19 Digestive Enzymes Commonly Found In Enzyme Supplements

I’ve mentioned before that there are over 5000 known enzymes that our bodies produce and utilize every day, however when it comes to digestive enzyme therapy there are only a few enzymes that you will commonly find in most supplement products (this is not necessarily a bad thing as these common enzymes should cover you in most situations where you may need digestive enzyme therapy).  Here is a list of these common enzymes, in 99% of cases your digestive enzyme supplement of choice will contain one or a combination of these enzymes.

Breaking Down Proteins (Proteases)

1. Bromelain - Helps break down proteins and also has some anti-inflammatory properties.

2. Catalase - Also assists in breaking down proteins (obviously), it is a potent antioxidant and can help break down hydrogen peroxide (into oxygen and water).

3. Nattokinase - It is often used to treat cardiovascular problems as well as high blood pressure. It can also assist with tissue repair. This enzyme helps to break down fibrin a type of protein that can form in the blood after injury or due to toxins in the blood.

4. Mucolase - As the name might suggest, it can help break down mucus and is therefore beneficial in treating sinus infections and nasal congestion.

5. Papain - Found naturally in papaya fruit :), it breaks down protein and can also act as an anti-inflammatory.

6. Protease - Same name as the enzyme category, it breaks down common proteins and can also support immune system function. As well as that it can act as an anti-inflammatory and can help with circulation issues. It is often a blend for increased potency.

Breaking Down Carbohydrates (Amylases)

7. Amylase - Named the same as the enzyme category to which it belongs. It can help break down starch and glycogen. This enzyme can help reduce food cravings by helping you utilize the nutrients from your food better. As well can help increase blood sugar levels. This one can come as a blend for increased potency.

8. Lactase - As you may have guessed, this one helps break down lactose, this can obviously be very beneficial for people with lactose intolerance.

9. Invertase - Breaks down sugars such as sucrose and maltose, it is especially helpful for people who have trouble digesting sugars.

10. Hemicellulase - This enzyme can help break down polysaccharides that are found in many plants, very useful for those people who find it difficult to digest vegetable matter.

11. Glucoamylase - Another enzyme that can help break down polysaccharides.

12. Beta-glucanase - Is particularly effective in breaking down glucan, a type of carbohydrate that is found in wheat and barley which is very beneficial for people who are unable to digest grains.

13. Cellulase - Breaks down cellulose (fiber), as well it can help fight candida as it can break down chitin which is a fiber found in the cell wall of candida. This enzyme can come as a blend for increased potency.

14. Alpha-galactosidase - Can help break down carbohydrates such as stachyose and raffinose. Can be extremely helpful for digesting beans and raw vegetables.

15. Maltase - This enzyme can help break down sugars, more specifically malt and grain sugars as well as various other complex and simple sugars.

16. Phytase - This amylase can help break down phytic acid which is found in the leaves of most plants.

17. Pectinase - As the name implies, it breaks down pectin which is commonly found in fruit and vegetables.

18. Xylanase - It is a type of cellulase, it assists in breaking down soluble fiber (as opposed to insoluble fiber).

Breaking Down Fats (Lipases)

19. Lipase - Only the one here, same name as the enzyme category it falls under. It helps break down and improves the utilization of fats. It can help reduce cholesterol, promote weight loss and support hormone production. It also improves the function of the gall bladder. Lipases are available from various sources, so this one is frequently a blend (to improve the potency of the enzyme).

That’s the list, hope you found it informative. If you enjoyed this article, don’t forget to sign up for our Rss Feed and stay healthy.

Digestive Enzymes And The Digestive Process

Let us look at the process of digestion from a digestive enzyme perspective. Digestive enzymes help break down the fats, proteins and carbohydrates that are contained in the food we consume. They do most of this work in our digestive tract. Digestive Enzymes also play a role in extracting vitamins and minerals from these same foods. Enzymes break down the food that we ingest into more basic components such as amino acids, sugars and essential fats. If we didn’t have any enzymes none of these processes would work fast enough and our bodies would be unable to get the nutrients they need. If we don’t have enough digestive enzymes, our ability to extract nutrients from food is significantly impaired and we are more likely to get sick.

Dealing With The Carbs

Unlike what you might believe, the digestive process begins in the mouth rather than in the stomach. Here the process of chewing our food not only breaks it down into smaller, more manageable pieces, but also saliva is mixed in with the food. Several different types of amylase is contained within our saliva which when mixed with the food by the process of chewing, immediately begin breaking down the carbohydrates contained in our food. This is one reason why it is very important to chew your food well, to assist your body in properly digesting carbohydrates (there are many other reasons).

When we swallow the food it travels down our esophagus to the stomach. The stomach is divided into two sections, the upper section is called the ‘cardiac’ and this is where our foods ends up first. No enzymes are secreted in this portion of the stomach, but this is where most of the carbohydrate digestion takes place due to the amylase that was mixed with the food while we were chewing. Food remains in the upper portion of the stomach for around 30-40 minutes after which time it enters the lower portion of the stomach - the ‘pyloric’. This is where protein digestion begins to take place.

Lets Blast The Proteins

Pepsin and hydrochloric acid are produced in the lower portion of the stomach and protein digestion begins to take place. Food typically remains in the lower portion of the stomach from about 2 hours. However this depends on how much protein was originally consumed as well as how good a person’s digestive system is when it comes to dealing with protein. The hydrochloric acid, protease (pepsin) and peristalsis (muscular movement) work together to mix the food thoroughly which produces a watery solution that leaves the stomach (via the pyloric sphincter) to enter the small intestine. This is where fat digestion will begin to take place.

‘Burn’ The Fats And Everything Else Around

In the small intestine, additional enzymes are produced to help digest the food. It is here that lipase is secreted by the pancreas and bile by the gallbladder to help with fat digestion. The stomach acid is also neutralized here by bicarbonate which is also produced by the pancreas.

At this point what’s known as “adaptive secretion” takes over. This is a process whereby the body begins to manufacture the enzymes it needs to complete the digestion process (this includes the digestion of carbohydrates, proteins and fats). The pancreas is then responsible for producing all the enzymes needed for this.

The Final Touches - Guess What You’re Full Of Now

Eventually, food enters the large intestine. Here water and electrolytes are absorbed, this is pretty much the body reclaiming some of the compounds that it had expanded on the digestive process. The large intestine is also home to some good bacteria that feed on foods that have reached the large intestine undigested (such as fiber, since as we remember, we can’t digest fiber due to not being able to produce cellulase). These bacteria prevent the spread of bad bacteria in the large intestine and also produce some of the vitamins that our body needs.

At this point the digestive process is pretty much complete, there is only one thing left to do (we can all guess what that is :)). In total this whole process takes approximately 3 days, bet you didn’t think it was that long.

Types Of Enzymes - It’s Not All About Digestion

Note: If you’re looking to learn about specific enzymes found in digestive enzyme supplements, then go to this post. Otherwise, read on for a more general overview of the different types/categories of enzymes.

There are many different categories of enzymes and all enzymes are classified according to the type of chemical reaction that they catalyse. Firstly, if you haven’t figured it out by now, all enzyme names end with the suffix ‘-ase’ or ‘-ases’ if we are talking plural. So for example:

• Hydrases or Hydrolases - deal with adding or removing water to/from the chemical reactions that the catalyse
• Oxidoreductases - catalyze oxidation/reduction reactions
• Transferases - transfer functional groups from one substance to another

There are also enzymes that assist with changing the internal structure of molecules (Isomerases) and enzymes that join molecules together (Ligases). As you can see, there are lots of different types of enzyme categories and each one contains thousands of specific enzymes.

Yes, Yes Lots Of Enzymes - But What About Digestion

For the sake nutrition and enzyme supplementation, we are really only concerned with a few specific sub-categories of ‘hydrolase’ enzymes:

• Proteases - these have the job of hydrolyzing or breaking down proteins
• Lipases - these break down fats
• Amylases -  these deal with carbohydrates
• Cellulases - these break down cellulose, more commonly known as fibre (although it should be mentioned that cellulases are technically speaking a type of amylase :))

It is important to remember that the above are not specific enzymes but are categories, each containing thousands of specific enzymes with specific functions.

There are over 5000 known enzymes that our bodies produce and utilize day to day, however each one falls into one of the above categories, it is either a protease, a lipase or an amylase (or cellulase if you treat those ones separately from amylases).

Why Do I Keep Harping On About Cellulase?

Well, you know how everyone says that dietary fiber is good for you, good ‘roughage’ and all that. This is because our bodies are unable to break down fiber, the reason they are unable to breakdown fiber is because our bodies do not have the ability to create cellulase. No cellulase means fiber can’t be digested (since we know that it is enzymes that are responsible for breaking down things - what are enzymes) and so it passes through our bodies and adds bulk to stool and what-not (yeah, it is fun facts like that one that make it all worthwhile).

Back To Enzymes And Digestion

There are thousands of different enzymes, but they all have a specific function since they act to break down a protein, fat or carbohydrate in a specific way. This act of breaking down substances in our bodies is what’s known as digestion when it occurs in the digestive tract. And all the enzymes that participate in digestion (proteses, lipases, amylases) are - you guessed it - digestive enzymes. As an aside, when enzymes act to break down stuff in our bodies anywhere else aside from the digestive tract (e.g. tissues, blood) this is known as a metabolic process and the enzymes are called - metabolic enzymes (I bet you guessed that one also).

That’s about all there is to the different types of enzymes (at least the ones that we are concerned with - the health-related ones). Although, there is much more to be said about digestive enzymes and metabolic enzymes, but I promise to cover that soon.

What Are Enzymes And Why Do I Care? - Back To Basics

Before trying to get into how enzymes can be beneficial to our health it is important to understand what enzymes are and what they are not. This allows us to ask the right questions, really zone in on how enzymes can help us and avoid being taken in by hype and sales jargon.

What Are Enzymes?

Simply put, enzymes are biochemical catalysts, they cause biochemical reactions to move faster. In living organisms enzymes are responsible for breaking down and rearranging molecules to provide those same organisms with the energy they need to function. Without enzymes the reactions that normally occur in our bodies would be too slow to allow for proper metabolism. The food we ingest contains vitamins, minerals and other nutrients that we need to survive, but these nutrients must be unlocked before we can utilize them to maintain our bodies. This is normally done during digestion. If we didn’t have enzymes, digestion would just be a random chemical process and this could take months and years to break down the food sufficiently for our bodies to use it. As catalysts enzymes can lower the amount of energy that is needed to start these chemical reactions and can dramatically speed up the process of breaking down the food and releasing the energy that our bodies need.

If we really get down to the basics of what enzymes are, we find that enzymes are made up of amino acids and are therefore proteins. However, enzymes are a unique kind of protein in that they contain energy. It is this energy that allows enzymes to do their job. Enzymes contain a finite amount of energy, they will function as a catalyst until this energy runs out at which point enzymes become inactive and are just like any other protein in that the body can use them as a protein source.

Enzymes Are Not Organisms!

People sometimes tend to liken enzymes to probiotics or living organisms, but this is incorrect. Enzymes are not living organisms, they are not alive. Enzymes are either active or inactive (denatured). When active an enzyme is catalysing a chemical reaction, when inactive they are not catalysing anything. Enzymes are usually inactive due to incompatible surroundings. Enzymes work well in particular temperatures, pH levels and water levels. However when exposed to extreme conditions, enzymes may become inactive which means they can no longer serve as a catalyst and are in-fact just a simple protein.

Of course enzymes are not simple proteins at all, they look nothing like a regular protein. Some people believe that enzymes are collapsed proteins. When a protein collapses an “active site” is formed. It is at this active site that an enzyme can bind to and act as a catalyst in a chemical reaction since it is there that all the enzyme energy is focused.

Why Was I Interested In All Of That?

It all comes down to being well informed. Not only can this information help us decide if enzyme therapy is for us, but it helps us to know what goes on inside our bodies and if any supplementation we are taking is helping or hindering those processes. Finally, supplements are not cheap and any information that can help us weed out the “snake oil” from the things that can genuinely help us, is valuable. Knowing the basics is the first step!