NTA Digestion & Elimination (Weeks 6-7)

Digestion: Proper Function 11

DIGESTION CONTINUES SOUTH: The leftover chyme from the small intestine (indigestible fibers, bile, water, sloughed off cells) gets passed on to the large intestine through the ileocecal valve.

Digestion: Proper Function (the way it is supposed to work) 1

DIGESTION STARTS NORTH. 1. Digestion begins in the brain; the sight and smell of food triggers the salivary glands to begin producing saliva. 2. The mouth is the physical gateway to the digestive system; mechanical and chemical breakdown of the food begins.

Possible Reactions to Nutritional Therapy

**Let your client know they may experience a reaction when beginning any new protocol; possible reactions include: 1. Digestive Reaction: Looks like a digestive problem (examples: diarrhea, cramping, heartburn, constipation). 2. Sensitivity and/or Allergic Reaction: These look like sensitivity or allergy symptoms (examples: rashes, congestion, etc.) 3. Healing Reaction: Looks like symptoms you are trying to fix (examples: flu-like symptoms if you're working on immune function or nausea if you are working on gallbladder).

Digestion: Proper Function 5

**The stomach is all about ACID! Designed for a normal pH of 1.5-3.0. HCl is excreted into the stomach at a pH of 0.8--that's almost pure acid. Roles of acid: baths the stomach; disinfects the stomach; kills bacteria and parasites; activates pepsin so we can digest proteins; stimulates gastrin; breaks down proteins.

The Big Ideas

1. Digestion is a north to south process. 2. The big three organs from a nutritional standpoint are stomach, pancreas, gallbladder. 3. Digestion is fundamental to nutritional therapy. **Every cell that makes up every tissue that makes up every organ depends on the body's digestive system to provide the nutrients it needs to keep on functioning.**

Handling Reactions

1. For Digestive Reaction: Support their digestion. 2. Sensitivity and/or Allergic Reaction: Find an alternate therapy. 3. Healing Reaction: Mild/Moderate Symptoms: give the client the option to cut back dose or work through it. Severe symptoms: recommend the client call you.

The 6 Digestive Functions

1. Ingestion: intake of food. 2. Secretion: water, acid, buffers, enzymes. 3. Mixing/propulsion: moving the food through the GI tract. 4. Digestion: breakdown of food . 5. Absorption: passage of nutrients into the blood and lymph. 6. Defecation: elimination of the "leftovers".

Digestion: Proper Function 3

DIGESTION CONTINUES SOUTH. When you swallow, bolus enters the esophagus for passage to the stomach. The cardiac sphincter at the bottom of the esophagus opens to allow the bolus to pass into the stomach. 3. The stomach continues the mechanical breakdown of food, along with a number of chemical activities.

Digestion: Dysfunction (Brain)

BRAIN: As a culture, we are sympathetically stressed. We NEED to be in a parasympathetic state to digest food. Council your clients to relax while they eat.

Digestion: Proper Function 6

DIGESTION CONTINUES SOUTH. After the stomach churns the bolus and mixes it with gastric juice, the food breaks down even more into a paste called chyme (very acidic). Chyme is released into the upper part of the small intestine (duodenum) through the pyloric sphincter.

Digestion

Digestion is the mechanical and chemical breakdown of food. The goal of digestion is to reduce food to molecules so small that the nutrients can be absorbed and used by the cells.

Dysfunction: Digestion (Gallbladder 2)

GALLBLADDER CONTINUED: **Normal function: Digestible molecules --> Lymphatics --> Work throughout the body.** **Dysfunction: Undigested globules --> Rancidify in colon --> Stress out liver and leaves you fatty acid deficient.**

Dysfunction: Digestion (Gallbladder 1)

GALLBLADDER: Dysfunction of the gallbladder is related to poor quality fats or low-fat diets vs. too little acids. -Fats are primarily digested by bile salts and pancreatic lipase in the duodenum. -Fat in the chyme stimulates the release of CCK, which stimulates the gallbladder to release bile. **Low-fat diets do not trigger the release of bile. -Low-fat diets do not stimulate the release of bile, causing the bile to get old/viscous. Bad fat diets cause the bile to become viscous also. -->**The gallbladder tries to contract, but is unable to release the viscous bile. -->**No bile leads to no absorption of fats.

Digestion: Proper Function 12

IN THE LARGE INTESTINE: The large intestine: -Recycles the water. -Recycles the waste material, which nourishes the colon cells. -Captures any lost nutrients that are still available (with the help of the bowel flora) and converts the nutrients to vitamins K/B1/B12 and butyric acid. -Forms and expels feces.

Digestion: Proper Function 2

IN THE MOUTH. The teeth physically break down food into smaller parts (mastication). The salivary glands secrete saliva to moisten the food and help with swallowing. Saliva = 99.5% water + 0.5% solutes. One solute is the enzyme, salivary amylase, which begins the chemical breakdown of carbs.

Digestion: Proper Function 10

IN THE SMALL INTESTINE CONT: Millions of villi and microvilli absorb the nutrient molecules into the bloodstream, where they are carried to the entire body: Glucose, amino acids, and short-chain fatty acids are carried by the villi to the capillaries and into the liver. Long-chain fatty acids require bile for proper absorption and end up in the lymphatic system.

Digestion: Proper Function 8

IN THE SMALL INTESTINE CONT: Secretin stimulates the pancreas to release bicarbonate and pancreatic juice, and CCK stimulates the gallbladder to release bile. Bile is necessary to emulsify and absorb fats.As part of the pancreatic juice, the pancrease first releases sodium bicarbonate to help raise the pH of teh chyme to neutral (7.0). Once the chyme pH reaches neutral, the enzyme portion of the pancreatic juice is released to complete the chemical digestion of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. **BILE FUNCTION: Digestible molecules-->Lymphatics-->Work throughout the body.

Digestion: Proper Function 7

IN THE SMALL INTESTINE. 4. Chyme enters the duodenum. The acidic pH (1.5-3.0) of the chyme triggers the small intestine to secrete mucous. At the same time the intestinal walls are secreting mucous, they are also secreting two hormones into the bloodstream: Secretin and Cholecystokinin (CCK). **The small intestine has a dual role as a digestive organ and a gland.**

Digestion: Proper Function 4

IN THE STOMACH: Bolus enters the stomach. Gastic juice is secreted from millions of tiny gastic glands located in the mucosal lining of the stomach (mucous, pepsinogen/pepsin, hydrochloric acid [HCl]). HCl and pepsinogen begin breaking down proteins into peptides (smaller strings of amino acids). HCl triggers gastrin to be released into the bloodstream.

Digestion: Dysfunction

Just as proper digestion is a north to south process, so is dysfunction. When working with clients, begin north and work your way south.

Digestion: Dysfunction (Mouth)

MOUTH: If you don't take the time to properly chew your food (~30 seconds): -The brain does not get the message to trigger the proper digestive processes for the foods you're eating. -Thus, the production of saliva is not triggered.

Dysfunction: Digestion (Large Intestine)

Once again, the large intestine deals with the leftovers from digestion. -In the case of dysfunction, this includes: maldigested foods full of parasites, microorganisms, and undigested fats. -As this maldigested debris tries to pass into the colon, the ileocecal valve can get clogged or jammed open. -The maldigested foods are degenerating in the colon, causing dysbiosis and disrupting the healthy flora. -Without the healthy flora, butyric acid is not produced, which weakens the cells of the colon. -This leaves the colon subject to inflammation, diverticula, and loss of tone leading to issues such as: -->Irritable bowel syndrome -->Chrohn's Disease -->Colitis -->Celiac Disease *Each has its own unique etiology, but all are exacerbated by the process.

Dysfunction: Digestion (Pancreas)

PANCREAS: In proper function, chyme enters the duodenum and its acidic pH triggers the release of pancreatic juice. -If the chyme pH is not correct, secretin is not excreted to trigger the release of pancreatic juice. --> Sodium bicarbonate is not released to raise the pH of the chyme, and it burns the mucosal lining...this leads to duodenal ulcers. **Bad pH --> No Sodium Bicarbonate --> No Enzyme Action --> Incomplete Chemical Digestion --> Intestinal Problems.**

Digestion: Dysfunction (Saliva)

SALIVA: Saliva is a complex mixture of electrolytes, hormones, and enzymes. -Salivary amylase begins the chemical breakdown of starches. If the proper enzymes are not secreted, the breakdown of carbohydrates does not begin. --> -The pancreatic enzyme amylase cannot complete the breakdown of starch in the small intestine. Leaving undigested starch entering the colon. --> -This feeds candida. Creating general dysbiosis further down the digestive tract.

Digestion: Dysfunction (Stomach 4)

STOMACH CONTINUED: 2. People experience Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD): -If there is not enough acid in the stomach, foods do not get broken down. Carbohydrates-->ferments; proteins-->putrefy; fats-->rancidify. -These maldigested foods cause a reflux, or backward flow, into the esophagus. The esophagus is not made for the acidic foods from the stomach, so it burns.

Digestion: Dysfunction (Stomach 5)

STOMACH CONTINUED: **If the REAL problem is too little acid produced in the stomach, why do antacids seem to relieve the symptoms? -Answer: Antacids, acid blockers, etc. raise the pH of chyme to neutral, so it doesn't burn the esophagus. However, now the chyme is much too alkaline for the stomach. **What is this doing to the rest of the digestive system? Leads to poor mental health progression! 3. The pyloric sphincter does not want to release chyme into the duodenum: -If the chyme is too alkaline, chyme stays longer in the stomach and begins to degernate.

Digestion: Dysfunction (Stomach 3)

STOMACH CONTINUED: Helicobacter Pylori (H.pylori). *According to the Clinical Pearls on gastric cancer, H. pylori, and vitamin C: -gastric atrophy and reduced hydrochloric acid secretion may be the initiating factors in H.pylori, along with reduced vitamin C secretion in the stomach, thereby increasing the risk of gastric cancer due to the lack of the ability of vitamin C to inhibit mutagenesis.

Digestion: Dysfunction (Stomach 2)

STOMACH CONTINUED: What happens if you do not produce enough HCl? 1. Our first line of defense against pathogenic microorganisms is gone: -Yeast, prions, bacteria, viruses, parasites, etc. are actually little proteins. --When the pH is CORRECT in the stomach, pepsin digests these microorganisms...they become food. --When the pH is NOT correct, an environment is created in which these organisms thrive and raise havoc in the GI tract. **Pasteur believed the microorganism is what causes the illness, while Bechamp believed it was the environment. **We believe it is actually a combination of the two: If the microorganism is not present, you will not get sick. However, if the environment is optimal, even IF you get the microorganism, it cannot survive.

Digestion: Dysfunction (Stomach 1)

STOMACH: The stomach is all about acid. -Normal pH = 1.5-3.0. *Factors that can inhibit HCl production: -Stress -Excess carbohydrate consumption -Nutrient deficiencies -Allergies -Excess alcohol consumption **Approximately 90% of Americans produce too little HCl!

Digestion: Proper Function 9

THE SMALL INTESTINE CONT: By the time the chyme leaves the duodenum, it is almost totally digested: -Carbs are broken down into glucose molecules. -Proteins are broken down into amino acids and polypeptides. -Fats are broken down into fatty acids and glycerol molecules. **Peristalsis moves these absorbable molecules into the jejunum.

Undigested Proteins

Undigested proteins (in fact all undigested foods) impact the villi and microvilli of the small intestine. -The lining becomes leaky, selectivity as to what passes through the lining is lost (leaky gut syndrome). -This allows proteins and fats to pass through the gut in inappropriate sizes, which overwhelms the immune system. -*What should have been a nourishing food is now one more assault on the immune system.