Today’s typical diets of cooked and processed foods make it very important to take supplemental enzymes to relieve some of your body’s digestive stress. Supplemental enzymes take the place of enzymes lost in food, enabling digestion to begin further up in the gastro region and resulting in more complete digestion and release of nutrients, while also easing the burden on the pancreas. This allows the pancreas, primarily an endocrine organ, to conserve its cellular machinery for production of insulin and glucagon; which are important in blood glucose maintenance. Since your body will put a higher priority on digestion than on maintaining health, it will steal enzymes from the immune system to finish digestion. Taking a supplemental enzyme can help relieve stress from not only your digestive organs, but also your immune system. Heartburn is also reduced or stops occurring altogether. Since the enzymes digest the food very quickly, food is passed into the intestine faster. Acid production, which is triggered by the presence of food in the stomach, is then reduced. The enzymes most often found in dietary supplements function in the same way as the enzymes found naturally in food and in the digestive tract. Supplemental enzymes are available that are capable of breaking down almost any food. For example, there are several different carbohydrate hydrolyzing enzymes such as: amylase (for polysaccharides), lactase (for milk sugar), invertase (for sucrose), and cellulase (for plant fibers). Supplemental enzymes can improve the level of digestion and help assure that the maximum level of nutrient absorption is attained. Nearly every person can benefit from supplementation with enzymes. Even healthy people may improve their absorption and utilization of nutrients through the use of digestive enzymes. Of course the benefits will vary, depending upon the individuals’ diet and general health. Even individuals in good health can expect to notice less fullness after meals, increased energy, faster emptying of the stomach, decreased gas, and more regular bowel habits.