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I don’t know what’s more aggravating, having an issue with digestion or not knowing how to fix an issue that you’re having with digestion. Anyone who has experienced a problem with their digestive tract knows that it can be painful, annoying, and difficult to live with. Eating and digesting food properly is something you can take for granted until you run into a problem. According to the GI Alliance, each year 62 million Americans are diagnosed with a digestive disorder. With a lot of people suffering with their digestion comes a lot of products targeted to help with digestion and two of the more popular ones are probiotics and enzymes. I was curious to hear an expert’s opinion so I asked Sara Kahn, a board-certified nutritionist specializing in gut health some questions about both. Sara Kahn received her Masters of Science in Nutrition & Integrative Health (MS); she is a Certified Nutrition Specialist practitioner (CNS) and a Certified Dietitian Nutritionist (CDN) by the State of NY. After struggling with IBS and SIBO, she founded Belly Bliss Nutrition to help those with IBS, SIBO, GERD, and other digestive disorders get relief and long-term results by addressing the root cause.

What digestive conditions do the majority of your clients struggle with?

Most of our clients are struggling with IBS, SIBO, GERD, food sensitivities, and more. They have seen a lot of doctors, tried a few different dietary approaches, and have a hard time getting long-term results. They are super frustrated trying to figure it all out on their own.

When it comes to probiotics and all of the different brands and strands available, how should people decide what to take?

There are a lot of probiotic options available and it can be very confusing to decide. Probiotics are not often the first thing we try to improve gut health. We don't want to give the impression that a probiotic alone is going to solve digestive issues. It usually takes a multifactorial approach because gut disorders are multifactorial conditions. Diet, hydration, sleep, stress, movement, meal timing, medications, supplements, etc. They all play a role in how we feel.

With that being said, there are some strains we go to for specific outcomes or to address certain conditions. We look at the medical literature and choose strains that have been studied for diarrhea, constipation, depression, gut barrier repair, and more.

Do you think everyone should take a probiotic daily or only if they are taking it for a specific reason?

If you have a mostly whole food, varied diet that includes fermented foods then you likely don't need a probiotic. We often make recommendations for probiotics for specific reasons.

Is it possible to take a probiotic and actually make things worse?

Not everyone tolerates all types of probiotics. There are three types - yeast-based, soil-based, and Lacto-bifido blends. You may find that you tolerate one type or all three. It takes some experimentation to determine which is going to serve you best. Those with histamine intolerance may find them problematic.

Since enzymes aren't as known as probiotics, can you explain what enzymes are and what they do?

Digestive enzymes help digest food. There are specific enzymes that can help digest protein, fat, and carbohydrates. For example, those who are lactose intolerant are lacking the lactase enzyme that helps them to digest the carbohydrates in milk and may find it helpful to take a lactase enzyme when having dairy.

In your experience, have you found that a lot of people have a digestive enzyme deficiency?

Digestive enzymes are produced by the small intestine and by the pancreas. Many of our clients have SIBO, which is small intestine bacterial overgrowth. This can cause inflammation in the small intestine and decrease enzyme production. We have many clients who benefit from digestive enzymes. We also often recommend digestive bitters which can help the body stimulate its own digestive enzymes.

There are many different kinds of enzymes available, do you have any tips on how to choose what one to take or is it more of a trial and error situation based on each person?

There are formulas that help digest protein, fat, and carbohydrates. And there are formulas that have specific enzymes that can be useful if we know exactly what is not being digested. We usually recommend our clients start with the foundation of good digestion, which is to chew their food until it's liquid before swallowing. Saliva has digestive enzymes so chewing food thoroughly helps the food mix with enzymes. Plus, chewing can stimulate digestive enzyme production.

We often use stool tests to determine if there is fat in the stool, in which case the client could benefit from lipase.

If someone wants to take control of their gut health or they're having stomach and digestion issues and want to work with you, how can they do that?

We offer one-to-one personalized nutrition counseling and a gut healing program, which can all be done virtually. We invite readers to sign-up for a free 15-minute strategy session where we can share our approach to their case.

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