Remember this picture? A few weeks ago, we posted about the basics of the Top to Bottom process of Digestion. We also included the basics of the Ingestion and some steps you can take to improve the ingestion of the foods you eat. You can read up on the article here. After you ingest your foods, they move down through your body on quite a journey that includes a lot of chemical reactions and transformations. In fact, the saying about mixing foods that "it will all end up in the same place" is actually only partly true. When you swallow your food, it becomes what's called bolus and it enters the esophagus en route to the stomach. The stomach secretes gastric juices from millions of tiny gastric glands that are found in the mucosal lining of the stomach. These gastric juices are made up of mucous, the proenzyme pepsinogen which converts to the enzyme pepsin, and hydrochloric acid (HCl). Together, HCl and pepsinogen begin to break down the proteins into smaller strings of amino acids.
The stomach needs to be very acidic to ensure this process runs smoothly. When the HCl is excreted into the stomach, its pH is 0.8 - that's almost pure acid! The acid plays many important roles including:
Food ---> bolus ---> bolus + gastric juices = chyme Chyme is a very acidic paste that is released into the small intestine. The chyme has to be very acidic as it leaves the stomach so it can trigger the small intestine to secrete mucous to move the chyme along. The hormones secretin and cholecystokinin (CCK) are also secreted at this point.
As you may have already figured out, this is not such an easy process (and I've only given the highlights). We should thank our bodies each and every day for taking us through this process! Unfortunately, there are quite a few sticky points along the way. 1. Approximately 90% of Americans produce TOO LITTLE HCl. Low stomach acid (NOT HIGH) causes heartburn, or GERD. If there is not enough acid in the stomach, foods do not get broken down (carbs ferment, fats go rancid, proteins putrefy). These poorly digested foods cause a reflux (backward flow) into the esophagus. The esophagus is sensitive to the acidic foods, causing pain. WHAT YOU CAN DO:
2. Your gallbladder does not function correctly so your fats are not broken down effectively. WHAT YOU CAN DO:
3. Leaky gut syndrome - Undigested proteins and other foods impact the ability of the villi and microvilli to absorb the micro nutrients. The lining becomes leaky as the selectivity of what can pass into the blood stream is lost and overwhelms the immune system. WHAT YOU CAN DO:
~Dayna If you’ve enjoyed this article, please consider purchasing some of the recommendations from the links provided. The price to you is no different, but we can receive a small commission when you click through our links. Consider it a donation for allowing us to continue providing high-quality advice through our blog and emails.
1 Comment
donna schorr
8/24/2016 04:02:07 pm
Awesome article on digestion! I hope everyone reads it!
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