The Science of Digestive Health (Digesting the Facts: Probiotics, Prebiotics and Enzymes for Improved Digestion)

“As consumers are being forced to better understand the role of their digestive system, they are being asked to address areas of poor digestion and inadequate intestinal health,” said Lisa Clark, director of sales, business development, Deerland Enzymes. “Probiotics are becoming more mainstream in foods, which opens up additional exploration into supplemental enzymes, too.”

The human body produces more than 20 digestive enzymes in various organs and glands. The stomach glands produce gastric enzymes, including peptidase (for proteins), gelatinase (for gelatin/collagen from meats) and gastric lipase (for tributyrin, a butter fat). Meanwhile, the pancreas is responsible for secreting numerous proteases and amylases, including trypsin (a peptidase), pancreatic amylase (for starch and glycogen) and several elastases (for protein elastin). Then, the epithelium in the small intestines creates many peptidases and the more well-known amalyases that break disaccarides into monsaccarides—sucrase for sucrose and glucose, lactase for lactose, and maltase for maltose.

Vegetables and fruits also offers vital enzymes needed to digest foods. For instance, pectinase from the cell walls of plants helps degrade pectin. Enzymes from bacteria are also beneficial for digesting food—phytase helps denature phytic acid found in grains and seeds; cellulose breaks down the indigestible fibers found in plant cell walls.

“Enzymes are integral to the digestive process,” said Nena Dockery, technical resources manger, National Enzyme Co. “If the necessary enzymes for digestion are not present, the whole body experiences the results ranging from simple discomfort to excruciating pain, constipation, diarrhea, poor nutrient utilization, disruptions in the immune system functioning and a lack of energy.”

Pancreatic enzyme supplementation has been used for conditions such as pancreatic insufficiency and cystic fibrosis, in which the availability of pancreatic enzymes is decreased dramatically or absent altogether. Supplementing with such enzymes can help break down food when the body’s own digestive mechanism cannot. Additionally, enzymes can help with one of the most common digestive ailments, lactose intolerance. The digestive enzyme lactase has been shown to eliminate the symptoms of lactose intolerance by replacing the missing enzyme.⁵⁰ Dockery noted supplementing with the intestinal digestive enzyme alpha-galactosidase can provide a great benefit in alleviating symptoms commonly experienced after eating foods such as legumes and grains containing raffinose, stachyose or verbascose sugars.

Enzymes continue to be a burgeoning area for research, especially with greater awareness that enzyme deficiencies may be a factor in digestive ailments;⁵¹ however, most of the current research involves the use of enteric-coated pancreatic enzyme supplements.⁵² This has piqued interest in research examining non-animal sources, such as microbial and plant enzymes for digestive support.

“The incidence of digestive disorders ranging from recurrent heartburn to Crohn’s disease continues to grow dramatically, indicating the need for enzyme supplements to help ameliorate some of the symptoms of these disorders will continue to be a growing need within the dietary supplement industry,” Dockery said. “The use of digestive enzymes to help manage specific digestive disorders, such as non-celiac gluten sensitivity is currently being actively researched. As more information is uncovered about the causes of various digestive disorders, the greater likelihood there will be enzyme deficiencies in many of these disorders.”

Clark added word-of-mouth campaigns are helping to shed light on the category and the benefits enzymes have on digestive health. “Consumers are starting to hear more on the use of enzymes in drug development for various diseases,” she said. “Even though these enzymes do not relate to nutritional supplemental use of enzymes, just hearing the word in mainstream media gives more validity to the category. Beyond digestion, enzymes are also being taken, with success, away from meals to help with detoxification, circulatory issues, inflammatory conditions, and other systemic health problems potentially caused by circulating undigested proteins.”

As individuals attempt to ease their digestive woes naturally, supplements such as probiotics, prebiotics and enzymes are the latest candidates to be studied and researched for their ability to establish and maintain a healthy digestive system. But the role of natural nutrients and digestive health doesn’t just end here. In fact, one can say the category is just blossoming, and many more discoveries are waiting on the horizon.

For a list of references, visit NaturalProductsINSIDER.com or e-mail INSIDERreferences@vpico.com.

Editor's note: References start on the next page.