When it comes to happy tummy it’s all about good digestion and how to support and strengthen your gut. Let us learn some tips to achieve good digestion.

 Body cannot efficiently digest food particles in absence of digestive enzymes. They are found right from the saliva in your mouth to the highly concentrated acid in your stomach. All have a common goal, i.e, breakdown food for better nutritional absorption by the body and it starts right from the time food enters the mouth.

 Digestive enzymes (DE) are produced by the body and are responsible for supporting better digestion by breaking down food. They speed up chemical reactions by breaking down complex nutrients into substances that can be easily absorbed by the body.

 Most people release sufficient amounts of DE however, the following are the reasons one may require them additionally with the help of supplements.

• Diets predominantly rich in any one macronutrient (proteins, carbs, or fats)
• Special diets like keto
• Meals rich in lentils, pulses, or fiber (DE may help reduce gas)
• Protein supplements
• Disturbed gut health (frequent symptoms of indigestion, flatulence, and bloating)
• Certain health conditions like IBS (showing improvement with DE supplements)
• Or unchecked digestive enzyme insufficiency which may lead to GI discomfort, and malnutrition due to poor absorption of nutrients.

These challenges can be managed by boosting dietary sources of digestive enzymes followed by supplements if required.

• Proteases are protein-digesting enzymes found in papaya, pineapple, kiwi, ginger.
• Lipase which breaks down fat can be found in avocados
• Amylase helps digest carbs and can be found in mango, banana

 These foods rich in DE help in improving the digestion and absorption of nutrients. They also contain dietary fiber which further improves gut health.

 While you take the help of supplements for digestive enzymes, it should be consumed with food. Ideally, 10 minutes before the meal. This is because every time you see food, your mouth starts watering, triggering your pancreas to start producing these enzymes. Thus, when the supplements are taken at the right time, the supplements act in the stomach with the food at the right time and reduce troubling GI symptoms.

Did you see? The trending protein supplements in the market have digestive enzymes added. This is to support better digestion and absorption of protein, while also tackling those protein burps!

 It is necessary to have the cause determined by a healthcare professional who will determine the amount and duration of supplements because unnecessary consumption of DE has side effects such as nausea, GI tract discomfort, diarrhoea, allergies, etc.

Reference :

1. Lindkvist, B. (2013). Diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic exocrine insufficiency. World Journal of Gastroenterology: WJG, 19(42), 7258.
2. Uluko, H., Zhang, S., Liu, L., Tsakama, M., Lu, J., & Lv, J. (2015). Effects of thermal, microwave, and ultrasound pretreatments on antioxidative capacity of enzymatic milk protein concentrate hydrolysates. Journal of Functional Foods, 18, 1138-1146.