The Digestive System: Enzymes That Help Break Down Food

We tend to think that eating lots of vitamins is already half the battle. But it all comes down to one thing: whether your body can break them down. Without enzymes, even the most expensive supplement passes straight through. Let's look at the main workers of the digestive system.

🔬 How digestion works

Digestion is a chain where each step grinds food down to tiny particles that can enter the blood. The main "tools" are enzymes: proteins that speed up breakdown thousands of times.

• In the mouth, amylases start working.
• In the stomach — proteases.
• In the small intestine — lipases and the rest.
• Without enzymes, food rots instead of digesting.

🧬 Protease

Protease breaks down proteins into amino acids. Without it, meat, fish and eggs turn into heaviness and bloating, not muscle-building material.

• Breaks down proteins.
• Provides amino acids.
• Reduces heaviness after meat.
• Sources — papain, bromelain.

🥑 Lipase

Lipase handles fat digestion. If there's too little, fatty food causes burping, heaviness and greasy stool — and fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, K just don't absorb.

• Breaks down fats.
• Helps absorb vitamin D.
• Reduces heaviness after fatty food.
• Important for the gallbladder.

🌾 Amylase

Amylase digests carbohydrates. It starts in the mouth — that's why chewing well matters so much. Amylase deficiency means fermentation in the gut, gas and bloating after bread and porridge.

• Breaks down carbs.
• Works in the mouth.
• Less gas from grains.
• Important for porridge lovers.

⚠️ Deficiency signs

• Bloating and gas after meals.
• Heaviness even after a little food.
• Greasy, floating stool.
• Burping and heartburn.
• Undigested bits in stool.

🥗 Food sources

💡 Practice

• Chew food well — 20–30 times.
• Eat raw fruits (pineapple, papaya).
• Don't wash food down with lots of water.
• With heaviness — complex enzymes with meals.
• Move after eating instead of lying down.
• Consult a doctor.