Episode 331: All About Digestive Enzymes
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Are you in the middle of a stressful season and experiencing digestive issues like gas, bloating, constipation, or nausea? You’re in the right place! If you have your diet and lifestyle dialed in, you may need some extra digestive support—like digestive enzymes! Learn about the root causes of low digestive enzymes and stomach acid (such as H. pylori and SIBO), as well as how to determine which digestive enzymes may be the best fit for you and how to incorporate them into your routine.
Looking for more support in diving into the root cause of your low digestive juices? Opt into our FREE Digestive Guide, or take a deeper dive with our 1:1 membership, with spots opening next month to get started!
In this episode:
Digestive enzymes - what are they? [7:56]
Signs of low digestive enzymes and stomach acid [12:14]
Different types of digestive enzymes [16:37]
How to know which digestive enzymes you need [18:09]
Supplement recommendations for digestive enzymes [21:09]
How to take digestive enzymes [25:24]
Resources mentioned:
1:1 Functional Nutrition Membership
Eat to Achieve™ (Available for free within the Funk’tional Nutrition Collective)
Carb Compatibility Project™ (Available for free within the Funk’tional Nutrition Collective)
Organifi supplement powder (save 20% on your order with code FUNK)
Ned Natural Remedies (get 20% off your order with code FUNK)
LMNT Electrolyte Replenishing powder (Use code FUNK get a free sample pack with any purchase!)
Qualia NAD+ (Get up to 50% off and an extra 15% off your first purchase with link + code FUNKS)
Learn more about Gut Health & Functional Nutrition
Related episodes:
320: Subconscious Mind’s Role in Healing Your Gut | Manifest Your Health Series
304: H. Pylori - What You Need to Know
255: Gallbladder, Bile, Gut Health & Hormones | Legacy Series
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Erin Holt [00:00:02]:
I'm Erin Holt, and this is the Funk'tional Nutrition Podcast, where we lean into intuitive functional medicine. We look at how diet, our environment, our emotions, and our beliefs all affect our physical health. This podcast is your full bodied, well rounded resource. I've got over a decade of clinical experience, and because of that, I've got a major bone to pick with diet culture and the conventional healthcare model. They're both failing so many of us. But functional medicine isn't the panacea that it's made out to be either. We've got some work to do, and that's why creating a new model is my life's work. I believe in the ripple effect.
Erin Holt [00:00:39]:
So I founded the Funk'tional Nutrition Academy, a school and mentorship for practitioners who want to do the same. This show is for you if you're looking for new ways of thinking about your health and you're ready to be an active participant in your own healing. Please keep in mind this podcast is created for educational purposes only and should never be used as a replacement for medical diagnosis or treatment. I would love for you to follow the show, rate, review, and share because you never know whose life you might change. And of course, keep coming back for more. Hello out there. Today's episode is going to be dedicated to one of my favorite resources and has been one of my favorite resources for, I don't know, almost 15 years now. But first I gotta tell you, this is the 7th anniversary of the podcast.
Erin Holt [00:01:27]:
I've been podcasting for seven years. Isn't that wild? It kind of flew under the radar. I have nothing planned for it. So maybe we'll do something fun and exciting next month to celebrate. But I would love to hear from you. Cause some of you have been listening since the beginning, like, oh, geez, seasoned vets. And some of you are brand new. So if you're up for it, if you feel like it, leave a review and let me know.
Erin Holt [00:01:53]:
How long you've been with me. Are you brand new to this? Have you been here for a while? Let me know. And if you do take the time, you sweet, kind souls, if you do take the time to leave a review, always take a screenshot and send it to us - email or send it on DM's so we can see it. And sometimes we like to reward those kind of things. We just always, always appreciate it. It feels, first of all, it gets the podcast into more hands, which is always great, but then it just makes me feel really, really good. Super appreciated. Okay, so today.
Erin Holt [00:02:24]:
Today we're going to do digestive enzymes, a little dive into digestive enzymes. Like I said, it's been a tool in my toolbox for quite a long time. And so if it's not a tool in your toolbox, you might want to add it, especially if you've got some digestive wonkiness or your nervous system tends towards digestive wonkiness. Now, I'm going to give you the quick and dirty here, but just understand that I do have a absolutely free guide that walks you through everything I'm about to talk about. So if you are somebody who does really well with a step by step guide on exactly how to walk yourself through it, how to know what you need, dosing instructions, different types of products, download the free digestive guide. You can go to the funktionalnutritionist.com/digestion, and you can get a really handy little guide for yourself. Okay, so recently, I mean, recently, like since June, I have been under a fair amount of stress. Maybe I'll do a catch up episode with you, with you guys.
Erin Holt [00:03:30]:
Like a life lately, if you're into that sort of thing. But just understand, I was under some stress. And at this point in my life, I would say my body is pretty darn resilient. So all of the functional medicine work that I do, how I eat, how I care take myself, how I live my life, all of the work that I've done through Manifest Your Health, all of that has created a really resilient body and immune system and mind. And so I used to get really sidelined by stress. I don't really anymore, but I do have a human body, as do you, and we can only withstand so much. So if you are under stress for an extended period of time, usually your body will let you know. And my body was letting me know.
Erin Holt [00:04:20]:
So all of my classic signs were there. My sleep patterns got a little wonky, a little weird. Um, I started getting injuries in the gym, so just had, like, a weird hip flexor thing come up. Like, the body knows and the body tries to communicate to you. And also, my digestion just got wonky. That was kind of like the last domino to fall before I was like, okay, all right, maybe we should do something about this here. So I got what I can only describe as funky guts, bloating, trapped gas, just stomach pain, especially after eating. Every time I ate, I would just not feel good in my belly.
Erin Holt [00:04:58]:
And we know, we know that the health of your gut impacts the state of your mind, but also your mind can impact the state of your gut. We really unpacked and explored this concept in episode 320, Your Subconscious Mind's Role in Healing Your Gut. We talked about that mind-gut connection. That brain-gut connection. They speak to each other. So if you're going through stress, your gut may most likely be impacted. So how I course corrected from a GI standpoint, because obviously, from a life standpoint, I had to do.
Erin Holt [00:05:34]:
I had to alleviate the root, what was causing the stress. So that's a story for a different day. Um, but how I course corrected my gut. Number one, I didn't change my diet. So I'm saying this because you actually might need to tweak and refine your diet. But I've been eating the same way for years. I know how to fuel myself. I trust myself with my food decisions.
Erin Holt [00:05:55]:
This is like the premise of so much that I teach. Whether it's Eat to Achieve or the Carb Compatibility Project within the Collective, I know how to fuel myself. You want to get to a point where you know how to fuel yourself so you're not second guessing, um, which a lot of people do. So if you get, like, tummy troubles, you're like, uh oh, is it something I'm eating? I don't have to worry about that anymore. I know that it's not. My tolerance for food doesn't just automatically drop because I'm under a little bit of stress. So I didn't have to change my diet, but I did implement some coffee enemas. I should do a whole show on that.
Erin Holt [00:06:26]:
I know you all have been requesting that. So, um, my nervous system has a tendency toward constipation since I was little. So what if I get stressed, If I get revved up, I am going to hold on to stuff emotionally, mentally, and also physically. And as a reminder, for those of you who don't know, you really should be moving your bowels at least once a day. At least once a day. And when you go, it should feel complete, meaning it doesn't feel like there's stuff left inside. It should feel like a release.
Erin Holt [00:07:01]:
It should feel like. Like a full release. Also, when you go to the bathroom, it shouldn't be hard pebbles. You can google Bristol stool chart to see what your stool should look like in an ideal situation. And if you're constipated, if you're holding on to stool, that can create funky guts. Because there's fermentation that happens. It can lead to gas and bloating and just discomfort throughout the belly. So I always start there, kind of like release the valve.
Erin Holt [00:07:30]:
Knowing that I have a tendency towards constipation. Coffee enemas really help me with this. A coffee enema is you are putting coffee up your butt, essentially. It's not a water enema. You add coffee to the enema, and the caffeine in the coffee helps to contract and to stimulate your guts. So if you have any brain-gut axis issues, if you have motility issues, it can be a really powerful tool. But the tool that I'm talking to you about today is digestive enzymes, because I use these with great success. Digestive enzymes are not something that I take all of the time around the clock.
Erin Holt [00:08:08]:
I really reserve them for different situations. This type of situation, when my guts just go off and when I travel, those are the two times that I really like to pull out digestive enzymes. Now, we make our own digestive enzymes in our body, and they essentially just help to break down the food that we eat. Carbohydrates, proteins, fats, and so we can turn them into nutrients and our bodies can absorb them. So really good from a nutrition standpoint, but also really good from a digestive standpoint, because if we're not breaking down our foods appropriately, it can wreak digestive havoc. You can also supplement with digestive enzymes. You can buy them in a little pill, and when you do, it can help to reduce bloating, gas, any type of stomach pain. Like I said, it supports the digestion of your food.
Erin Holt [00:08:54]:
It can increase nutrient absorption. And if there's any reduced capacity for your body to produce digestive enzymes, it can essentially compensate for that. So sometimes in a situation with SIBO, for example, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth that can impact the health of the small intestine. And we've got a brush border right there. And the brush border produces enzymes. And so with SIBO, we can sometimes see lower enzyme, digestive enzyme output because of that.
Erin Holt [00:10:36]:
In order to explain why digestive enzymes can be so effective at reducing digestive symptoms, you have to first understand that digestion is kind of like domino's.
Erin Holt [00:11:20]:
So the one before it has to fall in order for the next step to happen. So, for example, in order to release pancreatic enzymes, which is where a lot of the digestive enzymes are created, we actually need hydrochloric acid. We need stomach acid. We need an appropriate acidification of the stomach to tripwire digestive enzyme release from the pancreas. We also need it to stimulate the gallbladder so it can contract and release bile, which helps us emulsify our fats. So, again, it's like a game of Domino's. And if any of those steps aren't working properly, it can lead to gas bloating, indigestion, stomach upset, constipation, diarrhea. So if you are struggling with any of those symptoms, it might be an issue with low digestive enzymes.
Erin Holt [00:12:14]:
And there's some reasons we always want to get to the bottom and understand, if I'm low, why would I be low? So, one is that you have low pancreatic enzyme output. Your pancreas is just not outputting the digestive enzymes. How would you know if this is the case for you? One, you can test it. You can see this on a stool test. So the stool test that we run is the GI Map, and it looks at elastase one, which is a digestive enzyme released by the pancreas. So if this is low, that's telling us that, hey, the pancreas isn't pumping out the digestive enzymes. Like, we would like to see other signs that you have low pancreatic digestive enzymes is that you don't do well with fibers or starches. So any foods that are starchy, carby, high fiber, you just don't do well with them.
Erin Holt [00:13:04]:
You might get nauseous. You might feel overly full eating these types of foods. Another key is that you might see mucus in your stool. So all of this is pretty common. Having low digestive enzymes is a pretty common thing, but it's usually secondary to low hydrochloric acid, to having low stomach acid, which is very, very, very common. So what would cause low stomach acid? One is chronic stress. Acute stress, like stress in the moment, can sometimes increase stomach acid, but long term chronic stress over time can decrease your stomach acid. We also see stomach acid drop as we age.
Erin Holt [00:13:43]:
So the older you get, there's potential to make less stomach acid. We can see low stomach acid with vegetarians and vegans. Uh, it's a little bit like a use it or lose it scenario. So if you're eating less protein rich foods, there's less of a demand on your body to produce it. We can see it with H. Pylori. So I did a whole episode on H. Pylori.
Erin Holt [00:14:05]:
Episode 304 h. Pylori, What You Need to know. But an H. Pylori infection in the stomach can suppress the production of hydrochloric acid. Signs of low stomach acid. Because HCl, hydrochloric acid is so critical, it's so mission critical to the process of digestion and absorption of certain nutrients, that the signs are pretty widespread. So one of the classic go to signs that I think of is if you eat a high protein meal, like a meat, you know, a meat containing meal, animal protein, and you feel like it just sits like a brick in your stomach, that, to me, signals, hey, you probably have low stomach acid if you have an aversion to protein meals because of this, if you're like, oh, I can't eat heavy protein, oh, I can't digest red meat, that's usually an indication that you have low stomach acid. If you have bad breath, interestingly enough, that could be low stomach acid because proteins aren't digested appropriately and they can start to putrefy, leading to bad breath.
Erin Holt [00:15:05]:
Another sign of low stomach acid, which actually seems counterintuitive. So it might surprise you, is heartburn or acid reflux, because we are sort of led to believe that heartburn and acid reflux is because of overproduction of acid. But more often than not, it's actually an underproduction of acid that's causing it I've unpacked this on the show a bunch of times. So if you're curious about that, go back to one of the HCl or acid reflux shows. And then also, like I said earlier, another reason for low enzyme production is SIBO, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, which can lead to low brush border enzymes. What happens is that the bacteria in the small intestine can degrade brush border transport proteins and those enzymes. Now, I don't ever like to fear monger on this show, and sometimes, especially if you have a history of chronic stuff, you can hear something and it, like, sounds the alarm bells in your brain. So if you've had SIBO in the past, if you currently have SIBO, if you think you have SIBO, I want to let you know that this is reversible.
Erin Holt [00:16:05]:
So your body has the ability to heal itself, your gut has the ability to heal itself. So if you are able to clear the SIBO, this can bounce back. So I don't want you to think this is a forever thing. And if you need help, if you suspect SIBO and you need help, reach out to our team. You can work with us one on one, because this is something that we help people do with a pretty high success rate, I would say. Okay, so those are reasons why you might be low in digestive enzymes. I want to talk about the different types of enzymes. So we've got proteases and peptidases, which break down proteins.
Erin Holt [00:16:40]:
We have lipases, which supports fat digestion. Remember, bile also does this. So there's other digestive supplements, like ox bile, for example, that can help to break down fats. But in terms of digestive enzymes, lipase. Lipases break down fat. And then we have carbohydrate enzymes that break down carbohydrates, like amylase. That's the easiest one to say. Now, I have to pronounce the other really long names.
Erin Holt [00:17:03]:
Amylase might sound familiar to you because we have this digestive enzyme in our saliva. And so this is why it's so, so, so important to chew your food, because in your mouth, the act of chewing, you produce saliva, and you already start to break down carbohydrates. This is why you can take a bite of bread, and it can taste sweet the longer you chew it. We've got alpha galactosidase. I don't really want to say these long words. I just might choose to not do violence to myself today and try to pronounce these things.
Erin Holt [00:17:33]:
That one digests the complex carbs. So if you're sensitive to higher fodmap food, that one can be helpful. Cellulase, beta glucanase, xylenase, all of these can break down plant fibers. We have invertase, which breaks down sucrose, pectinase breaks down pectin. Phytase breaks down phytic acid. And then we have lactase, which is a brush border enzyme. And this one's probably is familiar to you because it helps us digest lactose, the sugar in milk and dairy. So with all of that, how are you supposed to know which ones you need? It kind of depends on where you notice your digestive wonkiness pop up after meals.
Erin Holt [00:18:16]:
So, like we talked about, if you notice, it's a only in relation to protein foods. Like, you eat a steak and then you get a tummy upset, probably you need hydrochloric acid. Probably it's not so much digestive enzymes, but it's the top of the ant pile. It's the top of the chain. It is hydrochloric acid. If you get bloated and gassy in response to starches, plants fibers, like, you eat a salad and your guts, like, that's probably more so pancreatic enzyme, digestive enzyme. If it's fats, like oils, high fat foods, fried foods, you probably want to look at gallbladder, first of all.
Erin Holt [00:18:54]:
Um, but this is a fat digestion issue. So you can do some lipases, but you might even take it a step further. If you notice that you can't break down fat, so you get a tummy ache when you eat fats and you also notice floating stool when you go to the bathroom, or like an oil slick. Sorry, I hit my mic. Or an oil slick in the toilet when you go, like, there's grease in the actual toilet. Um, if you have pain in your shoulder blades after eating high fat foods, look to the gallbladder so you can go to episode 255. I talk all about gallbladder health.
Erin Holt [00:19:28]:
You probably want to support the gallbladder in addition to giving yourself some digestive support. And if it's like everything causes bloating, you might want to get checked for SIBO via a breath test. And I say breath test because there are some people who will tell you you can diagnose SIBO through a stool test. You can't. It is a breath test that is required to diagnose SIBO. Just a heads up. I love a stool test. We run them all the time in our practice.
Erin Holt [00:19:56]:
I run a stool test on myself. Almost annually. So I love stool tests, but they cannot diagnose SIBO.
Erin Holt [00:21:09]:
So you can kind of cherry pick the type of enzymes that you need based on your reactions to food. Because we're rarely just eating protein or rarely just eating fat, we're usually eating foods altogether in meals.
Erin Holt [00:22:13]:
It could be kind of hard to distinguish and determine gee, I wonder what particular food is causing my digestive imbalance. And if any of you listening have, like, hyper vigilance or hyper attention to your food and your diet and your digestive issues, I think this can cause more of a ruckuse trying to pinpoint exactly what you need, which is why I always go with a digestive enzyme blend that kind of hits all of those different, um, those different enzymes that I just talked about my particular favorite, and I'm just, I'm going to give you three options. So you have resources and tools. None of these are sponsors. I have no affiliation with any of these companies. I am not getting paid to say any of this. This is truly what I buy for myself.
Erin Holt [00:22:57]:
So the first one is Enzymedica. I've been using Enzymedica digestive enzymes for literally like 14 years, and I just keep coming back to them. The one that I go to is the digest gold. So there's Digest Basic, which is pretty good, but Digest Gold is three times the strength of their basic. So you can take less pills and get a bigger impact. It's more expensive. For a 90 count bottle, it's around $40 depending on where you buy it. But I like this because it's really, really, really effective for me.
Erin Holt [00:23:26]:
Um, it's also super easy to find. So if I'm traveling and I'm like, oh, shoot, I need digestive enzymes that it's really easy to find. You can get them at pretty much any health food store, this exact brand. You can get them at Whole Foods, you can grab them on Amazon. Super easy to find, and I love them. The thing about this, there's no hydrochloric acid or ox bile. The other two that I will recommend contains a little bit of hydrochloric acid and some ox bile. So it's going to help with the hydrochloric acid production.
Erin Holt [00:23:54]:
It's also going to help with fat digestion. So, um, that's the one that I lean on. Another one that's pretty low cost and pretty effective is NOW. n o w. NOW. NOW Super Enzymes. This is about half the cost of the, of the Enzymatica one. Um, and I think it's pretty good. This does have some HCl and some ox bile. Like I said, uh, the Digest Gold has just a bigger spectrum of digestive enzymes, so that's why I lean in that direction.
Erin Holt [00:24:24]:
Now, if and so, neither of those are practitioner brands, so you can get them in a lot of different places. If you're one of our clients and you have access to our Fullscript, and that's where you like to order your supplements. The one I like on Fullscript is Designs for Health Digestzymes, and that's around the $40 price point for a 90 count. Um, that one has hydrochloric acid that has some ox bile. What I don't love about this is it's a proprietary blend, so I just don't know how, how much of the enzymes you're getting. I really prefer the Enzymetica because I think you're just getting a lot. And the Designs for Health is at a much lower dose than the Enzymetica one. So even though they're at the same price point, the Enzymetica, you're just getting a higher dose.
Erin Holt [00:25:12]:
And so that's something to consider when you're buying supplements, is looking at how much is actually in the supplement that you're purchasing. All right, so once you have the digestive enzymes, how do you take them? This is where the Digestive Guide can come in really handy. So again, it's a free guide. You can go to the funktionalnutritionist.com/digestion if you want to grab that for free, but start low and build your way up. So you can start with one cap and then build your way up. So you're taking this at meal time, and you start with one cap per meal, and then you might want to bump up to two. You might need to bump up to three. Take as many as you need to reduce the symptom.
Erin Holt [00:25:52]:
That's basically it for the Digest Gold. I take two of those per meal, and that is perfect for me. And you'll want to do a little experimentation with the best time to take them. People have different transit times, so some do better if you take it a few minutes before you actually eat. You could do it five to ten minutes after eating a meal. I find that the easiest is during the meal. It kind of bakes it into habit. Like, I'm eating the meal.
Erin Holt [00:26:20]:
Oh, I need to reach for my digestive enzymes. Pro tips, leave them out in your kitchen. Don't hide them, because if they're hidden, you probably won't see them, especially if you're trying to build it up as a habit. You can put it by your silverware drawer where you'll see them whenever you're about to eat. Because when you eat, you need to reach into your silverware drawer and grab silverware. So put them somewhere where you're actually going to see it so they're obvious. I also keep some in my purse, so when I'm eating out, I have them on the go. If I'm eating at somebody's house or something like that, I have them on the go.
Erin Holt [00:26:50]:
One thing I will say, these are contraindicated if you have an ulcer. So if you. The way to know if these are not good for you, if you take them and you experience burning. This is more common with HCL supplements, but digestive enzymes can do the same. So if an ulcer or gastritis taking digestive enzymes might feel really uncomfortable. So it shouldn't feel uncomfortable when you take them. It should not cause burning. So I talked about ulcers on episode 304.
Erin Holt [00:27:24]:
So if you want to knock, learn about ulcers and gastritis and what the symptoms of those are, you can go to that episode. So is this a forever thing? That's a common question that I get with digestive enzymes once I start taking them. Do I have to take them forever? The answer is no, probably not. And it's not a problem to take them long term. It doesn't cause the body to lower its own production. Um, it's not a huge problem, and I think it's, like, just a really nice support, especially if people have chronic, ongoing GI symptoms. It's just a matter of you're spending money to help you digest your food. Ideally, we want to correct the underlying, underlying reason why they're low.
Erin Holt [00:28:06]:
If it's a low stomach acid, why is it just ongoing stress? H. Pylori? You want to clear up that infection. Do you have SIBO? Is that what's causing your low digestive capacity? Are there gallbladder issues? You really do want to unpack and address the underlying cause for why they are low. Now, some people, as they age or with neurodegenerative diseases, they might have degeneration of the gut, and so they might actually have to supplement with digestive enzymes on an ongoing basis. So it really depends on your unique situation, how long you'll be taking these things. For myself right now, I took them for about two weeks straight, and then I essentially, like, weaned myself off of them. I just stopped taking them, and I don't have the digestive discomfort that I was having anymore. So it is definitely a band aid. It's definitely not correcting the underlying thing.
Erin Holt [00:28:56]:
It was my job to look at my life and be like, hey, this stress is not working out for me right now, so, like, let's make some changes. That was my job. But the digestive enzymes supported me while I made the underlying changes to the root cause. But I do keep them on hand because I like to take them when I'm traveling, which is another pro tip. With travel, there's usually different schedules, different food, different stressors, and that can all throw off digestion. So they're nice to travel with, especially if you have a tendency to get funky guts when you travel, you can also take hydrochloric acid when traveling. The acidity in the gut kind of helps to neutralize pathogens or bacteria that you're not used to, especially if it's like a new to you region. If you're traveling to a place in the world where you don't typically go, that can be really helpful.
Erin Holt [00:29:46]:
Just as a pro tip. Also, last thing I'll say it's if you are transitioning from a vegetarian or vegan diet into adding animal products back into your diet, digestive enzymes can be such a wonderful tool and resource for you because it helps to break down the proteins in the foods that you may not have been eating. And so your body is like, hey, what is this? It gives you the tools to break those things down. Okay, that's the quick and dirty on digestive enzymes. I hope you found it helpful and come back next week. I'll see you then. Thanks for joining me for this episode of the Funk'tional Nutrition podcast. If you got something from today's show, don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, share with a friend, and keep coming back for more. Take care of you.
