating and to manage their weight much more effectively.
10. Digestive Enzymes Help Us Conserve Levels Of Vitamin B
Our bodies have many different biochemical procedures. One of these is Methylation which is part of the cell division and cell creation process in our body. When our bodies do this they use up a lot of vitamin B to do so.
Therefore, by regularly taking digestive enzyme supplements we can make sure that we maximise the level of vitamin b that is taken from our food and drink, thus keeping levels of vitamin B as high as possible and not disrupting the process of methylation.
