Digestive Health Fundamentals

Every bite of food we eat must be broken down into nutrients so our body is able to absorb them. This process means that it takes hours for our food to fully digest. Hours in which we may have worried about being late to work, had an argument with our spouse, had too much alcohol, eaten food on the run, or any number of other daily occurrences that might affect our digestion. Understanding how our digestive system works will provide much insight into why so many of us are looking for other remedies to get our tummies back on track!

In our bodies the protein needs to be broken down into amino acids, the starches into simple sugars, and the fats into fatty acids and glycerol. Even the water in our food is absorbed to provide our body with necessary fluids.

Our digestive system is comprised of the alimentary canal (digestive tract) and other abdominal organs (such as the liver and pancreas), each playing a vital role in digestion. This nearly 30 foot long system, which is much like a long tube, runs from our mouths to our anus. When it works correctly, it’s amazing, but, when anything goes wrong, there is a lot of area for potential problems to occur.

Digestion begins in our mouth, way before food ever gets to the stomach. When we see, smell, taste, or even think about a savory snack, our salivary glands begin producing saliva. Meanwhile, the brain is sending impulses through the nerves that control the salivary glands, telling them to get ready for a meal.

When we eat, the saliva moistens the food so it can be swallowed easily. A digestive enzyme found in the saliva (amylase) starts to break down some of the carbohydrates in the food even before it leaves our mouth. Now the muscles in our tongue and mouth move the food into our throat (pharynx). The pharynx is a passageway for food and air with a flexible flap of tissue called the epiglottis that closes over our windpipe when we swallow so we don’t choke.

Now the food goes to our esophagus, where waves of muscle contractions (peristalsis) force the food into our stomach. At this point a muscular ring (a sphincter) allows the food to enter our stomach, making sure to squeeze shut in order to keep food or fluid from flowing back into the esophagus. Glands in our stomach produce digestive juices to break the food into much smaller and digestible pieces. Substances like water, salt, sugars, and alcohol are now absorbed directly through the stomach wall. Most of the other food needs to travel into the intestine before being absorbed.

By the time the food leaves our stomach, it has been processed into a liquid called chime. A small muscular tube called the pylorus keeps chime in our stomach until it is ready to pass into the small intestine, where digestion continues so the body can absorb the nutrients into the bloodstream.

In optimum health, everything works like the proverbial well-oiled machine. Unfortunately, this is not always the case, and digestive problems can present very uncomfortable and/or annoying side effects. Poor eating habits and the stresses of daily life can take a toll on our digestive health resulting in everything from heartburn, nausea, cramps, and constipation to more serious problems like gallstones or colorectal cancer.

Gender and ethnicity have been shown to play a role in digestive problems as well:

• 75% of all African-Americans and Native Americans, and 90% of Asian-Americans are lactose intolerant
• Women’s saliva and digestive enzymes vary throughout their menstrual cycle
• Hormones can make a woman more vulnerable to a distinct set of digestive disorders like gastric reflux
• Women are more likely to have digestive responses to stress and other strong emotions
• The incidence of pancreatic cancer is 50-90% higher in African-Americans than in any other racial group in the United States
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) affects women to a much greater extent than men (as many as 70% of all sufferers are female)
• Women between the ages of 20 and 40 are twice as likely to get gallstones as their male counterparts
• When high-fat food is consumed, men have an increase in two key substances (insulin and pancreatic polypeptides) before the food hits their stomachs. Women have little, if any, pre-digestion response