The reason we need to supplement with digestive enzymes

(NC)—Digestive enzymes help replace enzymes lost in the cooking and processing of food and make up for decreased enzyme production by the body due to aging.

The human body makes and uses more than 3,000 kinds of enzymes to speed up enzymatic reactions and conserve energy. Without these enzymes, we could not live. Our bodies' reactions would be too slow for survival.

“While digestive enzymes, including the kinds found in Udo's Choice ultimate digestive enzyme blend, are only a few of the thousands of known enzymes, they facilitate a critical step in the digestive process,” says Udo Erasmus, bestselling author and formulator of Udo's Choice.

Enzymes' role, from the moment food enters our mouth, is to start breaking them down to the smallest components that can be absorbed by the body. For minerals like calcium and magnesium, this will be at the molecular level. For sugars, this will be to fructose and glucose. Our body then absorbs and reassembles these components to build cells, tissues, organs, glands and entire body systems.

The body has two sources of digestive enzymes. First, it is able to manufacture enzymes, although there are limits to its ability to maintain optimum levels. And, second, it can also obtain them from food, provided the food has not been heated above approximately 40 degrees centigrade, in other words, from raw food. In an ideal world, to ensure an adequate supply, the body obtains enzymes from both sources. Unfortunately, for most of us, raw and sprouted foods don't make up a sufficiently large percentage of the diet to adequately supplement the enzymes produced by the body. (It goes without saying that cooked, canned, microwaved and pasteurized foods contribute no enzymes.)

Caffeine, alcohol, illness, pregnancy and stress all take their toll on our enzyme reserves. Furthermore, our bodies also produce fewer enzymes as we age. But even when we consume more raw foods, the cooked foods we eat, lacking enzymes, still create a problem. This is because nzyme deficient foods put a burden on the digestive system–a burden we weren't designed to handle. Incomplete digestion can lead to poor nutrient absorption, fatigue, digestive upset, food allergies and other health conditions. The body tries to compensate by producing more internal digestive enzymes, but its ability to do so has limits. Partially digested food escapes from the gut and can cause an immune response. Ultimately the body may try to "steal" enzymes from the immune syste––compromising it even further.

Udo's Choice digestive enzyme blends contain the full spectrum of important enzymes necessary to help in the digestion and absorption of all major nutrients. Five specialized formulations of active enzymes, designed to be age– and condition–specific, facilitate healthy digestion, improve nutrient absorption and immune function, increase energy levels and decrease inflammation and food allergies.

You can find out more about Udo's Choice online at www.florahealth.com or toll–free at (888) 436–6697. You can also join Flora's sharing health community, a free forum about healthy living.

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