Digestive enzymes are proteins that speed up the breakdown (hydrolysis) of food molecules into their separate components (for example, sucrose is split into glucose and fructose). These reactions happen within the gastrointestinal tract (GI), and most of the digestive enzymes present naturally in our bodies are secreted by the pancreas into the small intestine via the pancreatic duct. Examples of digestive enzymes include amylase, gelatinase, lactase, lipase, maltase, peptidase, and protease.
Digestive enzyme products may be given orally at meal times to improve digestion in people who cannot digest food properly because their pancreas does not produce the required amounts of enzymes (can occur as a result of cystic fibrosis, surgery, inherited conditions and other reasons).
