Lipase
Updated Jun. 28th, 2023
A major digestive enzyme in the human body is lipase. This digestive enzyme in our gut is responsible for breaking down dietary fats into fatty acids that can easily be absorbed in our intestinal tract.
Digestion
Lipase is an enzyme that helps to break down any fat in the foods that we eat. When fat is broken down, it becomes free fatty acids, which are then absorbed in our small intestine. Once absorbed, fatty acids are used by our bodies to repair our cell membranes and as an alternate energy source. The proper digestion of fat is required for the absorption of the fat-soluble vitamins: A, D, E and K.
Will it digest internal fat too?
Sadly, lipase is restricted to the digestive tract and when you take it as a supplement, it will not digest your body’s fat stores. In fact, lipase helps us to absorb more of our dietary fat. This is important to ensure the health of our skin, cell membranes, and cardiovascular health. Taking lipase as a weight loss supplement will leave you sadly disappointed.
Deficiency
When the body does not produce sufficient lipase, it cannot properly digest fats into their fatty acid building blocks. When fat is not broken down in the digestive tract, fat-soluble vitamins such as vitamin A, D, E, and K cannot be absorbed. Over time deficiencies in these vitamins can develop. At the same time, the fat that is not digested and absorbed higher in the digestive tract continues down the intestines; Some of it may be digested by gut bacteria but most will continue through the digestive tract and pass into the stool. This passing of undigested fat results in symptoms that can alert you to a deficiency of lipase in your gut. One sign is steatorrhea, which is the presence of obvious fat in the stool. It can appear as fat globules or an oil slick on the surface of the toilet water. Another sign of less severe lipase deficiency is pale stools that float on the surface of the water.
How can I get more lipase?
Lipase can be found in a number of different digestive aid supplements, often in combination with other digestive enzymes such as amylase and protease. The recommended dosage for lipase depends on your natural body chemistry and the fat content in the foods that you are eating. It also depends on the source and activity of the enzyme preparation. A dose of between 8,000 and 24,000 USP units of lipase activity daily can be considered as a general recommendation. It is based on suggested pancreatin supplementation. Please note that the dosing on many of these supplements is confusing, where the amount per gram may be listed, when the actual dose is a fraction of that (e.g. 50mg is 0.05g). In general, because of the lack of standardization, dosing lipase will require a bit of trial and error on your part.
Hi National Nutrition,
Thank you for this useful article on lipase and proper digestion. It gives some great tips, especially the one where lipase will not help eliminate fat deposits.
Is there other ways to diagnose low lipase or poor fat digestion? Meaning can I observe some symptoms or problems that can stem from low lipase? For example, dry skin and lips, rashes and so on. Also can low lipase impact the digestion of fat supplements, such as omega3?
Hello, Katerina,
Thank you for your comment. Indeed, certain symptoms can clue you in to the fact that you may have low lipase. These include nausea and vomiting, chronic and intense abdominal pain, chronically feeling full, loss of appetite, weight loss, yellowing of the eyes and skin (jaundice), and loose, oily and foul-smelling stool. Long-term, low lipase can result in acute, and eventually chronic pancreatitis, gallstones, ulcers, liver disease, kidney failure and others. Low lipase will absolutely impact how well you can digest fatty acid supplements such as omega-3 fatty acids. Fortunately, many manufacturers add lipase to their products to enhance digestion and absorption.