What you were told is an unscientific method and nothing more than a best guess. How to correctly dose pancrealipase has been an issue for a long time. The amount varies based on carbohydrates, fats and protein there is in a meal. Having dinner one night of a heaping mound of starch in a heavy Alfredo cream sauce, butter slathered on Italian bread and Tiramisu for dessert is going to take more Creon than a salad garnished with chicken. A bowl of Rice Krispies with banana and skim milk and toast is not going to take much-especially since the salivary glands in you upper neck region produce amylase and might be enough to handle a low fat meal.

I don’t need any Creon for my low-fat breakfast meals and don’t take in unnecessarily with what it costs for a bottle. This is why using the dosing calculator makes a lot more sense then someone generically saying to take X amount with meals and Y amount with snacks. And if one is eating fruits as a snack, fruits contain enzymes within them that get activated when it reaches your intestine. Enzymes are not required for fruits. That banana sitting on your counter in warm weather turning to mush is because of the enzymes within it breaking the fruit down into sugar.

Then there is the definition of “snack”. When a snack is more like a light meal of a sandwich and/or bowl of soup with meat and fat in it, then I’ll take one Creon. Otherwise I do fine with no Creon on what I consider a snack to be is something to hold me to meal time like a un-buttered roll or handful of crackers.

Some Registered Dietitians have a good understanding of how the pancreas works and how to correctly prescribe pancrealipase. Oncologists seem to have the least amount of experience in the correct use of pancrealipase and it’s understandable-they study hematology and oncology and treating solid tumors. It is the Registered Dietitians getting specific training. The ones with the designation C.S.O. Have the specific training in using pancrealipase and I still encounter many aR.D.’s not aware of the dosing calculator the Canadian Digestive Foundation created to simplify dosing to a more accurate way of doing it.