Preparations that promote proper digestion are prescribed for use by the attending physician, although it often happens that people, feeling discomfort in the abdomen after eating, go to the nearest pharmacy and ask the pharmacist to let K Reon or Pancreatin go . These pharmacy products help with indigestion, as they say.
Digestive enzymes
The digestive system of the human body is very complex. Everything that is eaten should be decomposed into certain components, which are either absorbed by the body or excreted as waste products. It is in the conduct of chemical reactions for the digestion of food that digestive enzymes are involved. There are many, each is responsible for working with certain substances obtained with food or produced by the body itself. In principle, each cell of the human body contains enzymes that cause various chemical reactions to occur, due to which the life process is organized.
But the enzymes involved in the digestion process are a separate group of protein compounds that break down the main substances that enter the body through food - proteins, fats and carbohydrates. And drugs like Creon or Pancreatin contain digestive enzymes, without which proper digestion of food is simply not possible.
What causes a lack of digestive enzymes?
Digestion is the main way the human body replenishes important elements for the entire process of life. Enzymes involved in the processes of metabolism and the breakdown of food into necessary components, including those produced by certain organs of the human body.
Unfortunately, diseases or certain conditions, an improper lifestyle disrupt the processes of the production of enzymes in the gastrointestinal tract. And their lack leads to disruption of the processes of assimilation of important substances obtained from food, which, in turn, negatively affects the general condition of the body and the occurrence of diseases. Such a peculiar vicious circle. But drugs like Creon or Pancreatin help replenish the amount of gastrointestinal enzymes.
The composition of enzyme preparations
You can’t just go to the pharmacy and buy enzyme-containing drugs. Why? Because , despite the fact that the word "digestive enzymes" will be present in the annotations of each of them, they are all different from each other. Than? Composition. After all, the enzymes necessary for proper digestion are produced by different organs, and each of their types cannot be replaced by any other. Thus, the pancreas produces a whole complex of protein compounds necessary for digestion - enzymes. These include:
- Nucleases that cleave the basis of any food are nucleic acids of DNA and RNA.
- Proteases involved in the processing of food protein compounds. The group of these enzymes includes elastases, trypsin and chymotrypsin, carboxypeptidases.
- Amylase. Participates in the process of breakdown of sugars, starch.
- Steapsin. Recycle fatty compounds.
- Lipase. Participates in the breakdown of triglyceride fats.
The pharmaceutical industry offers consumers many drugs that incorporate digestive enzymes. Most often, such products contain a complex of necessary special compounds, such as, for example, the Creon and Pancreatin medicines. "What is the difference: see a doctor or choose a drug yourself and take it if necessary?" - Ask the layman ignorant of medicine. The difference is that different drugs contain different enzymes. Only the doctor can choose the right drug after making a diagnosis that affects digestive insufficiency.
Pancreatic enzymes in drugs
The pharmacy chain sells a lot of products that are almost identical to each other, for example, Creon or Pancreatin. How are they similar and how do they differ? Let's start with the composition.
The instructions for use of the drug "Creon" indicates that the active substance is ... pancreatin. And the composition of pancreatin is a complex of enzymes produced by the pancreas. Pancreatin contains protease, lipase, amylase, as well as trypsin and chymotrypsin. Thus, it turns out that "Creon" and "Pancreatin" are the same drug that improves digestion due to the content of pancreatic enzymes.
What is the difference?
Preparations containing digestive enzymes should work where they work, when everything is in order with the human body. Pancreatic enzymes, which break down substances that enter the gastrointestinal tract with food, work in the small intestine. And that is where enzyme preparations should ideally get in order to adequately help the body digest food and absorb all the necessary substances. And the opportunity to work exactly at the destination of the medication is obtained depending on the form of release. And precisely the possibility of “delivering” the active components to the place of work is what distinguishes Creon from Pancreatin.
Pills, capsules, dragees
Although “Creon” and “Pancreatin”, in fact, are identical drugs in their composition, they still differ from each other in the form of release, and hence in their effectiveness.
The drug "Pancreatin" is produced by several pharmaceutical plants in our country in the form of tablets and dragees, which begin to dissolve already in the oral cavity, passing through the esophagus and ending up in the stomach. Yes, they have a protective shell surrounding the complex of enzymes, but still it dissolves before the drug gets into the small intestine, where, in fact, it should work, which means that a certain amount of enzymes is wasted, and the workplace less of them than necessary.
The drug "Creon" is produced by the German pharmaceutical corporation Solvay Pharmaceuticals. It has only one form of release - gelatin capsules. And this is his advantage over analogues, including Pancreatin. A gelatin capsule, getting into the gastrointestinal tract, begins to dissolve gradually, passing through the oral cavity, esophagus, stomach. Once in the small intestine, the microspheres of the pancreatic enzyme complex located in the capsule are released and begin to work. This is precisely the main difference between Creon and Pancreatin - in the form of the release of the drug and the full functioning of the pancreatic enzymes in the right place in the digestive tract.
What to choose?
Many pharmaceutical products contain enzymes necessary for the proper treatment of gastrointestinal insufficiency, including Creon or Pancreatin. The reviews of those who used these funds to normalize digestion are almost the same about both drugs. The only thing consumers say is the significant price difference. Most often, people do not think about the form of release of a medicinal substance, preferring to give preference to a cheaper remedy. However, only a doctor can correctly recommend this or that remedy by conducting an examination, prescribing tests and examining their result.
The drug "Creon" may contain a different number of active enzymes in one capsule, which is indicated on the package. This should also be considered when prescribing a medicine. It is unlikely that a simple person, not a gastroenterologist, will be able to prescribe the correct dosage of the enzyme agent for use.
Health is the main thing
Having felt health problems, do not self-medicate, even, it would seem, in such "simple" cases as indigestion. After all, the reason for poor health is associated with violations in the work of any organ. And only the doctor will be able to determine whether the problem was associated with overeating fatty foods, for example, or whether the problem lies in the onset of pancreatic disease.
Choose what is best to take - "K reon" or "Pancreatinum", the attending physician will recommend. Digestion problems are serious problems, because the general well-being, working capacity, mood depend on the intake of all the necessary substances that we receive with food. Do not worsen your condition, self-medicating or turning to a pharmacist in a pharmacy with a question about whether it is possible to replace "Creon" with "Pancreatin"? The drug is prescribed by a doctor, and only he can give advice on the purchase of a particular drug. In any case, you should be aware that both Pancreatin and Creon have an equally active complex of pancreatic enzymes. They differ from each other in the form of release of the drug and, as a result, in its activity precisely at the place of action.
Take care of yourself and be healthy!