USANA Digestive Enzyme

Raw food contains an abundance of enzymes to support digestion. However, most of us don’t live on a raw food diet. When we cook our food, the enzymes in the food are destroyed and our body has to make them in order to digest our food. usana Digestive Enzyme supplements supply enzymes to help us digest our meals more efficiently. And with added spirulina, this unique formula also supports the body’s natural processes for eliminating toxins.*

Digestion
When you eat foods—such as bread, meat, and vegetables—they are not in a form that the body can use as nourishment. Food and drink must be changed into smaller nutrient molecules before they can be absorbed and carried to cells throughout the body. Food enters the mouth and is chewed, while chemical processing begins with chemicals and enzymes in the saliva from the salivary glands. It then moves down the esophagus into the stomach, where acid both kills most contaminating microorganisms and begins mechanical and chemical break down of some food. As part of this digestion process, the stomach has three tasks: First, it stores the swallowed food and liquid. Second, it mixes up the food, liquid, and digestive acids produced by the stomach. And third, it empties its contents slowly into the small intestine.

After the stomach completes these tasks (typically after an hour or two in humans), food is passed to the small intestine where the majority of digestion and absorption occurs. Here it is further mixed with three different liquids. Bile, produced by the liver and stored in the gallbladder, emulsifies fats; juice secreted by the pancreas, and intestinal enzymes secreted by the mucosal membranes, further process sugars and proteins.

The results go through the small intestine and into the large intestine. There, some break down products, and complex molecules are further digested and absorbed. Non-digestible food products (dietary fiber) are mixed with water and waste products and concentrated into feces, which are excreted. Without optimal functioning of enzymes, good digestive health may be impaired.

The Importance of Digestive Enzymes
Although raw foods contain an abundance of enzymes, which may play an important role in human health, how many of us actually eat raw foods on a daily basis? Modern diets contain dramatically less enzymes due to cooking and heavy processing of foods, and many researchers over the last century have maintained that this loss of dietary enzymes may be a significant contributing factor to poor health as we age.

USANA Digestive Enzyme supplies the supplemental enzymes our bodies may need to break down the cellulose (from fruits and vegetables), fats, proteins, carbohydrates, and starches that we eat, so the macronutrients are available for our cells.

Spirulina
In addition to promoting healthy digestion, USANA’s Digestive Enzyme supports the body’s natural detoxification processes with the addition of spirulina, a nutrient-rich blue-green algae that contains chlorophyll. Chlorophyll helps promote the elimination of toxins from the body.*

Spirulina is a nutrient-dense “superfood.” It is rich in amino acids; vitamins A, C, E, and the B-complex vitamins, including vitamins B12 and B6; phytonutrients; and minerals, including magnesium. The liver—the body’s primary organ for filtration—depends on all these nutrients to function properly.*

Why USANA® Digestive Enzyme?
Supplementing with USANA’s Digestive Enzyme can help maintain healthy levels of enzymes for optimal efficiency. It is designed to support more complete digestion and absorption of macronutrients. The addition of spirulina makes USANA’s formula unique in the supplement industry.*