Pancreatin is often recommended by natural health practitioners to treat: indigestion, gas, bloating, arthritis, autoimmune disorders, food allergies, cancer, cystic fibrosis, and skin conditions.

Pancreatic Insufficiency and Digestion
Enzymes naturally occur in all raw foods.  We refer to the "ripeness" of a food as its readiness to be eaten. Ripe foods are most abundant in enzymes that are used for digestion, but unfortunately these enzymes are destroyed by cooking and processing.  This means that most of the foods consumed by the average person today are deficient in enzymes. This forces the body to have to make up the difference, which it is sometimes unable to do. This state is often referred to as "enzyme deficiency" or "pancreatic insufficiency". Pancreatic insufficiency results in limited quantities of digestive enzymes that break down starch (amylase), protein (protease), and fats (lipase) into subunits that are small enough to be absorbed through our intestinal walls. When there are insufficient enzymes present for the amount of food that we consume, we do not get the nutrition we need from the food that we eat. This can result in weight loss or weight gain (a compensation by the body) and physical symptoms of nutritional deficiency such as: fatigue, dry skin, hair loss, and brittle nails. At the same time, the food that we do not completely digest in our small intestine, continues to our colon where it is broken down by intestinal microbes which can result in gas, bloating, cramping, constipation or diarrhea and steatorrhea (fat in the stool). Undigested food particles in people with "leaky gut" can result in immune reactions and a litany of resultant health concerns such as autoimmune diseases. For more information on "leaky gut", please click here. People with any combination of the above symptoms can often benefit from supplementation of pancreatic enzymes. The most natural way to get these enzymes in the proportions they are produced in nature, without changing food preparation habits, is to take pancreatic extract.

Pancreatic Extract
Pancreatic extract is an effective way to supplement missing digestive enzymes in people with insufficient pancreatic function is to ingest an extract created from animal pancreas. The most common sources are bovine (cow), porcine (pig), and ovine (sheep). Purified pancreatic extract is called "pancreatin", which contains only: amylase (starch cleaving enzyme), lipase (fat cleaving enzyme), and proteases (protein cleaving enzyme). The supplementation of pancreatin has been shown to improve nutritional status in malnourished individuals, and to help treat conditions such as cystic fibrosis, Celiac disease, pancreatitis, autoimmune disease and even aid in weight loss.

How do I take pancreatin?
Pancreatic extract can be found as pancreatin in products from several different sources, as tablets or capsules. Interestingly, it can also be found in a number of other digestive-aid products, such as multi-enzyme formulas.  It may be used with betaine HCl, to increase stomach acid and facilitate protein breakdown, or ox bile, to digest fats. The initial dose of pancreatin is 8,000 to 24,000 USP units of lipase activity taken before or with each meal or snack. Because it is purified, pancreatin has standardized quantities of enzyme units in it (unlike raw pancreas glandular extract). Each mg of pancreatin contains at least 25 USP units of amylase activity, 2 USP units of lipase activity, and 25 USP units of protease activity. Any supplements labeled with 3X, or 4X are referring to this standard dose (ie. 3X contains 75 USP units of amylase activity, etc.). Maximum dose is determined by the dose required to cause the side effects listed below.

Important Information
Do not take pancreatin if you are pregnant or nursing.  Do not use if you have active bleeding, blood disorders or if you use blood thinners, and discontinue pancreatin 2 weeks prior to dental work or surgery. Pancreatin can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, mouth and skin irritation, and allergic reactions.