These days the TV commercials are flooded with advertisements about digestive enzymes, your colleagues are talking about it and you are unable to understand what the fuss is all about, then you have come to the right place.

break down all the things surrounding digestive enzymes and suggest a few to you as well that are all natural. So, while your friends and colleagues are opting for all the chemical based ones available in the market you remain a step ahead of them by taking all things natural straight out of your kitchen.

What are digestive enzymes?
If you think, it’s the food that your digestive system absorbs, then, we might like to correct you. It’s the nutrients that the digestive system absorbs and not the food. Your food has micro-components like nutrients, fiber, and carbohydrates that are absorbed by your digestive system. Your digestive system breaks protein into amino acids, carbohydrates into simple sugar, and fats into fatty acids and cholesterol. The food is also broken down into vitamins and minerals. And all this is basically done by the digestive enzymes produced in the pancreas and small intestine that break food into nutrients and help the body absorb them.

This implies, that if there are issues with your digestive enzymes, say for instance it is produced in less quantity, then even after eating all things healthy your body will not be able to absorb all the nutrients.

What causes digestive enzyme problems?
The issue can be because of the gradual aging process or can be a reaction to certain medication if you are on one. But there can be other probable reasons like:

• Pancreatic issues : if you have acute or pancreatitis, cystic fibrosis or pancreatic cancer
• Low stomach acid : if you have less digestive enzymes, it could be because of low acid in your stomach that might be causing other digestive problems as well.
• Some inflammation : if you are suffering from some food allergies, parasitic infection or intestinal permeability then it can be a cause of deficiency in digestive system enzyme.
• Stress : this is the response of our sympathetic and para-sympathetic nervous system. If you are dealing with chronic stress in your life, there are good chances that it has affected your digestive enzyme and overall digestion process as well.

When should you be taking digestive enzyme supplements?
Do not feel obliged to take digestive enzyme supplements just because someone in your family or friend’s circle is taking them. You need to be able to identify symptoms that make it obvious that your body is not absorbing nutrients to its full potential and that it’s time that you need to do something about it.

Here are a few symptoms you need to look forward to before taking digestive enzyme supplements.

• If you consistently find undigested food in your stool, then it’s a good sign that you are not absorbing all the nutrients from the food.
• Feeling of gas formation or bloating after meals and uneasiness.
• You are full after a few bites of food
• The rock in your gut sensation, i.e. feeling as if you still have food in your stomach
• Undigested fat or oil slick in your toilet bowl

Digestive enzymes straight from your kitchen
As we have said before just because everybody is buying digestive enzymes from some chemist, you do not have to do so. There are many foods that have natural digestive enzyme elements and making them a part of your diet will not only help you with digestion but will keep you healthy. Here are some foods that you can have as digestive enzyme supplements.

• Papaya : Papaya has a protein digesting enzyme called papain. It cleaves the protein chain, thus breaking it down and helping your body absorb it.
• Mango : Mango has amylase which helps in breaking down starch into two sugar molecules, commonly known as maltose or disaccharide.
• Pineapple : The fruit is rich in bromelain, the proteolytic enzyme found in pineapple juice and its stem. This not only helps in digestion of protein but also treats ailments like inflammation, hay fever, arthritis pain and ulcerative colitis.
• Honey : Honey has multiple enzymes in it which are introduced by the bee that makes honey. It is rich in amylase, sucrose, and proteases and helps in breaking down of both carbohydrates and proteins. While sucrose breaks down sucrose into glucose giving your body the needed energy, proteases break down proteins to give you amino acid.

While these are the natural enzymes straight out of your kitchen with no side effects there are a few good natural digestive enzyme supplements available in the market like:

• Himalaya herbal health care live care capsules
• Future biotic daily enzyme complex capsules
• Royal topics, the original green papaya digestive Aid capsules
• Himalaya Trikatu Tablets
• Organic India, Trikatu Digestive and Metabolic Support.

These digestive enzyme supplements are all food sources with natural digestive enzymes available in the market and are safe to consume. Though consuming digestive enzyme supplements help, a little physical activity or mild workout along with these digestive enzyme supplements go a long way in keeping your digestive system healthy and functioning.