Lipase is one of our most vital digestive enzymes released mainly by the pancreas into the small intestine to help the body process and absorb fats. This enzyme is crucial to our health. By breaking down and helping the body to absorb fat, it does so much more for the body than you would expect. It can naturally help major digestive disorders like coeliac disease and other serious health conditions such as cystic fibrosis. Lipase is often taken in combination with the two other vital enzymes: protease and amylase. While lipase breaks down fats, protease processes proteins and amylase takes care of carbohydrates. When all of these enzymes are at the proper level in your body, your digestion and overall health can really be optimal.

Lipase is a key requirement to proper fat digestion, which affects so many bodily functions as well as health conditions. Lipase by definition is a fat-splitting enzyme found in the blood, gastric juices, pancreatic secretions, intestinal juices and adipose tissues. It hydrolyzes fats like triglycerides into their component fatty acid and glycerol molecules. Your body uses triglycerides for energy, and you do need some triglycerides for good health. However, high triglyceride levels can raise your risk for heart disease. That’s just one of the reasons why it’s so important to have lipase doing its job!

7 Key Health Benefits of Lipase

Most people do not need additional lipase. However, if you have any one of the following health conditions then having more of this enzyme might be helpful:

1. Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Supplements containing lipase and other pancreatic enzymes can help reduce bloating, wind and fullness following a meal, especially one high in fat. These symptoms are commonly associated with digestive troubles like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Research has also shown that some patients with irritable bowel syndrome may have exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, which is the inability to properly digest food due to a lack of digestive enzymes made by the pancreas.

2. Cystic fibrosis
Cystic fibrosis (CF) is an inherited disorder that disrupts normal functions of epithelial cells, the cells that line the passageways of many of our most important organs — including the lungs and respiratory system, liver, kidneys, skin and reproductive system. People with cystic fibrosis produce abnormally thick, sticky mucus and often have nutritional deficiencies because mucus blocks pancreatic enzymes from getting to the intestines. Taking pancreatic enzymes including lipase can help the body of a CF sufferer to better absorb much needed nutrition and energy from food.

3. Coeliac Disease
Coeliac disease is a type of autoimmune disease characterized by an inflammatory response to gluten that damages tissue within the small intestine. The small intestine is the tube-shaped organ between the stomach and large intestine, where a high percentage of nutrients are usually absorbed — however, in people with coeliac disease, this process stops working right. Symptoms of coeliac disease can include abdominal pain, bloating, weight loss and fatigue.
First and foremost, it’s crucial to follow a completely gluten-free diet by avoiding all products containing wheat, barley or rye. In addition, pancreatic enzymes including lipase have been shown to help treat coeliac disease. In a double-blind randomized study of children with coeliac disease, the children who received pancreatic enzyme therapy (including lipase), had a modest weight gain compared to those who received placebo. The weight gain happened during the first month, and the study concludes that pancreatic enzymes seem to be especially helpful during the first 30 days after diagnosis. This finding is helpful and significant since kids and adults with coeliac disease often experience diarrhea, weight loss, abdominal pain and bloating, fatigue, or painful skin rashes. In fact, about half of all people diagnosed with coeliac disease experience weight loss.

4. Gallbladder Removal
The gallbladder is a little pear-shaped pouch tucked behind the lobes of the liver. Its main job is to store up the cholesterol-rich bile that’s secreted by the liver and this bile along with lipase helps your body digest fatty foods. If you have gallbladder issues or don’t have a gallbladder at all, then a supplement containing lipase can be very helpful.

Lipase is key requirement to proper fat digestion and absorption. If you have had your gallbladder removed already then you might find that you have trouble digesting certain foods, especially fatty foods. Lipase enzymes can also be an excellent natural gallbladder remedy since it helps improve fat digestion and the use of bile.
You might think its good not to consume or properly digest fats, but without high-quality healthy fats in your diet, like Omega 3’s, your well-being will suffer because these fats are essential for good health. Lipase along with bile is what ensures these healthy fats get properly used when you have a gallbladder malfunction or have had your gallbladder removed.

5. Unhealthy Cholesterol Levels & Cardiovascular Health Issues
Since lipase helps the body to digest fats, a deficiency can lead to higher, unhealthy levels of cholesterol and triglycerides, which in turn can directly contribute to cardiovascular issues. People who are deficient in lipase tend to have high levels of cholesterol and fat in their blood. When triglyceride levels near 1,000 mg/dL, individuals can develop pancreatitis (a serious inflammation of the pancreas) in addition to heart disease. High triglyceride levels are also linked with obesity, type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome.

6. Poor Nutrient Absorption
Having sufficient lipase levels helps your body to properly absorb vitamins and minerals from the foods you eat. So it’s not just important to eat the right foods, it’s also extremely important to have the right balance of enzymes in your body to process these healthy foods.

7. Over-Weight
Research has shown that lipase could be complimentary to weight loss since it breaks down fat that is in the body. A few years ago, scientists were able to manipulate lipase and triple its power by flipping on a molecular “switch” that turns the enzyme on and off. They actually succeeded in making lipase enzymes work three times harder, increasing fat digestion from 15 percent to 45 percent of the time.


Talk to your health practitioner to find out if supplemental lipase would be useful for you. To find a registered nutritional therapist in your area check out the British Association for Applied Nutrition and Nutritional Therapy (BANT) http://bant.org.uk For high quality plant-based digestive enzymes that you can trust go to: www.enzymedica.co.uk http://www.enzymedica.co.uk/collections/therapeutic/products/lypo-gold-fat-digestion



CONTACT DETAILS:
For more information on Enzymedica’s own LIPASE supplement LYPO-GOLD or on medical references for this article please contact: Susan at susan@tmcventures.com www.enzymedica.co.uk

Hi-Res images also available upon request.