Did you know that our digestive system covers an area of about 250 square
metres?
Did you know that our digestive system is home to about one kilogram of
bacteria that are both harmful and beneficial?
Digestive symptoms like excessive gas, bloating, heartburn or reflux,
irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), constipation, food sensitivities, food allergies
and general digestive discomfort are often the most common reasons that people
come to a naturopath. And for most of the other reasons people visit a
naturopath, digestion is still a vitally important part of maintaining health.
The digestive system and what we feed it is a major controller of most health
issues.
The surface area of the digestive system is about 250 square metres - about
the size of a large house. This means that the body has an area of about
250 square metres that have to be maintained to keep the contents of the
digestive system - all that we put into our mouths - separated from the sterile
environment of our internal body. It is an area of 250 square metres that
our immune system has to constantly survey for "foreign intruders".
The digestive system is where our immune system is most active in our body.
How does it fit into our relatively tiny abdomens? It is very thin and
consists of tiny finger like projections. The lining of the intestines is
only one cell thick, and con only be seen under the microscope. The lining
is protected by a mucus layer, but is still very sensitive. Food is broken
down to its basic constituents of simple sugars and amino acids which are
absorbed through the cells, not between them. Fats are absorbed by a
different system directly to the lymphatic vessels. The cells are tightly
held together so that ideally nothing should get through that is not taken in
through the cells. But rarely do we have the "ideal" digestive
system that has not been damaged by poor food choices, alcohol, stress,
medications, chemicals, ageing, and insufficient digestive juices.
Leaky gut syndrome is the term used to describe a digestive system that
allows substances to travel to the bloodstream through tiny gaps between cells
of the digestive tract. The substances are recognised as "foreign" by the
immune system and activate an immune response. This immune response and
accompanying inflammation is thought to be a major cause or contributor many
disease conditions including auto-immune diseases (rheumatoid arthritis, lupus,
multiple sclerosis, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, Graves disease, diabetes types 1
and 2, endometriosis, fibromyalgia), rhinitis, hayfever, psoriasis, asthma,
inflammatory bowel diseases, Crohn's, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), coeliac
disease, accelerated ageing, autism, fatty liver and possibly even cancer
through its effect on the immune system.
We each have about one kilogram of bacteria in
our digestive systems. These bacteria are a big part of the bulk of the
protective mucus lining in the digestive tract. The number of bacteria
cells outnumbers our total body cells by about 10 to 1. There are hundreds
of different strains of both harmful and beneficial bacteria. The
digestive system can be likened to a garden. If your garden bed is full of
good strong plants, the weeds will be kept to a minimum and with some
maintenance the garden can be well kept and functional. But if your garden
has an over growth of weeds, or if it has been recently cleared (taking
antibiotics), a strong growth of weeds is difficult to overcome. The
garden needs weeding, some good fertilizer and lots of good strong new plants.
In the digestive system "weeds" or bad bacteria are a major source to toxins to
the body.
All of these conditions, including leaky gut syndrome, are progressive.
They start slowly and un-noticed until symptoms appear. This is why at St
George Naturopathic Clinic the digestive system is always considered in any
treatment given. All of us could benefit from doing a regular digestive
cleanse and detox about once per year.
Contact Peter Kelly at St George Naturopathic Clinic for advice on how to
best cleanse and detox your digestive system to help prevent onset of
degenerative diseases.
St George
Naturopathic Clinic
