Will Digestzymes help prevent heartburn?
For optimal results, taking 1-2 capsules before a meal can prevent heartburn. Digestzymes can also be effective when taken during or after a meal.
America’s Diet is Devoid of Enzymes!
Food enzyme supplementation is necessary in today’s society of over-cooked and processed foods. Food enzymes are destroyed at 118o Fahrenheit, therefore, most of today’s cooking methods leaves food without digestive enzyme activity. As a result, the body becomes overstressed and is unable to absorb food’s vital nutrients. [2] Foods richest in natural enzymes are raw vegetables, greens, salads, and fruits which the US consumes very little of!
Impaired Digestive Enzymes Production from the Pancreas
The pancreas’ two primary roles are the production of enzymes and insulin. When food passes through the stomach, a healthy pancreas manufactures and secretes specific enzymes that digest fats, carbohydrates, and protein. When the pancreas is overworked from over-consumption of sugar and refined foods devoid of natural enzymes, its ability to produce optimal amounts of enzymes is hindered, resulting in gas, bloating, and incomplete digestion of food.
There are 3 different categories of enzymes: lipase, amylase, and protease.
Protease aids in digestion by breaking long protein chains into smaller amino acids and eventually into single amino acids. [2]
Amylase aids in digestion by reducing large carbohydrates, such as starches and polysaccharides, and converting them into disaccharides including sucrose, lactose, and maltose. [2]
Lipase digests fats into free fatty acids and glycerol. [2]
Designs for Health is continually searching for manufacturing improvements and new science which is why we go to industry events such as Supply Side East and West—to stay up-to-date on the latest that scientists and technology have to offer. Designs for Health continues to be extremely impressed with National Enzyme Company (NEC), which maintains the industry standards for enzyme manufacturing. National Enzyme Company now supplies every ingredient in this improved Digestzymes formula. NEC was also chosen by Designs for Health because of their GMP certification.
What's New?
The dried papaya powder used in the former Digestzymes formula, as a source of papain, used to be the industry standard. However over the last few years the technology has improved so instead of just measuring weight, the actual activity of the enzymes can be measured and albeit is possible to concentrate it and deliver more activity in 6 mgs, allowing more potency in a smaller capsule, which patients prefer. The papain is simply more concentrated so it takes less mgs to deliver the same activity. A good papain should offer 300,000 FCC PU of enzyme activity per every 6 mgs. Impressively, this 6 mgs is even more enzymatically potent than the 125 mg of dried papaya powder used in the old formula. Using dried papaya powder is simply outdated and questionable as to its actual enzymatic strength. The new formula delivers more efficiency per mg and a firm measurable activity.
The pancreatin in this new improved formula changed from a 4X strength to 5X. While the level of pancreatin in the new formula is slightly reduced, the new stronger material has the same activity (160 mg of the new material has equivalent units of activity to the 200 mg of the pancreatin in our past formula). Again, the future of our industry seems to be going in the direction of measuring activity rather than just simply mgs or weight.
The new formula uses rice bran rather than rice flour and is manufactured in a GMP facility.
This is an extremely effective product containing enzymes from the best enzyme manufacturer in the country, delivering purity and potency.
The Betaine HCL is also of improved quality. One sign of this improvement is a stronger odor of the product. Admittedly, this change is a little more than we had expected, so future runs will include a system to reduce the odor, similar to the successful process of adding vanilla to our plain Betaine HCL product.
|
Old Formula |
New Formula |
- Pancreatin (4x) 200 mg
- Papain 125 mg
- Magnesium stearate, No "GMP" insignia,
- No FDA disclaimer, Rice flour
|
- Pancreatin (5x) 160 mg
- Papain 6 mg
- No magnesium stearate, "GMP" insignia,
- FDA disclaimer, Rice bran
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Digestzymes
The pancreas produces enzymes that are required for digestion and absorption of food. Enzymes secreted by the pancreas include lipases that digest fats, proteases that digest proteins, and amylases that digest starch. The health of the digestive tract is crucial for overall health of the body. If you cannot digest your food and eliminate toxins well, you do not stand a good chance of being optimally healthy. In addition, virtually every chronic condition will exacerbate if the intestinal tract accumulates toxic by-products. Production of our own digestive enzymes declines 1% every three years after age thirty. It is understandable why so many patients need to supplement them for optimal digestion and assimilation of nutrients from food. Symptoms of deficiency of digestive enzymes include gas, bloating, constipation, malabsorption and a feeling of fullness after eating only a small quantity of food.
Inflammatory Disease
The proteases are important in preventing tissue damage during inflammation and in the formation of fibrin clots. Fibrin promotes inflammation by forming a wall around the area of inflammation that results in the blockage of blood and leads to swelling. Fibrin can also cause the development of blood clots that may dislodge and produce strokes or heart attacks. Pancreatic enzymes are useful in the treatment of many acute and chronic inflammatory conditions, including arthritis1, sinusitis, sprains, strains, hematomas, dislocations, and even postoperative conditions. Pancreatic enzymes can also be used to prevent abnormal clot formation which can lead to cardiovascular disorders.
Food Allergies
Individuals who do not secrete enough proteases suffer from multiple food allergies. Failure to digest food allows for large molecules of the undigested food to be absorbed and cause such problems as food allergies, leaky gut syndrome, colitis, and immune system weakness. Proteases are essential in preventing the deposit of immune complexes in body tissue. Protease enzymes are effective in reducing circulating immune complex levels in patients with autoimmune disease. Studies have shown that pancreatic enzymes are effective in preventing food allergies. [2] Undigested food also allows yeast organisms to thrive. Patients with Candida Albicans will benefit from Digestzymes supplementation with their meals.
Weight Loss
Pancreatin supplementation can result in decreased food intake and loss of body weight in animals. [4] Pancreatin appears to either contain or stimulate the manufacture of compounds that suppress appetite. Evidence has been reported in human weight loss with pancreatic enzyme supplementation. Better digestion of food also allows for faster bowel transit time and more frequent bowel movements, both of which aid weight loss.
Suggested Dose: 1-2 capsules with each meal as recommended by a health practitioner. Do not take with history of ulcers.
Common Questions About Digestzymes:
Q & A with Linda Lizotte, RD
Q: My ulcer is acting up and I am not digesting well. Can I take Digestzymes?
A: Digestzymes contains HCL which can aggravate an ulcer so it would be contraindicated. DFH makes a Plant Enzyme formula without HCL. This would be a better choice for aiding digestion for those with ulcers.
Q: Can Digestzymes alone stop my constipation problem?
A: Clients of mine with difficult constipation problems have become completely regular taking Digestzymes with every meal. Always start with 1 capsule per meal and increase slowly if necessary. One particular client of mine with hypothyroid requires 4 capsules per meal to allow for regular bowel movements. She swears by Digestzymes and her husband loves them too. He did not believe in supplements until he started taking Digestzymes and his heartburn stopped. Now he takes whatever his wife gives him.
Q: Won't they stop my production of my own HCL if I take them for a long time?
A: This is possible, however many people are not producing enough HCL for adequate digestion and this can be difficult to correct. To be on the safe side, I limit use of Digestzymes to a 6 month period, and then change to the Plant Enzyme Formula without HCL for the next few months and resume Digestzymes again. Herbal Digestive Bitters can also be used in the interim.
Q: How should Digestzymes be taken?
A: Ideally, take these capsules right before eating so the body is ready for digesting when the food arrives. In case they are forgotten, it is appropriate to take them for up to 1 hour after eating since the body will still be digesting. I am often reminded to take them when I have eaten a heavy meal and still feel full 45 minutes later. They always help. I decide my dosage based on how much food I ate and how full I feel.
Q: Do you really see Digestzymes make a difference with weight loss?
A: Oh yes. I can't tell you how many times I've seen it make a difference. I'll give you one example. I had a client, age 52, who was exercising 6 times per week and followed all my protocols strictly. She was desperate to lose 10 lbs. I changed her diet 10 times and tried her on 10 different supplements. Her weight wouldn't budge. She complained of bloating which I assumed was from menopause, but in case it was poor digestion, I tried her on Digestzymes—2 per meal. She lost 2 pounds every week after that and was at her goal in 5 weeks.
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