Digestive enzyme supplementation improves the health and well-being of your canine and feline companion in several crucial ways.
“Man does not eat what he swallows, but what he digests and uses,” wrote Hippocrates. This is true for all creatures, including dogs and cats – and an important part of what determines food involves digestive enzymes. In this article, we’ll look at what digestive enzymes are and why they’re so important to your pet’s health.
What is an enzyme?
Enzymes are proteins found either in cells or dissolved in body fluids. They serve as biological catalysts, reducing the amount of energy required for chemical reactions and controlling metabolic reactions that otherwise would not occur or would occur very slowly under normal physiological conditions. There are over 80,000 known enzyme systems, each with a specific function. Life would not exist without them, because the whole metabolic process in the body is based on the activation, inhibition and control of enzymes.
Diseases caused by enzyme dysfunction
Diseases that disrupt the synthesis or secretion of pancreatic digestive enzymes cause poor digestion followed by malabsorption.
Exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI) occurs when there is loss of 85 to 90% of the exocrine pancreatic mass. Without pancreatic enzymes, severe poor digestion and malabsorption of starch, protein and especially fat will occur. EPI in dogs is often complicated by secondary overgrowth of intestinal pathogens and antibiotic-responsive diarrhea, which further impairs digestion and nutrient absorption. EPI is relatively rare in cats and is most commonly due to chronic pancreatitis.
Lactase deficiency A deficiency of the brush border enzyme can lead to milk intolerance in adult dogs and cats. (The brush border refers to the microvilli-covered surface of epithelial cells found in the intestines.)
Amylase deficiency Acquired brush border defects may be seen in generalized small bowel disease. Carnivores are not suited to high carbohydrate diets because they cannot sustain long-term production of the amount of amylase enzymes needed to digest and utilize them properly. Cereal proteins are also less easily digested than animal proteins. Allergies and other chronic immune problems may develop, as discussed in the next paragraph.
Food allergies and sensitivities are common with enzyme dysfunction. Allergens are almost always protein, and undigested food particles can cross the intestinal barrier into the bloodstream, where they are identified as foreign substances by the immune system. This wastes valuable defense resources on a “false alarm” rather than defending the body against real dangers, and is called dietary leukocytosis (a diet-induced increase in white blood cells).
CICs (circulating immune complexes) start out as large, undigested protein molecules (primarily from wheat, corn, dairy, and soy) that can be absorbed into the bloodstream. Antibodies couple with these foreign protein invaders to form CICs. At first, these CICs can be neutralized by the immune system, then eliminated by the lymphatic system and the kidneys.
An overabundance of CICs can overwhelm the body’s ability to eliminate them, so the body is forced to “store” them in its own soft tissues, resulting in an ongoing allergic immune response that leads to inflammation and, ultimately, to autoimmune disorders. In fact, studies have shown that diseases that exhibit high levels of CICs can be improved or even cured by removing excess CICs. Additionally, putrefaction in the gut caused by undigested food can compromise the integrity of the gut wall, allowing various environmental toxins in food to find their way into the bloodstream and body.
Supplement with enzymes
Additional enzymes are needed to replace those destroyed by cooking and food processing. Processing and cooking at any heat from about 118°F to 129°F (48°C to 54°C), for as little as three minutes, can destroy virtually all enzymes. This results in very little pre-digestion in the stomach, which means that what remains of the food mass enters the small intestine largely undigested. This puts the pancreas and other organs of the endocrine system under enormous stress, as they must draw on stores throughout the body in order to produce massive amounts of the appropriate enzymes.
It is important to consult your veterinarian when selecting the appropriate enzyme product for your dog or cat. Additional enzymes are often found in combinations:
- Lipase: Digests most fats.
- Lactase: Digests milk sugar. Most mammals have high intestinal lactase activity at birth, which declines to low levels with age and causes incomplete digestion of milk and other lactose-containing foods. Like humans, some dogs and cats seem more able to tolerate milk than others.
- Amylase: Facilitates the breakdown and assimilation of starches and carbohydrates so that they can be converted by other enzymes into glucose.
- Glucoamylase: Breaks down maltose into glucose molecules.
- Cellulase and hemicellulase: break down cellulose (fiber), which allows access to essential nutrients in fruits and vegetables (for example, carotenoids in carrots, polyphenols in berries, and folate in beans, spinach, and broccoli ). Cellulase is produced mainly by fungi, bacteria and protozoa.
- Maltase: Digests complex and simple sugars, as well as unused glycogen in muscle tissue. Glycogen is converted from sugars and starches and is stored in muscle cells for future use.
- Invertase: Breaks down sucrose products like refined sugar, a common food source that can contribute to digestive stress.
- Alpha galactosidase: Helps digest carbohydrates found in certain foods, such as beans, which are not easily digestible in the small intestine. The undigested carbohydrates then pass into the large intestine where they are fermented by bacteria and produce gas, bloating, pain and general discomfort.
As Dr. Edward Howell wrote in Enzymatic nutrition: The food enzyme Concept“A person’s lifespan is directly related to the depletion of their enzyme potential. And the use of dietary enzymes decreases this rate of depletion and, therefore, results in a longer, longer life. healthier and more vital.We can also improve the lives of our dogs and cats by taking into account the contribution of enzymes to their well-being and longevity.
The post Why Your Dog or Cat Needs Digestive Enzymes appeared first on Animal Wellness Magazine.
