Digestive Enzymes vs Probiotics for digestion
Short answer: For digestion, more users report improvement with Digestive Enzymes — 90% of 21 reports, versus 84% of 86 for Probiotics.
Digestive Enzymes has 18 meta-analyses and 31 randomized trials on PubMed; Probiotics has 2,293 and 2,235.
Based on 62 reports about Digestive Enzymes and 479 about Probiotics. Not medical advice.
| Digestive Enzymes Supplement | Probiotics Supplement | |
|---|---|---|
| Users say it helped | 72%helped27 reports · medium confidence | 63%helped144 reports · high confidence |
| Verdict | Mostly positive | Mostly positive |
| Research | AResearch: Strong | AResearch: Strong |
| Meta-analyses / RCTs | 18 / 31 | 2,293 / 2,235 |
| Mainly used for | ||
| Digestion % reporting improvement | 90% (21) | 84% (86) |
| Mood % reporting improvement | — | 100% (54) |
| Anxiety % reporting improvement | — | 90% (29) |
| Energy % reporting improvement | — | 80% (10) |
| Focus % reporting improvement | — | 70% (10) |
| Common side effects | stomach issues | stomach issues, brain fog, diarrhea, withdrawal |
| Typical dose reported | 1 capsule / 3x daily | 2 capsules / daily |
In this systematic review we present information relating to the effectiveness and safety of the following interventions: applied behavioural analysis; auditory integration training; Autism Preschool Programme; casein-free diet; chelation; Child's Talk programme; cognitive behavioural therapy; digestive enzymes; EarlyBird programme; facilitated communication; Floortime therapy; gluten-free diet; immunoglobulins; melatonin; memantine; methylphenidate; More Than Words programme; music therapy; olanzapine; omega-3 fish oil; picture exchange communication system; Portage scheme; probiotics; relati
BMJ Clin Evid, 2010 ↗“Digestive enzymes before every meal. I take NOW FOODS Super Enzymes. ... Noticed I was calm af. Stopped taking them. Anxiety came back in about three days.”
Some combinations of probiotics or strains may be beneficial in IBS. However, certainty in the evidence for efficacy by GRADE criteria was low to very low across almost all of our analyses.
Gastroenterology, 2023 ↗“What finally made a difference was taking probiotics...I felt better fairly quickly.”
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Percentages come from first-hand user reports and are not clinical outcomes. Talk to a doctor before starting, stopping or combining anything. How we rate