Probiotics and digestive enzymes both play key roles in digestion, but in very different ways. And when your digestive system isn’t feeling right, it’s a good bet that at least one of them isn’t working the way it should be.
If you’re dealing with diarrhea, constipation, bloating, gas, indigestion, or other gastrointestinal (GI) discomfort, you want quick relief. And chances are that you need supplemental digestive enzymes or probiotics—or both—to get that job done.
How do you know which will make things better? To figure that out, you need to know what probiotics and digestive enzymes are, how they work, and how they’ll affect your GI situation.
What Probiotics and Digestive Enzymes Do
Good gut health depends on both probiotics and digestive enzymes. That’s why your body naturally contains plenty of both… at least most of the time. Sometimes illness, medications, or other circumstances can interfere with your body’s supplies, and that can call for supplemental support.
Let’s take a look at the main functions of each. Knowing what they do is the first step toward knowing which one—or if both—will help with the issues you’re facing.
Probiotics
Probiotics are live beneficial microorganisms, primarily bacteria along with some yeasts, that promote optimal health. They’re found throughout your body but primarily live in your gut microbiome, home to trillions of bacteria. Probiotics help keep your gut microbiome in healthy balance, meaning they vastly outnumber and control harmful pathogens that could otherwise cause illness.
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Probiotics have profound effects on digestion and the gut microbiome and also play a much broader role in your overall wellness. Research shows that probiotics promote:[1,2,3,4]
- Digestive comfort, especially in the lower GI tract
- Production of essential compounds including short chain fatty acids (SCFAs), nutrients like B vitamins, antioxidants, and even some digestive enzymes
- A strong, impermeable protective mucosal gut barrier
- Healthy, balanced immune system function
- Proper inflammatory responses
- Positive mental health
- Sharp cognition
- Restorative sleep
- Healthy weight maintenance
Probiotics bring harmony and balance to your gut microbiome, the true centerpiece of your health, to affect your whole body in dozens of important ways.
Digestive Enzymes
Digestive enzymes have a critical, highly specific job. These specialized proteins break down the food you consume into base nutrients and other healthful compounds (like antioxidants) that your body can absorb and use.[5]
As soon as food crosses your lips, your digestive system gets “break it down” signals and begins producing and releasing enzymes. Most enzymes are created in the pancreas but your saliva, stomach, and small intestines produce some as well.
There are three main types of digestive enzymes made by your body:
- Lipases, which help your body break down fats and oils
- Proteases, which break down proteins into amino acids and peptides
- Amylases, which convert carbohydrates into simple sugars
Your body also creates (or doesn’t) specialty enzymes like lactase, which is needed to break down lactose, the sugar in milk, for example.
Why You Need Both Working to Stay Comfortable and Healthy
Your body needs a gut full of probiotics and a robust supply of digestive enzymes all day, every day. If one isn’t working, you’ll feel it—and it will almost certainly affect the other.
You need all types of digestive enzymes in plentiful amounts to digest your food. Without them, your body can’t break down what you eat. That means you won’t be able to extract and utilize nutrients which can lead to deficiencies. Nutrient deficiencies can lead to a whole host of diseases, from anemia to cancer to autoimmune conditions.[6,7]
Your digestive system will feel overfull and heavy. You might feel like you have a burning lump in your throat, chest, or stomach. You could be struck with indigestion, constipation, excessive burping, oily stool, and abdominal pain every time you eat.
At the same time, you need trillions of probiotic bacteria living and working in your gut microbiome, or pathogens could gain a foothold and take over. And, unfortunately, a lot of things can cause that kind of imbalance. A round of antibiotics. Exposure to pesticides like glyphosate on your food. Feeling stressed out. And those are just a few of the causes.
When a gut imbalance happens, it leads to a condition called dysbiosis, where harmful bacteria dominate and cause a world of issues. They can penetrate the gut barrier, leading to leaky gut. That can cause all sorts of digestive symptoms like diarrhea, gas, bloating, and abdominal cramping.
And because the gut microbiome creates whole-body effects, dysbiosis can also lead to things like:
- Fatigue[8]
- Brain fog[9]
- Mood imbalances[8]
- Weight gain[10]
- Itchy skin[11]
- Food sensitivities[12]
- Immune system imbalances[13]
So you can see why you need both digestive enzymes and probiotics to keep your whole body running smoothly. And when things go wrong, it’s important to take the right steps to get yourself back on track.
When Do You Need Probiotics?
If your gut microbiome was knocked out of balance and tripped into dysbiosis, you may be experiencing symptoms that don’t seem related. That’s because your gut microbiome—and the trillions of bacteria it contains—affect every organ and system in your body.
The most obviously connected symptoms show up in the GI tract and include things like diarrhea, gas, bloating, and cramping. Beyond that you could be noticing exhaustion, unintended weight gain, cloudy thinking, or feeling sad and worried. Any of these symptoms could be tied back to a gut microbiome overrun by pathogens.
Getting and keeping your gut microbiome in healthy balance with a diverse, thriving population of probiotic bacteria can help support whole-body health… including smooth, comfortable digestion.
The Best Way to Balance Your Gut Microbiome
You can support your gut microbiome and your digestive health by taking spore probiotic supplements.
Spore probiotic strains have a unique protective armor that lets them survive all the hazards of digestion, including stomach acid and digestive enzymes. Unlike other probiotics, spore probiotics withstand a wide range of temperatures including the extremely high heat in your digestive tract. That’s how spore probiotics can arrive in your gut 100% alive and able to get to work every time.
Once spore probiotics reach the gut, they clear the field for a flourishing population of diverse native probiotic bacteria. At the same time, spore probiotics contribute to your gut and overall health in important ways:
- promote gut barrier strength and function[14]
- support regular stools and abdominal comfort[15]
- produce SCFAs such as propionate and butyrate that support gut health[16]
- produce essential nutrients like B vitamins and other healthy compounds such as antioxidants[17]
A healthy gut microbiome can also encourage digestive enzyme production and function, contributing even more to digestive health and comfort.
When Do You Need Digestive Enzymes?
You know when you have indigestion, when you feel uncomfortably full for a long time after you’ve eaten, or when you’re constipated and bloated. All of those are signs that your digestive enzyme activity has slowed down. This can happen due to health conditions like diabetes, eating a diet of mainly processed foods, or even aging, as production can naturally drop off as you get older.
So if you feel like there’s a brick in your belly for hours after you’ve left the table, struggle with heartburn, or feel generally awful after you’ve eaten, it might be time to give your digestive enzymes a hand.
The Best Ways to Stimulate Digestive Enzymes
You have two main options when you’re looking to increase your digestive enzymes: take supplemental enzymes or spark your body’s own production. Generally, whenever possible, it’s better to encourage your body to produce its own digestive enzymes.
One of the best ways to stimulate your body’s natural digestive enzyme production is with bitter foods. Bitter tastes spark digestive juices from the moment you take a bite all the way through your digestive system. You can start meals with bitter foods like raw arugula, dandelion greens, or fresh horseradish.
You can also try a digestive bitters supplement (in capsule form) that gives you all of the enzyme-stimulating powers of highly bitter foods without having to withstand the bitter taste. This option can also be much more effective than foods along, because it can be hard to eat enough bitter foods regularly to have a noticeable impact on digestion.
Traditionally, digestive bitters believed to promote digestive enzymes include:
- Gentian Root Extract, which contains compounds that spark production of digestive enzymes and gastric juices.
- Sweet Wormwood Herb, which stimulates enzyme and bile secretions, which helps your body break down food more easily and supports optimal nutrient absorption.
- Ginger Root and Rhizome Extract, which encourages production of pancreatic lipase, an enzyme needed for digestion in the small intestines.
- Peppermint, which increases digestive enzyme activity in the gut.
Supporting your body’s own natural abilities to fully digest food and break it into absorbable nutrients can only add to your digestive comfort and wellness.
Just Thrive Gut Health Products
Enjoy Digestive Comfort with Just Thrive
By supporting a well-balanced gut microbiome and your body’s natural digestive enzyme production, you’ll give your body what it needs to enjoy smooth, comfortable digestion and get the most out of everything you eat.
Just Thrive Probiotic delivers a combination of four clinically studied spore probiotics known to support a healthy, balanced gut microbiome full of a diverse population of beneficial bacteria. Just Thrive Probiotic contains:
- Bacillus subtilis HU58™
- Bacillus indicus HU36™
- Bacillus clausii
- Bacillus coagulans
Just Thrive Digestive Bitters is a holistic formula that delivers a comprehensive blend of 12 time-tested bitters including peppermint, ginger root, sweet wormwood, and gentian root. Just Thrive Digestive Bitters is designed to stimulate digestive activity and encourage the production and release of digestive enzymes.
And to make your life easier, Just Thrive Digestive Bitters comes in a convenient, tasteless capsule that delivers all the digestive benefits without the bitter taste.
>> Enjoy complete, smooth digestion with Just Thrive Probiotic and Digestive Bitters whenever you eat. Give your gut the gift of comfort today, starting with your next meal.
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- Mazzucca CB, Raineri D, Cappellano G, Chiocchetti A. How to Tackle the Relationship between Autoimmune Diseases and Diet: Well Begun Is Half-Done. Nutrients. 2021 Nov 5;13(11):3956. doi: 10.3390/nu13113956. PMID: 34836210; PMCID: PMC8620243.
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