What Are Enzymes & Why Do I Need Them?

You are not what you eat, but rather what your body absorbs from your diet.

To truly benefit from all the nutrients in the healthy foods you are eating, your digestive system needs to break them down properly so your body can properly absorb them.

This is where enzymes come in.

Enzymes help speed up the chemical reactions in your body. Enzymes are essential for digestion, nerve function, muscle health, respiration and more. While your body can make enzymes naturally, most of your body doesn’t make nearly enough of them, making supplementation important, especially when it comes to digestive enzymes.

In this article, you will learn what enzymes are, what they do, how they function, what some examples of enzymes are, how you can benefit from digestive enzymes and the best ways to take them.

What Are Enzymes?

Enzymes are built out of proteins folded into complicated shapes. They can be found throughout your body and metabolism to help carry out and speed up chemical reactions to keep you alive.

What Do Enzymes Do?

Enzymes help your body to function properly. They help your body to break down larger complex molecules into smaller molecules in your digestive system. This allows your body to use the nutrients from your food as fuel. Liver enzymes can also help to break down toxins to keep you healthy. Enzymes also help unwind DNA coils and copying information as your cells divide.

How Do Enzymes Work?

To understand how enzymes work, a small chemistry lesson is needed.

When two molecules react, they must collide with one another with sufficient activation energy and in the right direction. Each enzyme has an active site that is the right shape to bind with specific molecules. The molecules they bind with are called the reacting molecules, or substrates. When enzymes react with substrates, their activation site changes shape to fully lock the substrate in to allow catalysis, the acceleration of chemical reactions.

Enzymes need certain conditions to work in. A body temperature around 37 degrees Celsius is ideal, at lower temperatures, they work slower. They also require a certain pH range, for example, enzymes in your intestines require a 7.5 pH, while in your stomach they work best at pH 2. When they experience a too acidic or too alkaline environment or too high temperatures, enzymes cannot work properly and become denatured.

Enzymes In A Nutshell

In the end, all you have to understand is that enzymes play an essential part in your body’s day-to-day activities. Digestive enzymes are absolutely vital to your digestive system’s proper functioning and much more.

Why Use Digestive Enzymes?

1 in 5 Americans experiences irritable bowels syndrome (IBS) that comes with uncomfortable symptoms, such as stomach pain, constipation and diarrhea. Many others are dealing with more serious digestive troubles, such as Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis. Even if you are not dealing with obvious digestive issues, your other health conditions or symptoms may be the result of your gut health.

Remember, gut imbalance can lead to inflammation, pain and disease, whereas a healthy gut can provide a good environment for recovery and healing.

Doctors often prescribe harsh medication for your health concerns that may only offer little to no relief, but come with serious side effects. Dietary and lifestyle changes are essential to improve your gut health, reduce or eliminate symptoms, prevent and improve digestive issues and restore your health.

Eating a healthy diet of greens, vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds and legumes is absolutely essential for your health. However, if your body can’t digest your food and absorb its nutrients, it cannot use it to repair and benefit your body. Probiotics are certainly important to create a balance in your gut, however, digestive enzymes are just as essential to help your body break down important nutrients.

While your body naturally produces enzymes, chances are it is not enough. In our modern world, most people's bodies can’t produce enough enzymes, in particularly not enough lactase to break down lactose in dairy and protease to break down proteins. Your body’s ability to produce digestive enzymes also declines as you age.

Getting a good supplement with digestive enzymes can be life changing for your digestion and overall health.

Examples Of Specific Digestive Enzymes

  • Lipase - helps digest fats in the gut and improves digestion
  • Amylase - helps change starches into sugars
  • Lactase - breaks lactose, the sugar in milk, into glucose and galactose
  • Cellulase - helps to break down fiber
  • Protease - helps break down protein
  • Maltase - breaks the sugar maltose into glucose
  • Trypsin - breaks proteins down into amino acids

How To Take Digestive Enzymes?

You can find high-quality digestive enzyme supplements at health food stores, vitamin shops and online.

One of the smartest ways to use enzymes is by drinking Organifi Pure. Pure can support your digestion, aid hydration and help your focus and memory. Along with supportive enzymes, Pure contains countless powerful superfoods, including baobab powder, lion mane, aloe vera, ginger, apple cider vinegar and coconut water.

Organifi Pure tastes light and mildly sweet with a refreshing subtle tanginess. Just mix it with a glass of water and you are ready to go. You may also add Pure to your juices, smoothies and other recipes.

If you are looking for a boost of protein, our Organifi Complete Protein also has a healthy dose of digestive enzymes to support your digestion.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Do digestive enzymes work?

A. Studies have shown that quality digestive enzymes can benefit your health.

Q. Doesn’t my body produce digestive enzymes?

A. Your body produces digestive enzymes naturally, however, in our modern world, most people don’t have enough digestive enzymes in their body and their body’s ability to produce them also declines with age, making supplementation beneficial.

Q. Are there any side effects of digestive enzymes?

A. In some people, digestive enzymes can come with certain side effects, including stomach pain, headaches, upset stomach, or a sore throat. Make sure to go slowly and watch your symptoms. Choose a high-quality brand, it may be a low-quality brand that’s causing your troubles.

Q. Are probiotics and enzymes the same?

A. No. Probiotics are present in your digestive system, while enzyme are all throughout your body. Probiotics help create a balanced gut flora by fighting bad bacteria. Enzymes help break down molecules in food. It is recommended to take both for ideal digestion and health.

Q. Can I take probiotics at the same time as enzymes?

A. Yes, you can take them together or separately. It’s ideal to take enzymes within an hour before a meal, however.

Q. Can enzymes reduce bloating?

A. Yes, they can.

Q. Can enzymes help with weight loss?

A. Digestive enzymes can improve your digestion and as a result, may help your weight loss goals.

Q. Can digestive enzymes help with IBS?

A. Yes, digestive enzymes can improve your digestion, improve IBS and other digestive symptoms.

Conclusion

Enzymes are absolutely essential for your digestive and overall health. To support your well-being, we added enzymes to our new Organifi Pure. Organifi Pure is tasty like a lemonade and supports your digestion, hydrates your cells and helps improve your focus and memory.

Try it this season. Your body will thank you!

Order your Organifi Pure today. Snap a photo, share your experiences and tag us on social media. We would love to hear your Pure success stories.

And remember, we're in this together.

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