Are you in search of assistance with digestive ailments, for yourself or your patients? If so, you may find an article on page 24 of interest that discusses a digestive enzyme known as FODZYME. It is a white powder that has the goal of alleviating digestive symptoms in individuals who are sensitive to foods with high levels of FODMAPs. What in the world are FODMAPs? They’re fermentable carbohydrates (sugars) naturally present in some foods.
If individuals with irritable bowel syndrome eat FODMAP carbohydrates, they can experience symptoms of the digestive system. IBS affects one in seven people, and 70% to 75% experience relief of their symptoms on a low-FODMAP diet. The diet is useful but is a pain because it involves an elimination diet with an astonishing number of foods, some of which are nutritious. Once one knows which FODMAPs cause them the most issues, it’s recommended that they eat less of them (or none at all). The silver lining, however, is that if one wishes for a solution beyond simply avoiding FODMAPs, a digestive enzyme by the name of FODZYME is available.
I’ve long believed that I’m sensitive to FODMAPs, so I began to play around with the FODMAP diet. The diet explained some enigmas for me. For example, I used to prepare a tasty salad that I felt wonderful about because it was healthy, but I always noticed that after 10 hours or so, I’d be bloated. So frustrating, because that salad was totally healthy! Greens, peaches, cherries, almonds and avocado. It blew my mind to discover that nearly the whole salad was high in FODMAPS.
I haven’t given up any of those foods, but I do cut back on them. For example, I am a guacamole addict, but I now eat smaller servings of it. I believe these adjustments benefited my digestion, and now I have another weapon as well: FODZYME. It exists either in a jar or a box full of small, single-serve packets. The powder is sprinkled on food, or added in. I was dubious because it sounded yucky to sprinkle what I thought was medicine powder on my food. I thought it would ruin the texture and would definitely have a flavor. Sure, you can put some in water and drink it, but research indicates that the enzymes function optimally when sprinkled over food or added to it. So, okay, I tried the stuff.
Guess what? No taste. It literally doesn’t taste. I have given some of the FODZYME to my mother—who has awful IBS and is a picky eater—and she agrees that there’s no taste. I tried the “put it in water and drink it” method too, and that’s the only time that it almost tastes. It also makes the water cloudy too, so no thanks. But on my food, it absorbs right into it. Even on my precious avocado. It’s such a tiny amount of powder for a dose (about a quarter teaspoon) that it really isn’t a problem. Now I sprinkle it on food as freely as salt. My young daughter questioned what it was, and I told her it was fairy dust.
Does it work? I believe so. Sure, the effects are difficult to monitor. I’m not exactly conducting a science experiment here—nor is my mom—but we both believe FODZYME has decreased our bloating. That was one of the main symptoms for both of us. Now that I know the stuff really works, I sort of enjoy sprinkling it. How else is my child going to think I have anything to do with fairies? In this issue there’s also an accompanying article about how to handle spicy foods if you’re following a low-FODMAP diet. Both these methods—the diet and the enzymes—are great tools and can work in conjunction, as well.
