Probiotics vs. digestive enzymes -- what’s the difference?

How often do you find yourself feeling uncomfortable after a meal or even throughout the day? Bloating, constipation or diarrhea, indigestion, and other symptoms are all potential signs that you may need to address your digestive health. There are several ways to decrease chronic digestive problems, including taking probiotics and/or digestive enzymes supplements. Both are designed to improve the health of your intestinal tract, but there are significant differences between probiotics and digestive enzymes.

Our digestive systems are filled with both good and bad bacteria. The opposing varieties are all necessary for digestion, but it’s important that a healthy balance between the two is maintained. If there’s an overgrowth of bad bacteria, you may experience symptoms such as a lowered immune system, stomach pain, poor cognitive functioning, acne, and many more. Probiotics serve to re-introduce good bacteria into your digestive tract in order to restore the balance of the microflora.

Digestive enzymes target the digestion of specific foods. For example, in order to digest dairy products, your body needs lactase, the enzyme that breaks down milk products. People who are lactose intolerant do not naturally produce enough of this enzyme and suffer unpleasant symptoms when they eat dairy.

How one benefits the other

Chances are the you or someone you know is sensitive to gluten, dairy, corn, and other common foods. Sometimes this sensitivity is severe enough to warrant cutting out the foods all together, but more often it simply means experiencing discomfort when those items are ingested. Probiotics and digestive enzymes both help to alleviate this issue. They work in different ways, and when combined, can be very effective.

Not only do probiotics help to keep your intestinal tract working properly, but they have an added benefit. The healthy bacteria in our guts produce a portion of the digestive enzymes needed to break down the foods we eat, so taking probiotics may increase your body’s production of digestive enzymes. The benefits of digestive enzymes are many as they aid in the digestion of every food in our diet.

Many people choose to take both probiotics and digestive enzymes as together they work to optimize intestinal health.

How supplements can benefit you

Probiotics work in two ways. They restore balance in the gut and the good bacteria produce digestive enzymes. Including good quality digestive health products such as ThreeLac Probiotic and Active Digestive Enzymes offered by Global Health Trax can improve digestive health, which, in turn, helps you to feel better and absorb more nutrients from the food you’re eating.

Natural supplements such as probiotics and digestive enzymes are a healthy way to improve the way you feel every day. Read more about the numerous benefits of digestive health products on the Global Health Trax website.