Digestive Enzyme supplements research studies, how effective are they, do they provide benefits for your gastrointestinal tract? Natural supplements for better digestion

Digestive enzymes are enzymes that break down large molecules into their smaller building blocks. Digestive enzymes are found in the digestive tract of animals or humans where they help in the digestion of food as well as inside cells, especially in their lysosomes.

Use of digestive enzymes
Enzyme supplements play an important role in the treatment of digestive disorders, particularly with pancreatic insufficiency. Digestive enzymes may also be beneficial for other conditions associated with poor digestion including lactose intolerance. Historically, porcine and bovine pancreatic enzymes have been the preferred form of supplementation for exocrine pancreatic insufficiency. Use of microbe-derived lipase has shown promise with studies indicating benefit similar to pancreatic enzymes, but at a lower dosage concentration and with a broader pH range. Safety and efficacy of enzymes derived from microbial species in the treatment of conditions such as malabsorption and lactose intolerance is promising. Synergistic effects have been observed using a combination of animal-based enzymes and microbe-derived enzymes.

Digestive Enzymes supplement
Daily Essential Enzymes, 500 mg
240 Digestive enzyme capsules
Pancreatin Protease, Lipase, Alpha-Amylase, Amyloglucosidase, Cellulose, Hemicellulase, Lactase

Digestive Enzyme Supplement Facts:
Serving Size: 1 Digestive Enzyme Capsule
Servings per container: 240

Amount Per Serving:
For Protein digestion :
Vegetable Analog of Pancreatin - 286 mg - 28,625 FCC*
Acid Stable Protease - 12mg - 785 FCC
For Fat digestion:
Lipase - 125 mg - 375 FCC
To break down carbohydrates:
Alpha-Amylase - 52 mg - 630 FCC
Amyloglucosidase - 12 mg - 2 FCC
To break down Fiber:
Cellulose - 5 mg - 100 FCC
Hemicellulase - 3 mg - 325 FCC
To break down sugar:
Lactase - 5 mg - 40 FCC

This product is sold at Physician Formulas web site

Digestive Enzymes in the oral cavity
Amylase is secreted by the salivary glands. Salivary lipase prepares fat for digestion.

Digestive Enzymes found in the stomach
Alcohol dehydrogenase - Several H2-receptor antagonists, including cimetidine and ranitidine, inhibit gastric alcohol dehydrogenase activity and reduce fist pass metabolism, resulting in higher blood alcohol concentrations after H2-blockers administration.
Gastric acid Initiates digestion of protein and kills bacteria.
Pepsinogen is secreted which converts into pepsin.
Gastrin is released by endocrine cells in the stomach in response to the arrival of food. Secretion by the gastric glands is stimulated by the hormone gastrin.
Intrinsic Factor Aids in absorption of Vitamin B12 by small intestine.
Lipase initiates digestion of dietary fat.
Pepsin Aids in initiation of protein digestion.

Digestive Enzymes in the pancreas
Bicarbonate secreted by the pancreas neutralizes acid and protects digestive enzymes. The pancreas makes amylase, lipase, proteases and many other important digestive enzymes.

Pancreatic proteases
These include carboxypeptidase, elastase, trypsin and chymotrypsin. In addition to the proteases, lipase and amylase, the pancreas produces a number of other digestive enzymes, including ribonuclease, deoxyribonuclease, gelatinase and elastase. The secretion of pancreatic fluid is controlled by two hormones: Secretin, which mainly affects the release of sodium bicarbonate, and cholecystokinin (CCK), which stimulates the release of the digestive enzymes.

Natural Digestive enzymes in the small intestine
Aminopeptidases attack the amino terminal (N-terminal) of peptides producing amino acids.
Disaccharidases convert disaccharides into their monosaccharide subunits.
Maltase hydrolyzes maltose into glucose.
Sucrase hydrolyzes sucrose (common table sugar) into glucose and fructose.
Lactase hydrolyzes lactose (milk sugar) into glucose and galactose.

Digestive enzyme classification
Digestive enzymes are classified by their substrates:
Proteases and peptidases split proteins into amino acids
Lipases split fat into fatty acids
Carbohydrases split carbohydrates such as starch into sugars
Nucleases split nucleic acids into nucleotides.

List of Digestive Enzymes
Aldehyde dehydrogenase - People who experience reddening of the face when drinking alcoholic beverages are at increased risk for cancer of the esophagus, the tube that passes food from the mouth to the stomach. The alcohol flushing response, which is common among people in East Asia, is due primarily to an inherited deficiency of the enzyme aldehyde dehydrogenase 2, which is found throughout the body, especially in the liver. About one third of people from Japan, China, and Korea have a genetic mutation that reduces body levels of aldehyde dehydrogenase 2. Since there are two copies of every gene for enzymes in the body, it is possible that a person can have this mutation in one, both, or neither copy of the aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 gene. PLoS Medicine, March 2009.
Aminopeptidases attack the amino terminal (N-terminal) of peptides producing amino acids.
Amylase to digest carbohydrates such as starch and glycogen. Amylase is secreted by the pancreas and small amounts are also made in the salivary glands. Amylase is the enzyme that hydrolyses starch to maltose (a glucose-glucose disaccharide), as well as the trisaccharide maltotriose and small branchpoints fragments called limit dextrins.
Bromelain is found in pineapples. Plant-based enzymes, such as bromelain from pineapple, serve as effective digestive enzyme aids in the breakdown of proteins.
Carboxypeptidase removes, one by one, the amino acids at the C-terminal of peptides. Cellulase for fruit and vegetable digestion
Chymotrypsin is a protease secreted by the pancreas for protein digestion. Chymotrypsin cuts on the C-terminal side of tyrosine, phenylalanine, and tryptophan residues
Disaccharidases convert disaccharides into their monosaccharide subunits.
Elastase cuts peptide bonds next to small, uncharged side chains such as those of alanine and serine.
Ficin from figs
Lactase for milk sugar digestion
Lipase for fat digestion. The drug orlistat (Xenical) is a pancreatic lipase inhibitor that interferes with digestion of triglyceride and thereby reduces absorption of dietary fat. The health concerns regarding the use of orlistat and blocking of fat absorption are yet to be fully understood.
Maltase hydrolyzes maltose into glucose.
Nucleases hydrolyze ingested nucleic acids (RNA and DNA) into their component nucleotides.
Pancreatin
Pepsin is secreted in the stomach. Digestion of proteins is initiated by pepsin in the stomach, but the bulk of protein digestion is due to the pancreatic proteases secreted in the small intestine..
Papain is in papayas
Protease for protein digestion is secreted by the pancreas.
Trypsin is a protease secreted by the pancreas for protein digestion. Trypsin cleaves peptide bonds on the C-terminal side of arginines and lysines.
Sucrase hydrolyzes sucrose (common table sugar) into glucose and fructose.