What Role Do Digestive Enzymes Play in Weight Loss?

July 31st, 2010 Posted in Articles, Fat Loss

Many people would never even think of buying digestive enzymes when they shop for supplements. Being that they are rarely mentioned in any muscle or fitness magazine, people assume they are not needed or cannot benefit them when attempting to achieve their fat loss goals. Even though enzymes are not a necessity for achieving your fitness goals, it is important to know exactly what they are, the different kinds of enzymes and discuss how they can help you.

What Are Digestive Enzymes

Digestive enzymes allow our bodies to break down the foods that we consume. Enzymes help to regulate every metabolic process and make sure that we are able to fully absorb the nutrients we consume on a daily basis. Digestive enzymes can help those who require more calories such as a hardgainer to fully absorb the nutrients that they need in order to reach their full potential. Now that I have described what digestive enzymes are, I will proceed to give you three of the most important enzymes needed to decrease body fat and increase lean muscle tissue.

Different Kinds of Enzymes

Below is a list of some enzymes that play an important role in weight loss as they cover the three macronutrients (proteins, fats and carbohydrates). There are other enzymes, but these are most important for those attempting to have fat loss success.

1. Amylase- The enzyme that is responsible for breaking down carbohydrates.

2. Protease- The enzyme that is responsible for breaking down proteins.

3. Lipase- The enzyme that is responsible for breaking down fats.

Miscellaneous

Cellulase- The enzyme that is responsible for breaking down fibers.

Note: the body does not produce this enzyme naturally. We must consume this through a dietary supplement or food in order to reap the benefits it provides our bodies with.

How Can Digestive Enzymes Help You

People attempting to decrease unwanted belly fat, naturally must consume more protein than the average person as it is one of the three macronutrients. By taking the digestive enzyme protease, it can enable your body to absorb the protein your body intakes and utilize it better.

The way that this works is your body will increase its blood levels of amino acids. When these amino acids are in your body, it will enhance your body’s ability to put on lean muscle tissue and assist in optimal recovery time. So if you were training hard and were finding yourself suffering from chronic fatigue and soreness, protease may be something you can add to your diet other than L-Glutamine and BCAA’s to help with this problem.

Another interesting thing to take note of is the older you get, the harder it becomes to digest foods. Research states that when someone takes a blend of digestive enzymes, their bodies can digest and absorb the foods they eat at a faster rate than if they had not taken any enzymes.

When to Take These Supplements

The best time to take protease would be before and after a workout as it can help you stay anabolic. An optimal amount to take to ensure your body the best results would range anywhere from 200 to 600 mg’s per day. Personally I would take around 200-300 mg’s before and after a workout as it allows your body to fully absorb this enzyme.

Amylase and lipase enzymes should be consumed right before a meal so your body can digest the food you consume adequately. Usually amylase and lipase are found in a digestive enzyme blend and are not sold separately.

A great digestive enzyme to consume would be pancreatine. This enzyme contains protease, lipase, amylase as well as several other enzymes that will allow your body to digest foods more efficiently. The best part of all is that pancreatine is very cost efficient.

Shopping Tips

There are so many different name brands and products out there that claim their digestive enzyme is the best. When choosing a digestive enzyme, take note of a few things. First and foremost, look for a blend that has protease, amylase and lipase as these are the enzymes that help absorb and digest the three macronutrients.

Next, I would look for a brand that has bromelain as it helps digest protein and with inflammation or joint pains. Papain is another enzyme that helps to digest proteins. So other than these five ingredients mentioned above: trypsin, chymotrypsin, pepsin are enzymes that can constitute a great complex of digestive enzymes. Trypsin, chymotrypsin, pepsin are the three proteolytic (or protein-degrading) enzymes which helps deliver those important amino acids to the body and allows the body to recover optimally and produce more muscle.

So the next time you are at your local supplement or vitamin store, check to make sure these ingredients are all in the multi-enzyme you choose and you should reap all the benefits mentioned above.

Written by Anthony Alayon. Anthony Alayon is the creator of The Fat Extinction Program. The reason he decided to create this program was because he was sick and tired of all the myths and lies regarding weight loss.. For more, visit his website.