If indigestion is becoming a more frequent occurrence, Ultrazyme by Douglas Labs may offer assistance. It is specifically formulated with bile and active digestive enzymes to help you digest fats, proteins and carbohydrates.

• Support for breaking down fats, carbohydrates and proteins

Fat Digestion
Although fat digestion starts in the mouth with salivary lipase, most triglycerides are digested by pancreatic lipase, which is secreted by the exocrine pancreas into the duodenum of the intestine. Pancreatic lipase cleaves triglycerides into monoglycerides and free fatty acids, which are efficiently absorbed in the upper small intestine.

Digestion of Carbs
Some carbohydrate digestion takes place in the mouth by salivary amylase, but pancreatic amylase is the major carbohydrate-digesting enzyme. It breaks down starches into maltose and maltotriose, which are further hydrolyzed into glucose by the disaccharidases of the mucosal cells, and then absorbed.

Protein Digestion
Protein digestion is initiated in the stomach by pepsin and hydrochloric acid, which denature and divide large proteins into smaller polypeptides. The pancreatic proteinases, trypsin and chymotrypsin, break down these polypeptides into free amino acids, and di- or tri-peptides, which are directly absorbed by the intestinal mucosa.

Ultrazyme provides high levels of catalytically active pancreatic enzymes that are specific for fats, carbohydrates and proteins. Ultrazyme also contains bromelain, which acts to help prevent allergens from crossing the gastrointestinal tract, and assists in the breakdown of large macromolecular protein complexes.