Houston Enzymes continues to improve their product line based on the newest and most relevant science. Recently, several articles indicated that cellulose, the most plentiful fiber in nature, plays an important role in developing the gut microbiome. The information was so provocative that I felt the need to make changes to our products.

 Dietary cellulose is an insoluble fiber consisting of linked glucose sugar and is the major component of plant cell walls. Cellulose fibers within plant cell walls are imbedded in a matrix of hemicellulose (xylan, mannan, and beta-glucan) and pectin. Humans don’t produce enzymes to break down cellulose, but the bacteria in the lower gut produce several types of cellulase enzymes. In studies using young animals, lack of cellulose in the lower gut diminishes the diversity of the bacteria growing in the colon. Apparently, cellulose is needed to establish and grow a diverse population of gut bacteria, as fiber-free diets resulted in fewer and diminished species.

 Cellulose has a dramatic effect on the bile acid pool. When on a fiber-free diet, bile acids were elevated compared to those animals fed cellulose. Other effects noted from having cellulose in the diet was protection from colitis, better modulation of intestinal immune cells, and less inflammation. Many of these effects were thought to be due to cellulose stimulating growth of good bacteria. 

 Based on this new evidence, we changed TriEnza’s formula by removing cellulase and glucanase. Glucans are heart-healthy fibers found in oatmeal and other grains, so why would we want to break them down? The only exception I see for using glucanase is in formulas designed to keep yeast levels down, as glucans are a major part of the yeast cell wall. Interestingly, yeast does not contain high levels of cellulose, so using cellulase for yeast control is most likely not helpful.

 The additional space left in the capsule allowed us to add in alpha-galactosidase, the enzyme that helps with gassy compounds found in beans and cruciferous vegetables. We also increased the amount of lipase, invertase, and lactase slightly. 

 The best news is that we did all this with no extra cost passed on to our customers!

 We realize we have been out of stock of TriEnza 180 capsule count for a few weeks. Our new stock, with the changed formula, will be available around April 12^th. We still have stocks of TriEnza in 90 and 60 counts, chewables and powders in the original formulation. These will be changed to the new formula on our next orders from the manufacturer. 

 Our customers know that we do not make changes to our products without good reasons. I am confident that this latest TriEnza formula will be better and more popular than ever!