Digestive Enzymes With Probiotics

If you start searching for gut health tips you’ll probably soon see mention of both probiotics and digestive enzymes. But what is the difference between them and can you take them together?

Here I’ll explore exactly what digestive enzymes and probiotics are, as well as how to find the right ones for your needs.

What Are Digestive Enzymes?

Digestive enzymes are actually types of specialized proteins that are able to break down the food that you eat to help you digest and absorb the nutrients from your food. Your body is capable of making its own digestive enzymes but sometimes it doesn’t make enough and you can benefit from taking them in supplement form.

Your saliva actually contains digestive enzymes so that the breaking down of food can begin as soon as you start to chew your food. But your pancreas, gallbladder, and liver are also capable of producing them.

Different types of digestive enzymes break down different types of foods which is often why you will find supplements providing a combination of different digestive enzymes for the maximum benefit.

Examples of digestive enzymes include proteases, lipases, and amylases which break down proteins, fats, and carbs respectively.

You might have heard of lactase before, but this is a little different as it’s the enzyme required to help you break down milk sugars – lactose.

This is why people with lactose intolerance are sometimes recommended to take lactase supplements to help reduce their symptoms. However, people who are not lactose intolerant will not benefit from supplementing with lactase. (Source)

By taking digestive enzyme supplements you can help your body to break down your food properly which can assist in the reduction of annoying gut symptoms such as gas and bloating.

Sometimes, people with IBS or other malabsorption issues may choose to take digestive enzymes for a period of time, especially when their symptoms are flaring up.

Digestive enzymes are often with food to encourage complete digestion. Taking them away from meals won’t have much effect as they are designed to support the breakdown of food you have already consumed.

Occasionally a product will recommend you take them just prior to eating so that they are in place before digestion begins – so do check your specific supplement before consuming.

What Are Probiotics?

Probiotics are living organisms. They are found in a number of naturally fermented foods such as kefir, kombucha, miso, and even sourdough bread. But also, you can take a supplemental probiotic product which usually contains a number of key probiotic strains.

Whilst there are tons of different probiotic subtypes – you’ll usually see probiotic strains from the bifidobacteria and lactobacillus family when you buy a probiotic supplement. (Source)

Species from these probiotic families have been well-researched and offer a wide range of benefits.

Probiotics feed on prebiotic fibers such as onions, garlic, and green bananas. So in order to get the most from your probiotics you need to ensure you have a fiber-rich diet, or that your probiotics are combined with prebiotics in a synbiotic package.

When it comes to what probiotics can do for your health – it’s hard to overstate their potential. The fact is that many people living busy, modern lives have subpar gut health. Years of antibiotic use, poor diet, stress, and inactivity can easily result in dysbiosis.

Gut dysbiosis occurs when you have an overgrowth of harmful, pathogenic bacteria, and insufficient probiotic, beneficial bacteria. This can result in conditions such as a leaky gut, increased anxiety, IBS-type symptoms, elevated inflammation, and more.

What Are Probiotics Good For?

Probiotics are known for their ability to improve your gut health, but they also have many unique functions in the body that extend far beyond your intestines.

For a start, probiotics can help to improve the communication between your gut and your brain. Because the gut actually “speaks” to the brain via something called the gut-brain axis. This means that certain probiotic strains can help to increase the level of serotonin your gut makes – leading to a happier brain.

And other specific strains can help to increase your melatonin production too, leading to a better chance of having a good night’s rest. Following on from this – there have also been studies showing that probiotics can help with the reduction of both anxiety and depression symptoms – so they are an essential tool in the quest for better mental health. (Source)(Source)

But your probiotics don’t only help with serotonin and melatonin production – they also help your immune system to be fighting fit too. (Source)

This is because much of your immune response is actually located within your gut  – so, the more beneficial gut bugs you have, the better the chance that your immune system will respond appropriately to the threat of a virus or other infection.

A lot of probiotics can also help to dampen down excess inflammation in the body. The result of this can be local – i.e. it can reduce your risk of getting an inflammatory bowel disease. But also, probiotics can help to reduce the risk of more widespread inflammation. (Source)

Studies have shown that probiotics can stop overblown inflammation when your body is infected with COVID 19 for example. But also, probiotics’ ability to reduce inflammation has been linked to a reduced risk of both cognitive decline and obesity. (Source)

And furthermore, did you know that probiotics can even influence how much estrogen your body makes – which can mean that improving your gut microbiome can even help with estrogen-dominant conditions such as endometriosis? (Source)

So there really is no end to probiotics’ ability to improve your health.

What Is The Difference Between Probiotics And Digestive Enzymes?

Whilst probiotics can help you to digest your food better, it’s not their main role. Probiotics are more concerned with improving the integrity of your gut lining, reducing inflammation in the gut, and improving your general health.

Digestive enzymes don’t have the ability to perform these other roles – their job is exclusively focused on improving your digestion, and therefore aiding the absorption of key nutrients you may otherwise struggle to retain.

You can think of them as having a slightly overlapping, but unique role in your health. For many people with gut health issues, digestion is a struggle – meaning that digestive enzymes can be a good short-term solution to help reduce these issues.

But if you ask yourself why you are experiencing digestive issues in the first place, this could be the result of IBS, or leaky gut which usually results from a form of dysbiosis.

So it may be the case that for the longer-term improvement of your gut health, probiotics will be required, but there’s no harm in adding in some temporary assistance in the form of digestive enzymes, as these are offering a different treatment option.

Can I Take Probiotics And Digestive Enzymes Together?

Yes, absolutely. As mentioned before, digestive enzymes and probiotics perform different roles in the body which means they can be taken together.

In fact, combining these two supplements means you are likely to tackle your gut health troubles in a more holistic way than if you take them individually.

Remember that digestive enzymes are helping you to break down and absorb the nutrients from your food, and probiotics are working to repopulate your gut microbiome with beneficial bacteria. Whilst this can help with your digestion and reduce gas and bloating – the main benefits are the improvements to your general health.

How Can I Find The Best Probiotics?

It can be overwhelming to pick a probiotic when there are just so many options out there. The first thing to consider is what your motivation is for taking probiotics. Because different strain combinations may have different benefits.

But if you are just looking for an improvement in gut health, then choosing a product with some bifidobacterium or lactobacillus strains would be a good place to start.

And then it comes down to considering the specifics of your product of choice. You can start by checking the CFU count. This stands for colony forming unit and is an estimation of how many live probiotics you can expect to receive in each supplement.

You might assume that the higher the number the better it is. Whilst having a good CFU number can be an indication of a good probiotic product, it’s also important to consider factors such as how shelf-stable the product is.

This is important because many probiotic products you buy contain organisms that will not make it to your large intestines alive. But, many probiotic powders are actually flash-dried and this means they can survive the journey to your gut as they are only reactivated when you take them with water.

Finally, ideally find a product offering more than one probiotic strain as a diverse gut microbiome is a healthy one.