Does your dog or cat have gut intolerances, skin sensitivity, ligament issues (studies show decreased injury in humans when on a digestive enzyme), need immune support?
Digestive enzymes are becoming popular supplements and a lot of their popularity is due to minimal side effects and intolerances and I often wondered if they were actually necessary and so I researched them and this is what I found
First off, what are enzymes? Enzymes occur naturally within the body and are specialized proteins that function as catalysts for almost all cellular functions and chemical reactions throughout the body. Enzymes play a critical role in growth, healing, and reproduction. They are also necessary for breathing, thinking, immune function, hormone regulation, detoxification, and thousands of other biochemical functions. Enzymes are also necessary for digesting food nutrients and converting nutrients to energy in cells.
Many foods actually contain enzymes too but the body’s ability to constantly produce metabolic and digestive enzymes is limited by raw material availability and production capacity and the more we heat our food the more enzymes that get destroyed and that is even in a non-processed diet but a raw food diet is not for everyone’s cup of tea and let’s face it somethings need to be cooked. If our diets do not include sufficient food enzymes to break down the food we eat, our body’s endogenous enzyme resources must be directed toward the production of digestive enzymes to speed conversion of food to bioavailable nutrients this can then result in decreased levels of metabolic enzymes that are critical for optimal health and cell function.
The breakdown of food starts in the mouth and continues along the intestinal tract, nutrients are released and can be absorbed across the intestinal barrier into the bloodstream so one of the main functions of digestive enzymes is to increase the bio-availability of nutrients, in a nutshell how many nutrients are available out of the food you eat to you. Now there are many reasons that digestive enzymes may be lacking and some are concerned with the pancreas or maybe a problem with the gallbladder and that is really out of the scope for this blog. However, other reasons such as micronutrient deficiency, a processed food diet, too little or too much exercise but it may be individual food sensitivities, chronic gut infection or inflammation or repeated antibiotic exposure which affects gut microbial, digestive and liver health. Then there are emotional stresses too. Pregnancy can also result in decreased digestive enzymes due to the extra demands placed on the body as well as unfortunately aging because that leads to a decline in pancreatic and digestive function.
This decrease can result in loads of different symptoms because when you think about If you're not digesting your food properly it's going to have repercussions throughout the body now obviously much will be related to the gut but the wider impact of digestive enzyme deficiency could be to do with your immune system it could be depression, anxiety, and then there is also autoimmune conditions and other more serious gastrointestinal ones.
Once I started to investigate the digestive enzyme supplements I initially labelled as a fad I then started to appreciate and saw my dogs benefit from taking them.
Jean Hofve DVM agrees. In a 2013 paper about Digestive Enzymes she made the case for routine digestive enzyme supplementation for all pets.
“Digestive enzymes can be used for pancreatic and GI issues, but are also beneficial for healthy patients eating heat-processed pet foods.”
Dr Hofve goes on to say:
“… recent research shows that in humans with gastrointestinal disease, but more importantly, even in normal individuals, supplementation with digestive enzymes substantially increased digestion in the lumen of the small intestine, and improved the bioavailability of proteins and carbohydrates. Especially in view of the highly processed diet that most of our pets are eating, this implies that most healthy adult dogs and cats can benefit from a digestive enzyme supplement. Digestive enzymes help pets digest and assimilate food better–any food.”
So, raw feeders, don’t stop reading! Dr Hofve said “any food!” This is important for your dog too. Raw fed dogs often need extra enzymes.
The way you feed and raise your dog creates some situations where digestive enzymes can really help your dog.
I never used to recommend
Terrazyme until I appreciated this and saw the result, rest assured, I will only ever recommend something I truly believe in. Terrazyme is a proprietary blend of active whole food enzymes that are supporting cofactors that support the body's constant production of enzymes that are critical for healthy functioning body processes.
DigestZen TerraZyme includes a variety of whole-food enzymes that help with the digestion of proteins, fats, complex carbohydrates, sugars, and fibre. Enzymes include lactase which breaks down lactose in milk, Anti-Gluten enzyme blend that helps with that’s right gluten and Alpha Galactosidase which helps with legumes.
When choosing digestive enzymes it is important to know what you are buying and that what you are buying is effective and also safe.
Potency of digestive enzymes is absolutely crucial because this actually demonstrates the amount of activity of each enzyme in a product and it's important to know the activity rather than just the weight because the weight tells you nothing about its activity for example a digestive enzyme supplement for example that has say 40 mg of lipase you might think might be better than a smaller dose but it is actually the activity that counts. So always use a digestive supplement that states enzyme activity as reported in the Food Chemical Codex (FCC) so that you are making an informed decision and can be safe in the knowledge of the activity of each enzyme has been carefully measured and standardised
Now this latter part is another reason that I love Terrazyme from doTerrra because that is what is listed on the back of the bottle.
It even contains a gluten enzyme to help digest gluten which is amazing as dogs can also be intolerant to gluten!
Dog's under 10kg 1/2 twice daily with food
over 10kg 1 terrazyme twice daily with food
Cats 1/2- 1/2 mixed with wet food 1-2 time daily
Mix with food immediately prior to giving the food to your cat and dog as it doesn't take long to start digesting
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Information given here is not intended as a substitute for medical or veterinary consultation - the author has no liability nor responsibility with respect to any issues occurring out of use such as damage, loss, injury.