If having better gut health (or maintaining the good gut health you currently enjoy) is one of your self-care goals, there is no better way than by adding the power of three – probiotics, prebiotics, and digestive enzymes.

Putting these three powerful tools together will help improve your digestion and help eliminate digestive issues. Together they can also help maximize the nutrition you get from everything you eat, which boosts your immune system and your overall health.

 

Your Gut Health

Your gut contains trillions of both good and bad bacteria; together, they make up your gut microbiome. When your microbiome is in balance, meaning good bacteria dominate and far outnumber harmful bacteria – all of your bodily systems work better.

Eating yogurt and fermented foods rich in probiotics is an excellent way to help maintain gut balance. Another way you can help the good bacteria thrive is by taking probiotics and prebiotic supplements together.

 

Probiotics & Prebiotics – What’s the Difference?

Think of the relationship between probiotics and prebiotics like a garden. Probiotics are the diverse plants, flowers, and trees that bring the garden to life. Prebiotics are like fertilizer that helps the plants in your garden grow lush and strong.

Probiotics contain beneficial bacteria that help your gut perform many duties that dramatically benefit your overall health. Probiotics supplements reinforce helpful bacteria, delivering microbes directly to where you need them.

Prebiotics are types of starches and fiber that feed the good bacteria in your microbiome and allow them to thrive.

But that’s not all prebiotics do for you; their benefits go beyond food for good gut bacteria. Prebiotics strengthen your bones by enhancing the absorption of magnesium and calcium. Prebiotic also take part in fat metabolism and appetite regulation.

Taking prebiotic and probiotic supplements together like Stonehenge Health’s Dynamic Biotics and Ulitmate Prebiotic Complex helps create a more balanced microbiome, leading to better digestion, fewer gastric disruptions, and more complete nutrient absorption. And better nutrient absorption means your entire body gets more of what it needs for health and wellbeing.

Digestive Enzymes

Enzymes are a type of protein within cells that create chemical reactions. Your body contains many different kinds of enzymes that help perform various tasks like removing toxins from your body, digesting food, and building muscles. Digestive enzymes are enzymes that turn the food you eat into the molecules you use as energy.

There are four primary digestive enzymes. Protease helps breakdown protein. Amylase comes from the salivary glands, pancreas, and intestines to break down starch and carbs. Lactase breaks down lactose or milk sugar. And lipase comes from the intestines and breaks down oils and fats.

Several factors impact your digestive enzymes. Food choices can either help or hinder them, and certain foods like pineapple, papaya, mango, and spinach contain some digestive enzymes.

Unhealthy things we consume like alcohol can alter the stomach and intestines’ pH and reduce the number of digestive enzymes in your system. Some health issues and prescription medications like antibiotics can also reduce digestive enzymes.

Without enough digestive enzymes, your body can’t digest your food correctly, which leads to food intolerances that feel like cramps, uncomfortable bloating, and gas or worse. When the enzymes in your body are affected, or your digestive enzyme production isn’t as good as it should be, digestive enzyme supplements can help.

Digestive enzyme supplements help fortify the enzymes in your stomach and intestines to help improve digestion. Chose a digestive enzyme supplement like Stonehenge Health’s Incredible Digestive Enzymes that contains a complete range of enzymes able to break down the most troublesome foods like dairy and gluten.

Whether you reach for prebiotic or probiotic supplements, digestive enzymes, or all three, it’s well worth the benefits you’ll feel. Boosting your gut health will give you long-term benefits that affect your entire body, get more nutrition from the foods you eat and give you a more robust immune system, and so much more.

Sources:

1. “Probiotics | American Gastroenterological Association”. 2020. American Gastroenterological Association. https://gastro.org/practice-guidance/gi-patient-center/topic/probiotics/.Bottom of Form
2. Deng Y, Misselwitz B, Dai N, Fox M. Lactose Intolerance in Adults: Biological Mechanism and Dietary Management. Nutrients. 2015;7(9):8020-35. doi:10.3390/nu7095380
3. Peyrot des Gachons C, Breslin PA. Salivary amylase: digestion and metabolic syndrome. Curr Diab Rep. 2016;16(10):102. doi:10.1007/s11892-016-0794-7
4. Legette, LeeCole L., WangHee Lee, Berdine R. Martin, Jon A. Story, Jessica K. Campbell, and Connie M. Weaver. 2012. “Prebiotics Enhance Magnesium Absorption And Inulin-Based Fibers Exert Chronic Effects On Calcium Utilization In A Postmenopausal Rodent Model”. Journal Of Food Science77 (4): 88-94. doi:10.1111/j.1750-3841.2011.02612.x.
5. FDA 101: Dietary supplements. (2015).gov/consumers/consumer-updates/fda-101-dietary-supplements
6. Gut reaction: A limited role for digestive enzyme supplements. (2018).harvard.edu/staying-healthy/gut-reaction-a-limited-role-for-digestive-enzyme-supplements
7. “Probiotics | American Gastroenterological Association”. 2020. American Gastroenterological Association. https://gastro.org/practice-guidance/gi-patient-center/topic/probiotics/
8. “23 Effects Of Alcohol On Your Body”. 2020. Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/health/alcohol/effects-on-body#2.