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INTRODUCTION
The various levels of the digestive system synchronize to absorb nutrients from food, and protect us from ever-present microbes and toxins. Ingesting dangerous microbes triggers our immune system. Only the hardiest "invaders" can survive the hostile environment of strong acids, digestive enzymes, and immune reactions.
The digestive system operates on four levels:
LEVEL ONE: Absorption of food nutrients and water.
LEVEL TWO: Elimination of residual food material, excess water, and metabolic and absorbed wastes.
LEVEL THREE: Metabolism of food and water under endocrine control.
LEVEL FOUR: Neuroimmune activities, protecting and promoting the body's integrity and healthy digestive function.
LEVEL ONE: ABSORPTION
FOOD MODIFICATION
"Good" food is judged by:
- Flavor (a combination of taste and smell)
- Texture (how it feels in the mouth)
- Appearance (how appealing it looks)
Current science and technology allow us to enhance the flavor, texture, and appearance of food. These enhancing processes may strip food of nutrients and introduce harmful chemicals into the body, creating toxic effects that may not be observed for years. Old-fashioned, nutritionally sound foods may not taste or look as good as these modified foods. "Good food," however, may have little to do with food that is "good for you." For instance, adding fructose to foods promotes bodily production of triglycerides, and frying foods in trans-fats produces a build-up of these bad fats that could burden the entire body.
"Good taste" does not determine good nutrition. Dietary supplementation, however, can fill the nutritional gaps created by eating "good tasting" modern foods.
HARVEST EFFECTS
"You can't absorb what isn't there"
The nutritional content of food depends on several factors:
- Available soil nutrients
- Handling, processing and storage
- Ripeness at time of harvest
Biochemical processes can makes fruits and vegetables appear ripe, even if they are picked prematurely to minimize spoilage in the marketplace. These immature fruits and vegetables lack the nutrients of vine- or tree-ripened produce. Eating this "immature food" creates another nutritional gap that must be filled with supplements.
DIGESTIVE JOURNEY
"Digestion begins in the mouth"
When food and drink enter the mouth, enzymes in your saliva begin the digestive process. Chewing food grinds it up, mixes it with saliva, and makes it easier to swallow. Food must be thoroughly chewed if nutrients are to be absorbed during digestion. Large chunks of food may pass through the entire length of the digestive system without releasing nutrients. Waxy foods, like corn and beans, need to be chewed even more, because their nutrients are literally bound in wax and fiber.
THE STOMACH
After food enters the stomach, strong stomach acids bombard it with protons. Important nutritional materials (most notably, Intrinsic Factor) are then added, aiding digestion and absorption. Produced in the stomach, Intrinsic Factor helps the small intestine absorb Vitamin B-12, taking it to the liver, where it is converted into its usable form, methylcobalamin.
LEVEL TWO: ELIMINATION
INTESTINES AND RELATED SYSTEMS
From the stomach, food travels to the small intestine, where added enzymes aid digestion. Bile is also an aid to digestion and fat absorption. Many of the body's essential vitamins and nutrients are absorbed in the small intestine.
After passing through the small intestine, food enters the large intestine (colon), where water content is modified. Digestive bacteria use food in the colon for their nutrition. These bacteria produce nutritional molecules used by the intestine for energy and sustenance. Undigested fiber and partially digested foods remain in the colon, where waste products are concentrated and passed along.
LEVEL THREE: METABOLISM
DIGESTIVE SYSTEM NUTRIENTS
LIPIDS
Fats are especially important for the nutritional welfare of the digestive system. They provide energy to the constantly working digestive cells. Fats also interfere with, or aid, absorption.
Glutamine
Glutamine nourishes the intestinal walls, and maintains their structural integrity. Intestinal integrity forms the barrier that protects us from dangerous microbes and toxic substances.
Colostrum: Mother's Special Nutrition
Colostrum, mother's first milk, promotes the growth of intestinal walls and absorptive surfaces. Colostrum also promotes the growth of villi. Villi aid absorption and provide a home for the important immune cells.
Colostrum protects the digestive system against viruses and bacteria. Its immunoglobulin transfers immune protection from a mother to her infant. Because infants' immune systems don't mature for months after birth, they are vulnerable to bacterial attacks. Colostrum contains lactoferrin and enzymes, which prevent microbes from growing. It also contains vitamins and other nutrients, essential to an infant's good health.
THE LIVER
The liver is the metabolic brain. It orchestrates the change of food and water into the body's biochemical ingredients. The blood and lymph transport raw materials to the liver. Acting as a filter, the liver sorts the "good" from the "bad." Some pre-filtering activities also occur in the intestinal wall, and the blood and lymph, prior to the liver.
Cells in the lymph node and spleen can detect microbial invasions and alert the immune system to mount a pre-emptive strike before infection takes hold. The liver plays a central role in removing microbes and dead cells. A healthy liver ensures that microbial proteins, lipids and carbohydrate fragments do not reach the body, triggering life-threatening reactions. Liver enzymes generally break down and neutralize toxic substances. Sometimes, however, they may be turned into more toxic substances.
The kidney filters water-soluble substances. The liver turns fat-soluble toxins into water-soluble wastes for the kidney. Many of these compounds are attached to special sugars or sulfate, which quickly reduce their damaging potential.
The liver "coats" fat-soluble compounds in fat. It then dumps them into the bile "pipeline." The biliary system is, potentially, a nutritional and waste-system bottleneck. Our good health demands that this pipeline stay unclogged and free flowing. Build-up of waste fats causes congestion and precipitation, seen as gallstones. Eating excessive or indigestible fats contributes to this process, creating a mixture that causes clogging rather than a homogenous flow. Infections also increase microbial waste and the risks of gallstones.
Bile can plug up the liver and create back pressure in the circulatory and lymphatic systems. Similar effects are seen in other organs and their drainage systems.
A healthy bile system is necessary for efficient vitamin metabolism. Vitamins, contained in food, are absorbed by the intestines and delivered to the liver. The liver makes coenzyme-activated (bioactive) vitamins. It deposits these vitamins into the bile for delivery to the small intestine. The small intestine delivers vitamins, like methylcobalamin (Vitamin B-12), to the blood for speedy delivery to the body tissues.
LEVEL FOUR: NEUROIMMUNE ACTIVITIES
THE WALL
As we have seen, the wall of the intestines forms a barrier between our food and us. Its mission is to deliver the "good," filter out the "bad," and eliminate waste. The intestines also contain muscles that aid digestion and move food through their lengths.
MALT/GALT
The intestinal wall has immunological properties. It contains mucosal-associated lymphatic tissue (MALT), also known as gastrointestinal-associated lymphatic tissue (GALT).
IgA is the primary immunoglobulin produced in the digestive system. IgA Deficiency can be inherited or caused by infections and other forms of intestinal damage. People with IgA Deficiency are vulnerable to sinus and respiratory infections, allergies, asthma, cancer, and digestive diseases.
IMPORTANCE OF WALL INTEGRITY
Normal, healthy activity of the immune system usually begins at the intestinal wall. Intestinal damage causes undigested food to leak across the wall into the body, resulting in an allergic reaction. Gastrointestinal infections may damage the colon, making us more likely to develop food allergies. Wheat, dairy, and citrus are especially allergenic foods.
Damage to the digestive wall can also lead to changes in the digestive flora ("friendly" bacteria found inside the intestines). The body protects these "friendly" bacteria by eliminating their enemies with its immune "weapons." However, immune defects (IgA Deficiency) can result in bacterial, viral, or parasitic colonization of the intestine. People should be screened for immune deficiencies if they are to receive oral, live-virus vaccines. If not, they may become colonized by the virus in the vaccine or actually develop the disease.
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Copyright©2002 MEND. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission.
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