Are digestive enzymes any good?

dbs

Are digestive enzymes any good?

Got IBS some foods I cant eat as I get stomach pains straight away raw onion, orange juice,spices for examples.

Had all tests done so it is IBS, not tried digestive enzymes though so is it worth a go if yes which ones are any good?

Ted_Hutchinson

Are you thinking about probiotics?

This multispecies probiotic seems to be an effective and safe option to alleviate symptoms of IBS, and to stabilise the intestinal microbiota.

Based on the results from the present 1-year extension study, treatment with this probiotic-prebiotic complex may be an option for short-term (2-4 weeks) and long-term ( approximately 60-week) reductions in IBS symptoms.

If you do your own search at pubmed you will find plenty more papers like the above. A similar search for "Digestive Enzymes" does not produce a similar crop of potentially helpful research. If a lack of "Digestive enzymes" were implicated in IBS there should be some evidence this is the case?

Bear in mind that IBS involves inflammation and inflammation results in pain so anything you can do to increase your anti-inflammatory status and reduce pro-inflammatory intake may aid the situation.
People with adequate vitamin D status use half the pain killers for half the time of those with low vit d status. Omega 3, magnesium, selenium, green tea are all good anti-inflammatories, more info on pro-anti inflammatory foods here.

ailuro2

I'd keep a food diary and write down any symptoms, or good days you have and try to see a pattern- if dairy triggers your IBS then of course Actimel and Yakult aren't going to help any. Some multivitamins now claim to have probiotics- iirc these things must be taken with food, as straight stomach acid kills the good bacteria, but taking with food helps the problem.

Has your GP not given you info to help with your condition?

Ted_Hutchinson

ailuro2 wrote: »

if dairy triggers your IBS then of course Actimel and Yakult aren't going to help any.

It depends if you are lactose intollerant or have milk allergy. Milk allergy is often muddled with Lactose Intolerance. Although their symptoms sometimes are confused with each other's they are two different conditions. While the former is a reaction by the Immune system, Lactose Intollerance is caused by inadequate amount of lactase enzyme to break down lactose.

People who have difficulty digesting lactose may tolerate products that contain live and active cultures, such as Actimel and yakult.
Actimel/ Yakult contain milk and are therefore unsuitable for those people allergic to milk or dairy products.
But Boots do a probiotic (on 3 for 2 at the moment)

melancholly

my IBS was trigged by various things but it turned out that dairy was the worst! i'd been buying the yogurts to try and help the situation too!!! i'm not convinced they help all that much (type 'do probiotics work' into google and the evidence from double blind trials is poor) and they are quite expensive.

the best way to isolate what tiggers your episodes is to have a little while eating very plain food (no citrus, dairy, wheat, gluten or onion and its relatives) and then introduce things. it's a very dull period when you eat virtually the same stuff every day, but the long term gains make it worthwhile. i still have to limit dairy and i can't eat greasy or rich food in large quantities, but i don't have random attacks like i used to. stress still sets it off but i haven't yet figured out a way to exclude that from everyday life!

dbs

I currently take probiotics, a fiber supplement and I am careful what I eat and drink but just wondered if any body had tried digestive enzymes because sometimes I get heartburn aswell.

melancholly

sorry, obviously missed the point there! haven't tried it myself (but as i say, it is now manageable - on the whole!) but this website has an IBS sufferers forum on it so you may get more help there:
http://www.ibsgroup.org/forums/