Metagenics - SpectraZyme Gluten Digest

Product Notes:

SpectraZyme Provides Digestive Support for Gluten

If you're trying to follow a gluten-free diet, you know that can be a real challenge, particularly if you're on the go, and on occasions when no suitable options are available. Metagenics SpectraZyme Gluten Digest features an enzyme specifically targeted at breaking down the component of gluten which causes gluten-intolerant people so much grief.

Metagenics SpectraZyme Gluten Digest is designed to work within the stomach, to help break the components of gluten down before it reaches the small intestine to do its damage.

SpectraZyme Gluten Digest should not be regarded as a viable substitute for a gluten-free diet, however, nor as a means of treating or preventing celiac disease. Results may vary, depending on how much additional protein was eaten with the meal. But the key ingredient in SpectraZyme Gluten Digest has definitely been shown to be able to break down gluten, making it a good backup support for those avoiding dietary gluten who want something to help digest (rather than waste) a meal, those times you're reluctant or unable to insist on a completely gluten-free meal.

People with gluten intolerance who have difficulty digesting foods or beverages containing wheat, barley or rye – possibly along with items which have been cross-contaminated with those cereal grains somewhere along their production chain – are unable to fully break down a component of wheat gluten or the homologous storage proteins of barley and rye called prolamin peptides (an amino acid).

That undigested prolamin wreaks havoc on the microvilli or hair-like structures of the small intestine – causing them to get flattened down, unable to do their job of absorbing nutrients from the foods which pass through. This can lead to inflammation and bloating, gas, feeling cold, and various other symptoms after eating (even bleeding) – and can result in virtually your whole meal being literally wasted.

The Tolerase G in this product is a unique type of endoprotease (also called proteolytic peptidases – an enzyme that can break proteins' long, chainlike molecules down into shorter fragments called peptides, and then to their smaller components, amino acids) that specifically targets proline. It has been isolated from Aspergillus niger – a type of fungus (like the black mold which grows on fallen leaves) that can be fermented to produce very useful enzymes which can be isolated to help make food items or digestive aids such as corn syrup, cider, and the digestive enzyme called "Beano," for example. This particular proline-specific endoprotease isolated in Tolerase G has been shown to help break down gluten proteins in humans, both in vitro and in a gastrointestinal model.