As someone who eats very healthy, including lots of fresh salads and vegetables, I discovered that all this good food could be better utilized with a healthy digestive system. Dr. Steven Lamm, MD, internist and faculty member at New York University School of Medicine, writes, “When the digestive system is working properly it serves as a barrier to bacteria, viruses and pathogens of all kinds.”

Diminishing Digestive Enzymes
There are some things we can do and other things we can’t avoid that adversely affect the production of pancreatic enzymes. They are:

1. Aging Children and young adults normally have good digestive health, but Dr. Susan Lark the author of Enzymes the Missing Link to Health, writes that “by the time most people reach their forties and fifties, the biochemical aging of the body begins to accelerate and the production of digestive enzymes diminishes. “ Some doctors suggests that by age 50 you may be making half the amount you did when you were younger.
2. Standard American diet Lack of fresh vegetables and fruits means a lower supply of digestive enzymes. Raw fruits and vegetables provide needed enzymes to digest our food. Once cooked, the enzymes are destroyed.
3. Stress
4. Alcohol overuse
5. Caffeine
6. drugs

Why You May Need Digestive Enzymes
1. Digestive enzyme production diminishes with age
2. Digestive processes become less efficient with age
3. Reduced motility – the ability of food to move through the digestive tract – occurs with aging
4. Stomach produces less hydrochloric acid with age which helps with protein digestion

Signs of Digestive Enzymes Deficiency
As people age they may find that foods they once enjoyed, they can no longer tolerate. Some digestive symptoms listed below may be a sign that you are deficient in your enzyme production:

• Heartburn or Acid Reflux
• Belching or flatulence
• Constipation
• Cramping
• Bloating

How to Improve Your Digestive Health?
1. Take digestive enzymes to improve your health and immune system
2. Take these supplement just before a meal
3. Chew your food to increase your own natural production of enzymes
4. Eat raw foods such as pineapple, mango, kiwi, and papaya

Heated foods destroy enzymes while raw and organic foods contain the most enzymes.
A diet that includes enzyme rich foods and digestive enzyme supplements can help to support physical and mental energy by improving the absorption and assimilation of nutrients. Dr. Susan Lark ties the role of digestive enzymes with the inflammatory process. “The production of abundant pancreatic enzymes not only helps to hasten recovery from trauma, respiratory illnesses and exertion, but can be useful in the treatment of a number of inflammatory diseases ….”

Leslie Degner, RN, BSN
www.WebRN-MacularDegeneration.com