There are many great reasons why Enzymedica manufacturers of Digest Gold can call themselves The Enzyme Experts. They include:1 2
- Enzymedica is an American based company out of Venice, Florida.
- Enzymedica have been producing enzyme supplements since the late 80’s and they were one of the first!
- Their capsules contain no fillers!
- Enzymedica is both NSF and GMP certified!
Digest Gold, One of Recommended Digestive Enzyme Supplements
I recommend the use of their different enzyme products for different health issues, but when it comes to digestive health, I recommend Digest Gold. Digest Gold contains an optimal blend of different digestive and systemic enzymes as well as a blend of different amylases, proteases, cellulases, and lipases. Enzymedica has added ATPro to their enzyme, which is a blend of supplements and magnesium that can help stimulate pepsin and gastric acid production by increasing ATP production. Enzymedica has found a way to help the body naturally increase stomach acid without having to use betaine HCL or pepsin directly. I do not recommend that people with mercury amalgams or people who are mercury burdened supplement with Digest Gold because of the ALA (alpha lipoic acid) in ATPro. If you are suffering from a mercury burden or have mercury amalgams I cannot recommend Digest Gold because the ALA might improperly mobilize mercury, instead I recommend you use Gutzyme. Adenosine triphosphate is a form of energy that the body produces but is also important in the regulation of the timing of the digestive system.3
Digestive enzyme supplements are usually comprised of different enzymes that are used by the gastrointestinal system to assimilate foodstuffs. The main enzymes used in these supplements are proteases (for protein), lipases (for fat), and carbohydrates (for carbohydrates.)4
- Protease – A digestive enzyme that is useful in digesting protein. Look for a good digestive enzyme that includes different proteases.5
- Lipase – A digestive enzyme that is useful in digesting fat. Look for a good digestive enzyme that includes different lipases. There are some concerns that long-term lipase supplementation may degrade the stomach lining.6
- Amylase – A digestive enzyme that is produced by the saliva glands in humans, and in small amounts produced by the pancreas. Amylase is a digestive enzyme that catalyzes the breakdown of starches into simple sugars. If you are diabetic, you might want to use a digestive enzyme that has low amounts of amylase, or none at all. Amylase use in a diabetic might cause a major increase in blood glucose levels because of the rapid breakdown of starches into glucose in the stomach. Look for a good digestive enzyme that uses different amylases.7
Digestive enzymes should be used in people who have problems breaking down and assimilating foods. It is extremely beneficial for people with Celiac disease,8 gallbladder disorders,9 heartburn, 10 and people that are suffering from SIBO.11
Digestive enzymes should only be used with caution, and during certain protocols listed in Fix Your Gut when needed. Digestive enzymes should not be used for a very long period. Long time use of digestive enzymes (more than three months) has been theorized to cause the body to make less endogenous digestive enzymes and can lead to a dependency. If you take them for an extremely extended period, your digestive system might need a boost by taking Swedish bitters to encourage endogenous production of enzymes again. During the time where your digestive system produces fewer enzymes, some digestive problems might return. You should just try to wait it out if all possible. Eventually, your body will catch back up. If you need to take digestive enzymes indefinitely, you should cycle off one week every month. During the off week, you should take Swedish bitters every day.12 13
The only main issue I have with most digestive enzyme formulas, in general, are that most of the enzymes are produced from yeast, therefore, if you are sensitive to yeast you may have a negative reaction to them. The enzymes in these supplements are supposed to be purified, and any offending yeast proteins should be removed. However, if you do have a negative reaction to digestive enzymes and are yeast sensitive, I suggest you use digestive bitters.
Finally, to evaluate the quality of your digestive enzyme supplement, break open two capsules in a bowl of cooked oatmeal (let it cool to about 98F first) and stir it with a fork for one minute. The oatmeal should break down into a liquid after a few minutes if you have a quality supplement. I have tried this with Enzymedica Digest Gold before, and it passed with excellence!
The Digestive Enzyme I Recommend is:
- http://www.enzymedica.com/about-us/who-we-are.html ↩
- http://www.enzymedica.com/about-us/quality-assurance-standards-certifications.html ↩
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1341065 ↩
- http://whole9life.com/2012/09/digestive-enzymes-101/ ↩
- http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/natural-health/protease/ ↩
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2111783 ↩
- http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2013/jan2013_Are-You-Obtaining-the-Proper-Enzymes_01.htm ↩
- http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2002/10/09/gluten-part-three.aspx ↩
- http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2002/10/09/gluten-part-three.aspx ↩
- http://www.bottomlinepublications.com/content/article/health-a-healing/digestive-enzymes-may-be-your-answer-to-heartburn-gluten-intolerance-flatulence-and-even-arthritis ↩
- http://drbganimalpharm.blogspot.com/2013/11/how-to-cure-sibo-small-intestinal-bowel.html ↩
- http://www.naturaldigestivehealing.com/blog/2011/10/03/why-i-don%E2%80%99t-recommend-hcl-and-digestive-enzymes/ ↩
- http://www.gwens-nest.com/natural-remedies/digestive-bitters/ ↩
I take excellacor enzymes but does not help with digestion. I don’t have my gall bladder and I get gas and bloating after eating. I would like to take a good digestive enzyme .. would the Gold be a good one?
Possibly, you might want to try to find a digestive enzyme that contains bile.
I cannot seem to find Digest Gold without ATPro. Did they discontinue it?
I believe so yes.
Can digest gold help with halotosis? I have Barretts oesophogus, severe reflux which is monitored every 2 years with endoscopy. As the contents of my stomach comes up to my gullet, i think this is causing the problem. I read about these digest gild2and have just recieved them today.
no gallblatter have barrets gerd
Hi John I am so happy to have found you, I have idiopathic GP and just ordered Moonshine digestive bitters that you suggested.I do not have a gallblader but oxbile, hcl with gsastrin and even Veganzyme and many other dont help and make me sicker? I will be getting an HCL without pepsin soon, I thought if my hoshymotos keeps my from taking NDT then maybe oxbile and pepsin are giveing me a reacction.MY husband has saks in the throat dyverticuli? He has a hard time swallowing and gets bad breath because of the trapped food.Someone told him about Enzmedica Enzme Defense, he opens a capsule and mixes it with water and swallows and his bad breath is gone.But this cant be good for his throat and is he now becoming depentant.He dosent have disestive issues yet…What so you think?
is it commen for digest gold to give you acid reflux?? i was on digest basic and was ok on it changed to gold and got reflux from it i think
I just started DIGEST GOLD a month ago and it gave me horrible acid reflux, every time o got it (4 times). Eventually i tried half the pill, but i also got acid reflux that made me extremely ill that night. I had to take losec to sto the acid reflux and it didnt work. Before that i havent had acod reflux in years. I asked amazon to RETURN them but they refused. Before these i took multizyme by Nature’s plus, which were extremely helpful
Yes, same problem here. I have used many different enzymes and digestive aids before and no problem. Enzymedica DigestGOLD (this bottle even has a best before date of this month) has been giving me heartburn which I had not had in ages.
1) They are either too strong for me or
2) They may have fungi contamination or I may be reactive to some other ingredient
Will have to stop taking and maybe try again when they are “old” and have lost some of their effectiveness.
What are your thoughts on Creon?
It is prescription lipase, protease, and amylase, that is delayed release. It is porcine derived enzymes. The problem with the medication is the additives: http://www.rxabbvie.com/pdf/creon_medguide.pdf. I would recommend you talk to your doctor about Thorne’s pancreatin instead. It is not the worst medication by far, better than most, I just believe there are supplements that are similar with less additives.
Is Digest Gold able to improve the digestion of diary products?
If you are lactose intolerant it may help relieve that.
Hello. Thank ypu for this complete opinion. Why are you saying ATPro contains ALA while it is described as a mix of ATP, Mg citrate and co-Q10.
The presence of ALA worried me as I have amalgams.
I’ve had my gallbladder removed about
10 yrs ago.
I have GERD Doctor has me on prilosec
One daily. I have bloating, gas, burping, feeling over full and I eat small meals. Would it be safe to take the Digestive Gold?
I would ask your doctor, but I see no issues with taking it. If you are on PPI’s long term look into taking magnesium and B-12 to prevent deficiencies.
i have barret gerd no gallblatter is it saft to take digest gold
I have esophilic colitus and struggling,I bought the digest gold with atpro,hoppping it works,any suggestions?
There is not a lot of information with EC, but I believe it either stems from some sort of infection or genetic cause. I would eat a clean diet like the Perfect Health Diet and chew my food very well. Work on increasing stomach acid if yours is low. It is very important to reduce proteins to their most digestible form since it will set of EC, the digestive enzymes may help with that. Proper Omega 3 intake is important to reduce excessive inflammation. The same can be said about vitamin C and magnesium intake. Proper vitamin D production from sunlight and proper melatonin production from good sleep hygiene may help as well. Good luck.
Does this advice apply to protoleoytic enzymes as well? Or only digestive enzymes?
I take protoleoytic enzymes daily.
In theory yes because proteolytic enzymes are also produced by the same organs that produce digestive enzymes and both are one in the same. I depends if you are suffering from a disease where you need to take proteolytic enzymes for relief, then I would continue to take them.
Someone mentioned Digest Gold can cause damage to the liver….she found this after i told her all m vitamins, supplements and meds….because my doc found my “liver enzymes to be high”. i asked her if she knew if any of my things i take on a day to day could be the cause of this. She came out to say it was the digest gold
Anything is not out of the realm of possibility, but it is highly unlikely that digestive enzymes would increase liver enzymes. If your liver enzymes are elevated the doctor needs to run some more liver tests and determine why the enzymes are elevated in the first place even if it was the Digest Gold. Digestive enzymes should not cause elevated liver enzymes in a healthy person. You might be having issues with your bile ducts.
Hi John,
Thanks for the link back to my blog post on bitters. :) I’ve done a good bit of research on them, and I would lean more toward standard bitters like Urban Moonshine or the recipes on my blog rather than the Swedish Bitters if you’re looking for long term digestive support and increased enzyme production. The Swedish bitters have an un-necessarily yucky camphor flavor, as well as a bowel stimulant that can be habit forming if used long term (senna).
The bitters I recommend on my website and in my book do not contain any senna.
I don’t know if you are aware of this, but apparently Enzymedica changed the formula for Digest Gold. They added ATPro to their formula and some people they have used it have not responded well to the new formula.
Here is a review and comments about the new formula on Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/review/R30RJGEL2ARX7F/ref=cm_cd_pg_pg1?ie=UTF8&asin=B0012NW4RQ&cdForum=Fx200PO0TDFEW4&cdPage=1&cdThread=TxVPRYT0PXPSQL&store=hpc#wasThisHelpful
Like it says when you read the comments most people are probably feeling ill from mercury redistribution from the ALA. Just use Digest or Digest Gold without ATP pro if you have mercury fillings.
Hi Dude author of FixYourGut John Brisson, i been Diagnosed with Esophageal spasm disorder, when having chest pains all the time from eating certain things and when not eating but just acid imbalances in my body. anyways i know EnzyMedica is fantastic Company! however looking at their Bottle Label for the Digest Gold ATP Pro, by the way too i have 4 Amalgam Mercury fillings unfortunately, so i do not want to make it worse by taking ALA Acid. i can’t seem to Verify if it’s in the ATP Pro part of the Digest Gold formula.
i tried these but get all sorts of weird side effects.
I have been taking digestive enzymes for over a year now. I was very strict on not eating a meal without any. How should I go about coming off them? I have severe SIBO/SIYO and I am preparing to do the protocol you recommend for 3 months then get tested to see how much I balanced my gut microbes . I want to stop using them after I fixed my gut dysbiosis . How would you recommend I go about coming off them if I have been taking them for almost 2 years now?
I would recommend trying Swedish Bitters during the weekend instead and slowly tapering off the digestive enzymes.
Yes, if children have digestive issues it is safe for them to occasionally take enzymes I would give them to my son Abel through his g-tube. I would either use this (http://www.enzymedica.com/digest-this-blog/item/new-enzymedica-s-kids-digest-chewable.html) or half of a Digest capsule (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000260LF6/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000260LF6&linkCode=as2&tag=stac01-20&linkId=US2PRCGNK5XM3NRJ) if they are younger than 10.
Should children ever take enzymes?