Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | Re: Digestive Enzymes stories

A digestive enzyme is a protein helps breakdown food. For example the enzyme papian found in papaya breaks down meat tissue. The digestive enzyme lactase breaks down the sugar lactose found in milk.

Digestive enzyme supplements usually contain a number of enzymes. Unfortunately many enzymes cannot survive in the stomach acid to pass through to the small intestine so they can do their work. Also frequently they contain enzymes that are not useful for humans.

Generally speaking the body is capable of producing an adequate amount of all the enzymes it needs to digest the food we eat. Unless of course a person has a medical condition known produce an enzyme deficiency.

Supplement brands that contain a lot of different enzymes may be no more effective than a brand that contains just a few enzymes.

Some people claim they are useful while others find no benefit or they make IBS symptoms worse. You have to experiment to see what works for you.

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STABLE: ♂, IBS-D 50+ years - Science of IBS

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