Whether you should take digestive enzyme supplements depends on several factors, experts say. On its own, the body should produce levels of digestive enzymes sufficient for assimilation of nutrients, Goel said. But when it doesn’t, due to deficiencies evidenced by a stool test a doctor performs, prescription digestive enzymes are the primary treatment. Signs of digestive enzyme deficiencies include diarrhea, stomach pain, bloating, inexplicable weight loss and fatty, oily poop that floats, experts said. Consequently, the only options are to take prescription digestive enzymes or avoid the foods you can’t digest because of your deficiencies.

---

Persons: you’re, ”, Caroline Tuck, Deborah Cohen, Cohen, Akash Goel, ” Goel, Goel, ” Cohen, ” Tuck, —, they’ll, It’s Organizations: CNN, Swinburne University of Technology, Johns Hopkins Medicine, Rutgers University, Weill Cornell Medicine, Food and Drug Administration, NSF Locations: dietetics, Melbourne, Australia, New Jersey, New York City