If you have food intolerances, like me, you know that enjoying meals can sometimes be a struggle. Especially when you are out and about and are not sure what food options you will find on the go.

You don’t want your food intolerances or digestive issues to influence your life too much and impact fun moments with friends and family.

For me, digestive enzymes have helped to alleviate symptoms and allowed me to go out to eat again without worrying too much about my gut sensitivities. 

In this blog, I want to tell you more about digestive enzymes that can help break down starches, sugars, and complex carbohydrates.

If you are on the low FODMAP diet, like me, or if you have a starch or sucrose intolerance, these digestive enzymes might help your digestion and can make it easier to enjoy a wider array of foods with fewer symptoms. 

I will tell you all about the Carbostarch and Quatrase 10.000 enzymes by Intoleran, so you can determine if they might suit your dietary needs. 

Intoleran’s Digestive Enzyme Supplements

Intoleran is an international brand specializing in digestive health. Since 2008, they have been creating digestive enzymes to help people with food intolerances enjoy food. 

Their supplements are clean, without artificial additives, and are vegan, dairy, gluten, and soy-free. 

Intoleran offers digestive enzymes for people sensitive to FODMAPs, histamine, starches, sugars, lactose, and histamine. The FODMAP enzymes are low FODMAP-certified by Monash University. 

Their Carbostarch and Quatrase enzyme blends are formulated to help with several different sensitivities.

Carbostarch review

The Carbostarch enzyme breaks down starch, sugar, and hard-to-digest carbohydrates. 

If you are sensitive to this, eating these carbohydrates, starches, and sugars might cause bloating, gas, and other digestive issues. The enzyme can be helpful if you experience discomfort after eating carb-heavy meals. 

Enzyme Composition

Carbostarch contains a blend of the following enzymes: 

• Alpha Galactosidase Enzyme – Helps break down complex carbohydrates found in legumes, vegetables, and grains. These complex carbohydrates are called fructans and galactans. 
• Lactase – Helps break down lactose so you can enjoy a cappuccino or some ice cream without discomfort. 
• Gluco-Amylase – Assists in breaking down starches into simpler sugars for better absorption.
• Invertase – Aids in the digestion of sucrose (table sugar).

If you follow the low FODMAP diet, the FODMAP groups fructans, galactans, and lactose might be familiar to you. This enzyme blend helps to break down 3 of the 6 FODMAP groups.

Next to that, gluco-amylase helps to break down starches. These are found in grain products, potatoes, and pasta. But also in a lot of processed foods, such as snacks, biscuits and bread.

Invertase helps with the digestion of table sugar, which is naturally found in some fruits, such as apples, pears, and watermelon. And also in processed foods that have sugar added to them. 

You can read more about starch and sucrose intolerance in this article. 

Quatrase 10.000 review

Quatrase 10.000 helps to break down FODMAP foods. If you are sensitive to several FODMAP groups, it can be helpful to aid your digestion and to help you eat more different foods with fewer symptoms.

Enzyme composition

Quatrase 10,000 contains a comprehensive mix of FODMAP digestive enzymes:

• Alpha Galactosidase Enzyme – Helps to break down fructans and galactans. Which can be found in foods like onion, garlic, wheat, pulses, and legumes. 
• Xylose Isomerase – Can help people with fructose intolerance and helps to make fructose easier to digest.
• Lactase – Helps to break down lactose, which makes it possible to enjoy lactose if you have a lactose intolerance. 
• Invertase – Aids in the digestion of sucrose (table sugar).

This supplement is especially helpful if you react to several FODMAP groups. If you are sensitive to fructans, galactans, lactose, and fructose, this supplement can be a good choice. 

Next to these FODMAP groups, it also helps to digest table sugar. 

What digestive enzyme is helpful for me?

Carbostarch and Quatrase 10.000 are digestive enzymes that are very helpful if you have issues with digesting several groups of foods. 

Both enzymes contain the alpha-galactosidase enzyme and lactase. So if you are sensitive to the FODMAP groups fructans, galactans, and lactase, both Quatrase and Carbostarch can be helpful. 

If you are sensitive to one or more of the FODMAP groups above and also to fructose, I would advise trying Quatrase 10.000. 

If you are sensitive to the three FODMAP groups mentioned above and to sugars and starches, I would advise trying Carbostarch. 

Intoleran advises to start by adding 3 capsules to a meal. Simply take the capsule before a meal. For example, 3 capsules of Carbostarch right when you start eating a meal that contains a large amount of sugars and starches. 

If you notice this amount is sufficient, you can try a lower dosage the next time you use Carbostarch. Like this, you can test what dosage works best for you. 

I have lactose intolerance, but I am also sensitive to fructose, fructans, and galactans. When I go out to a restaurant, I always take some Quatrase with me. 

It helps me to pick what I eat in a restaurant a bit more freely. Last summer, I took a road trip to the west coast of America. And I was able to enjoy some delicious Mexican food without digestive issues. 

When I picked a meal that contained some onion and garlic (complex carbohydrates (fructans) that I am sensitive too), I would add 2-3 capsules of Quatrase to my meal to help my body digest the carbohydrates better.

I wouldn’t have dared to eat such a meal without the enzymes. So that makes me very happy! You can read all about what I ate in America in this blog. 

I have also written an extensive review of Quatrase with my personal experiences; you can read it in this blog. 

I hope this blog has given you some useful information about these digestive enzymes so you can figure out if they might be helpful for you as well. 

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