Digestive Enzymes For Greater Gut Health

Do you know what digestive enzymes can do for your gut health? Learn how digestive enzymes along with prebiotics and probiotics are the keys to optimal gut health!

For many people, how the digestive system functions is a bit of a mystery. Eat, eliminate, repeat is how most people think of this critical body system! To put it simply, the digestive system has five main functions: ¹

breaks down food into useable nutrients
absorbs nutrients
keeps out invaders and identifies friend from foe
regulates the immune system
eliminates waste

When you eat food, your teeth physically break what you are eating down, increasing the surface area for the rest of your digestive system to act on. Then, enzymes in your digestive system break down complex molecules into smaller particles for nutrient absorption. The stomach and intestines then go to work on digestion, and the nutrients are broken down into their final form via enzymes embedded at the site of absorption in the small intestinal wall.²

When things don’t go so well with our digestion, we tend to think of upset stomachs and uncomfortable stays on the royal porcelain throne. Eating junk, processed and nutritionally-poor foods, stress, and aging all make it more challenging for our digestive system to work properly. Bloating, gastrointestinal discomfort and indigestion often result.³ This can be caused from a lack of stomach acid, deficient digestive enzymes, insufficient bile, or bacteria in the GI tract (also known as gut flora or microbiome) that is out of balance.¹ A plant-based diet of whole foods, adequate hydration, proper sleep and stress reduction can all help to support optimal digestion. When you need extra assistance, consider nutritional supplements such as prebiotics, probiotics and digestive enzymes.