As many as 95 million Americans experience some digestive problem during their lifetime, according to the American College of Gastroenterology. The growing frequency of such maladies reflects numerous dietary and lifestyle tendencies in modern society, including heavy smoking and drinking, as well as junk food-laden diets. Natural digestive products are only one part of the remedy, but they can help consumers address short- and long-term issues in their digestive systems.
Digestion begins in the mouth, as enzymes in saliva start to break down food during chewing. Once in the stomach, the food is mixed with digestive juices; here, enzymes in the stomach further break down food, and stomach acid breaks down food and destroys harmful bacteria. Next up is the small intestine, which receives digestive juices from the pancreas, liver and gallbladder. These include many substances helpful to digestion, including insulin, bile and enzymes. By the end of the small intestine, most foods have been broken down into sugars and amino acids. Anything not digestible goes through the large intestine, which absorbs all the water it can out of the mixture, before the waste leaves the system.
One of the oft-cited causes of poor digestion is poor diet. Another problem is stress, both acute and long term. “Stress causes the brain to release hormones that affect the digestive system,” said Sunil Kohli, Health Plus Inc., adding many Americans have been enduring more stress the past two years as the economy and the threat of unemployment has remained high. “The corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH)—the ‘alarm’—tells the adrenal glands to immediately release a flood of adrenaline and other biochemicals that give the body energy to ‘fight or flight.’ CRH also inhibits appetite in some people or magnifies hunger in others, causing a shift in normal dietary habits, which of course, can also affect the digestive system.” In the end, she said stress can cause diarrhea, nausea and stomach pains.
Harold Fox, National Enzyme Co. (NEC), said many of us have damaged our overall gut health due to years of abuse. “Whether that abuse came from a lack of knowledge or illness, medication or various stresses, we have damaged our digestive systems to the point that they are not able to absorb the nutrient content from our meals properly,” he lamented. “So the consumer has learned that enzymes and probiotics can be a great one-two punch in this battle for better gut health.”