Gut Health

What Are Digestive Enzymes?

Find out how digestive enzymes maintain balance in the stomach and intestine here.

In this article:

How Do Enzymes Help with the Digestive Process?
Why Do We Need Digestive Enzymes?
How Do You Know If Your Body Isn’t Making Enough Digestive Enzymes?
What Are Digestive Enzymes?
What Is Digestive Plaque?
Where Do You Find Digestive Enzymes?

Digestive Enzymes and Gut Health

How Do Enzymes Help with the Digestive Process?

As the scientist who named the mycobiome, I am dedicated to helping people achieve total gut balance. From my scientific research, I know digestive enzymes are a crucial part of achieving complete gut balance.

Mycobiome Definition: The collection of fungi inhabiting the same environment within the human body. Although you may not think twice about opening hummus and snacking throughout the afternoon, our bodies are put to work every time we eat. As most of us eat more than three times a day, our bodies are hard at work digesting food throughout the majority of the day. Help take some pressure off your body and reboot your digestive system with digestive enzymes.

Why Do We Need Digestive Enzymes?

Our bodies are capable of making their own digestive enzymes—from amylase in our saliva to protease in the stomach, and lipase in the small intestine. Working together, this list of digestive enzymes do the following:

Amylase breaks down carbohydrates.
Protease breaks down protein.
Lipase breaks down fats.

However, if we don’t have enough digestive enzymes, we can’t absorb all of the nutrients in the food we eat. In order to reap maximum benefits from a meal, you need digestive enzymes to help the body absorb everything into the gut lining.

How Do You Know If Your Body Isn’t Making Enough Digestive Enzymes?

Any discomfort in the gut or microbiome issues you experience are signs you may not be creating enough of your own digestive enzymes. Specific signs that your body doesn’t create enough of its own digestive enzymes is having loose stool or food that isn’t completely digested in the stool. Other signals can include gas, bloating, a feeling of fullness immediately after you begin eating, or a feeling of heaviness in the stomach. If you’re experiencing a lot of stress, have intestinal damage, pancreatic issues, food allergies, nutrient deficiencies, or if you’re aging, your body may also be telling you that it is not creating enough digestive enzymes.

What Are Digestive Enzymes?

Digestive enzymes are proteins that break down food to make it easier to absorb into the body and the gut. Digestive enzymes help the body:

Break down food as it goes through the digestive tract
Absorb maximum nutrients
Improve the overall health of the microbiome

When the body has enough digestive enzymes to break down food and receive nutrients, you’ll feel a natural energy boost.

What Is Digestive Plaque?

We also need digestive enzymes to help us break down digestive plaque.

Digestive Plaque Definition: A protective film that covers and holds bad bacteria and fungi in the gut. I was the first to discover how bacteria and fungi work in tandem to form digestive plaque through scientific research. If our bodies can’t break through the digestive plaque, harmful bacteria and fungi will remain in the system. If bad germs remain hidden behind plaque in the small and large intestines, they can become more powerful and antibiotic-resistant, making them even harder to control. The solution is not as simple as taking a probiotic to keep the gut healthy. If probiotics are unable to break through plaque, then they can’t serve their full potential and complete their duty. In order to expose the bad bacteria, we have to break down digestive plaque with enzymes. Then, probiotics are able to do their job of controlling the bad bacteria.

Where Do You Find Digestive Enzymes?

I have developed a probiotic specifically designed to target digestive plaque. I identified an enzyme that has shown to inhibit the growth of plaque, then I selected probiotic strains that were proven to prevent bad bacteria and fungi from forming together to create plaque. BIOHM Probiotic Supplement breaks down digestive plaque with amylase while introducing good bacteria AND fungi to achieve total gut balance. Digestive enzymes can also be found in the BIOHM Prebiotic Supplement, which includes enzymes peptidase and lipase. The prebiotic also includes dietary fiber to feed the good bacteria in your gut. Digestive enzymes can also be found in BIOHM Super Greens. BIOHM Super Greens contains a blend of amylase, bromelain, cellulose, lipase, papain, and protease, supporting a healthy microbiome. Digestive enzymes play an important role in keeping our bodies healthy and balanced. BIOHM supplements may be of great help in boosting their functions.

How are you taking care of your digestive health? Let’s talk in the comments section below. Up Next:

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on May 18, 2018, and has been updated for quality and relevancy.