Strengthen Your Digestion
Good digestion is fundamental to your health. It allows you to absorb nutrients that you need. Poor digestion makes it difficult to absorb nutrients and it creates toxic by-products that are stressful for your immune system.
Digestion is a multi-staged process. It occurs in your mouth, stomach and small intestine. This article is divided into several sections.
· Hypochlorhydria - lack of digestive enzymes.
· Hyperacidity - which causes heartburn, reflux, and ulcers.
· Pancreatic Insufficiency - lack of digestive enzymes from your pancreas
· Biliary insufficiency - lack of bile from your liver and gallbladder.
Digestion is a multi-staged process that starts in your mouth as saliva digests the starch in your food. Enzymes in saliva convert starch into sugar that can be absorbed and used for fuel. If you hold a cracker of other starchy food in your mouth for a minute or so, it will become sweeter as the starch is digested.
Hypochlorhydria
Digestion continues when food reaches your stomach and your stomach secretes hydrochloric acid (HCL). HCL digests protein, it sterilizes the food, and it makes the food acid. When the food is sufficiently acid it triggers the next steps of digestion that take place in the small intestine. If your stomach does not produce enough HCL your digestion suffers, your health suffers, and paradoxically, it often sets the stage for symptoms of hyperacidity like heartburn, reflux, and ulcers.
Common symptoms of hypochlorhydria, or low HCL include:
· Excessive belching, burping or bloating
· Gas immediately following meals
· Offensive breath
· Difficult bowel movements
· Sense of fullness during and after meals
· Difficulty digesting fruits or vegetables: undigested food found in stools
Your digestion works best when you are relaxed. For optimal digestion eat in a relaxed and congenial atmosphere. Avoid eating on the run, or eating while you watch the news. Cold water slows down the stomach cells that make HCL, and reduces your digestion power. Do not drink ice water immediately before or during meals.
There are other causes of low hydrochloric acid as well:
· Lack of nerve supply from the base of the brain
· Chronic stress
· Low thyroid function
· Food sensitivities
· Pathogenic organisms including the Helicobactor bacteria that cause ulcers
· Lack of vitamins and minerals. (this can become a viscous cycle as low HCL leads to lack of vitamins, and lack of vitamins causes HCL)
When we get sick, and as we get older, we gradually lose the ability to make hydrochloric acid. The average 60-year-old produces only one-fourth as much hydrochloric acid as a 20-year-old.
Hypochlorhydria should be treated with high priority because it causes malabsorption of nutrients that are essential for your brain and your hormones, and because it causes problems in your intestines, which in turn causes widespread stress for your health. Read Your Colon and Your Health to understand the wide impact of large intestine problems.
Treatment for hypochlorhydria includes:
· Lifestyle changes: Eat in a relaxed manner, avoid ice water with meals, and avoid food allergens.
· Treatment guided by Chiropractic neurology improves the nerve supply to your stomach and helps your stomach produce more digestive acids. It can also improve functioning of the thyroid gland and improve resistance to stress.
· Nutritional support: Herbs, vitamins and minerals are helpful for dealing with pathogenic organisms and with chronic stress.
· HCL replacement therapy: Sometimes it is helpful to give supplemental HCL in addition to the other steps listed above. This is the last step of treatment, and is often not necessary when the other steps are in place. .
Hyperacidity
Hyperacidity refers to a condition in your stomach that promotes symptoms of heartburn, reflux and ulcers.
Symptoms of hyperacidity include:
· Stomach pain, burning or aching 1-4 hours after eating.
· Hunger 1-2 hours after eating
· Heartburn when lying down or bending forward
· Temporary relief with of symptoms with antacids, food, milk, and carbonated beverages
· Digestive problems are better with rest and relaxation
· Heartburn caused by spicy foods, chocolate, citrus, peppers, alcohol, and caffeine.
Causes of hyperacidity and the treatments to correct them:
· Hypochlorhydria: If you have symptoms of both hypochlorhydria and hyperacidity it is likely that the hyperacidity is due to hypochlorhydria. In conditions of low hydrochloric acid proteins are not digested well. The proteins putrefy and create organic acids that are irritating to your stomach lining. If the hyperacidity is due to low hydrochloric acid, it will probably improve by treating the hypochlorhydria as described above.
· Chronic stress: Chronic stress thins the lining of the stomach, and reduces the layer of mucus that protects the stomach from acids. Treatment based on chiropractic neurology reduces the stress response, as do lifestyle changes and a number of nutritional supplements. Read Stress and Your Hormones.
· Physical tension: Tension in the area where the esophagus comes through the diaphragm on the way to the stomach sets the stage for reflux and heartburn when the valve at the top of the stomach doesn’t function properly. Gentle manipulation of the stomach and diaphragm are helpful.
· Pathogenic Bacteria: Helicobactor bacteria cause most ulcers. These bacteria thrive in conditions of low hydrochloric acid and chronic stress. The treatments mentioned earlier are helpful as well as nutritional formulas containing bismuth.
Antacids do not address the underlying causes of hyperacidity. They provide temporary relief, but they often aggravate the underlying hypochlorhydria. This causes problems in the intestines and colon. A good alternative to antacids is deglycyrrhiziniated licorice. DGL is helpful for most symptoms of hyperacidity, including heartburn, reflux, and ulcers, and should be used in conjunction with the treatments mentioned above.
Pancreatic Insufficiency
The pancreas secretes digestive enzymes into the small intestine. Symptoms of poor pancreatic digestion include:
· Roughage and fiber cause constipation
· Indigestion and fullness that last 2-4 hours after eating
· Pain, tenderness, bloating or soreness under the left rib cage.
· Excessive gas
· Loose or poorly formed stools
· Greasy stools or mucous in stools
· Stools that float
· Frequent urination
· Increased thirst and appetite
· Difficulty losing weight
The pancreas secretes digestive enzymes into the small intestine, and it is triggered to release its enzymes when food that has been partially digested in the stomach arrives in the small intestine.
Causes and treatment of pancreatic insufficiency
· Hypochlorhydria can cause pancreatic insufficiency. If the food coming into the small intestine is not sufficiently acid, the pancreas is not triggered to release its digestive enzymes. Read the previous section for more details and treatment ideas.
· Pathogenic organisms in the small intestine can interfere with pancreatic digestion. Nutritional supplements are helpful.
· Blood sugar problems stress the hormonal part of the pancreas, and the stress spreads to the digestion part of the pancreas. Read Manage Your Blood Sugar for more details and ideas about treatment.
· Poor nerve supply to the pancreas from the base of the brain can cause a lack of pancreatic digestive enzymes. Treatment based on chiropractic neurology can improve the nerve supply to the pancreas and increase its output of digestive enzymes.
Biliary insufficiency
Biliary stasis or biliary insufficiency is a condition in which your body does not produce enough bile, or the bile is too thick. Bile is an enzyme that is secreted by the liver and stored in the gallbladder until it is released into the small intestine. Bile works together with fat splitting enzymes from the pancreas to digest fat.
If you don’t have enough bile, or it is too thick, you cannot digest fat very well and you can’t absorb fat-soluble vitamins efficiently. Read Your Liver and Your Hormones for more information about liver and gallbladder function.
Symptoms of biliary insufficiency include:
· Greasy or high fat foods cause distress
· Lower bowel gas or bloating several hours after eating
· Bitter metallic taste in the mouth, especially in the morning
· Unexplained itchy skin
· Yellowish cast to the eyes
· Clay colored stool, constantly or alternating with normal brown color
· Reddened skin on the palms or soles of feet
· Dry flaky skin or hair
· History of gallstones or gallbladder attacks
Causes and treatment of biliary insufficiency
· Hypochlorhydria can cause biliary insufficiency. If the food coming into the small intestine is not sufficiently acid, the gallbladder is not triggered to release its bile. Read the previous section for more details and treatment ideas.
· Poor nerve supply to the liver and gallbladder from the base of the brain can cause a poor gallbladder function. Treatment based on Chiropractic Neurology can improve the nerve supply to the liver and gallbladder and increase the output of bile.
· High levels of estrogen can cause poor gallbladder function. Read Female Hormones for more information.
· Problems in the colon frequently cause problems for the liver and gallbladder. Read Your Colon and Your Health for more details.
· Diets high in the wrong kinds of fats can cause problems for the liver and gallbladder. Deep-fried foods, partially hydrogenated oils and trans fats all cause problems. Read Essential Fatty Acids and Your Hormones for details.
Bile that is thick is more likely to produce gallstones. Herbs and vitamins and minerals help dissolve many gallstones and keep the bile thin. They are used in conjunction with the treatments discussed above.
