The Ultimate Guide to Digestive Enzymes
Digestive enzymes help you feel your best after you eat, no matter what you choose to put on your plate. Enzymes help your body break down the carbs, fat, protein and fiber you eat, so you can convert food into fuel (and the energy you need to get through your day). Ours are formulated for full-body results, to help speed up digestion, boost energy – and reduce occasional gas, bloating and indigestion.*
What are Digestive Enzymes?
Enzymes are proteins that speed up reactions. They occur naturally in your body, acting like scissors to help cut food into smaller pieces as it moves through the digestive tract. Enzymes help you more easily and fully absorb nutrients.
Without enough, breaking down certain foods can be more of a challenge for your body. When undigested food hangs around too long, it can ferment and lead to those occasional discomforts like gas, bloating, indigestion and irregularity. By supplementing with digestive enzymes, the stomach and intestines get help with digestion.* This improves nutrient absorption while quickly and efficiently breaking down food at each meal.*
Things like age, genetics (including lactose intolerance), food choices (like processed foods or overindulgence) and other habits can influence your supply of enzymes. Taking an enzyme supplement can help fill in the gaps.
Supplementing with digestive enzymes helps counteract incomplete digestion — and prevent the symptoms associated with enzyme insufficiency.
The Ultimate Guide to Digestive Enzymes
So which enzymes should you choose? The chart below breaks down which enzymes target which nutrients, to help you decode the labels of your favorite supplements.
Quality enzymes are measured by activity units, not by weight or volume. Enzymes are measured differently than other supplements, using an internationally recognized standard. The Food Chemical Codex dictates standards for the purity and identity of food ingredients. Each type of enzyme has its own FCC unit activity abbreviation.
Protein-Digesting Enzymes:
Type of enzyme | Activity Unit |
---|
Acid Stable Protease | Spectrophotometric Acid Protease Units (SAPU) |
Bromelain (derived from pineapple) | Gelatin Digesting Units (GDU) or Papain Units (PU) |
DPP-IV (targets gluten) | Dipeptidyl Peptidase Units (DPPU/HUT) |
Papain (derived from papaya) | Papain Units (PU) |
Protease Thera-blend® | Hemoglobin Units on a Tyrosine Basis (HUT) |
Carbohydrate-Digesting Enzymes:
Type of enzyme | Activity Unit |
---|
Alpha Galactosidase | Galactosidase Units (GalU) |
Amylase Thera-blend® | Dextrinizing Units (DU) |
Glucoamylase | Amyloglucosidase Units (AGU) |
Invertase | Sumner Units (SU) |
Maltase (Diastase) | Degrees of Diastatic Power (DP) |
Fiber-Digesting Enzymes:
Type of enzyme | Activity Unit |
---|
Beta Glucanase | Beta Glucanase Units (BGU) |
Cellulase Thera-blend® | Cellulase Units (CU) |
Hemicellulase | Hemicellulase Units (HCU) |
Pectinase | Endo Polygalacturonase Units (Endo-PGU) |
Phytase | Phytase Units (FTU) |
Xylanase | Xylanase Units (XU) |
Fat-Digesting Enzymes:
Type of enzyme | Activity Unit |
---|
Lipase Thera-blend® | Fédération Internationale Pharmaceutique (FIP) |
Dairy-Digesting Enzymes:
Type of enzyme | Activity Unit |
---|
Lactase (lactose/milk sugar) | Acid Lactase Units (ALU) |