Digestive health, its factors, and tips on how to maintain it 

What is the digestive system and How does it work

Breaking down food complex components into smaller ones that our body can absorb properly for energy, growth, and normal functioning at the cellular level is called Digestion. The organ system of our body which is responsible for digestion is called the Digestive system. So, people with proper digestion have good Digestive health. In humans, the digestive system comprises the Gastrointestinal tract along with accessory organs like salivary glands, tongue, gallbladder, Liver, and pancreas each plays an important role in the completion of the Digestion of food we eat. There are three main phases of Digestion which are the cephalic phase, the gastric phase, and the intestinal phase. 

To understand Digestive health it is necessary to have a sound knowledge regarding digestion and how our Digestive system works. In the cephalic phase of Digestion, the stomach starts to secrete 20% of total gastric juice in response to the sight, smell, taste and thought of food. The main components of gastric juice are HCL and pepsin which helps the stomach to digest proteins in our food. In this stage, chewing food by teeth mechanically breaks down food into smaller parts to increase the surface area for the activity of enzymes. Saliva-containing enzymes also initiate the chemical breakdown of food from the mouth turning food into bolus. Now this bolus travels from mouth to stomach via the esophagus starting the second phase of digestion.

By the entrance of the bolus into the stomach, the gastric phase of digestion activates. In this stage, about 50-60 %of total gastric juice is secreted in the stomach to digest complex protein structures present in bolus into smaller subunits. Stretching of stomach mix bolus with gastric juice and turn it into Chyme. After this, chyme passes into the first part of the small intestine, the jejunum at this point the second phase of digestion ends. The intestinal phase involves the mixing of chyme with several digestive enzymes from the pancreatic juice and bile from the gallbladder.

After digestion of food, the subunits get absorbed into the blood through specialized absorbing surfaces of the small intestine. After the small intestine, the large intestinal wall absorbs water and salt into the blood lining and turns food into feces. In the end, feces are temporarily stored in the last part of the large intestine, the rectum, and excreted through Anus out of the body.

Components of the Digestive System:

Gastro-intestinal Tract:

1. Stomach: serves as a container or hollow body for the storage of food.
2. Small Intestine:  A 10-foot-long thin tubular organ of the lower gastrointestinal tract. Here almost all essential components of food get absorbed into the blood by inner folding specialized surface structures known as Vili into blood circulation.
3. Large Intestine:  Thick long tube of about 5 feet that comes after the small intestine responsible for the absorption of water and with the help of colonel microbes residing on its lining fetch nutrients from waste.

Accessory Organs:

Organs that help other organs in the system function are called Accessory Organs. The digestive system does have accessory organs that help to maintain gut health are listed below.

1. Pancreas: secretes many digestive enzymes into the duodenum in the form of pancreatic juice. that break down fats, carbohydrates, and proteins present in chyme. Furthermore, it produces Insulin hormone which regulates the metabolism of Glucose at the cellular level
2. Liver: Apart from several crucial functions, the liver produces bile for digestion which helps to break down fats into smaller units.
3. Gallbladder: Pear-shaped organ temporarily stores bile and when needed secretes it into the small intestine   

Factors affecting gut health

1. Diet: A healthy diet with probiotics not only gives our body essential nutrients for proper growth and normal cellular functioning but also provides indigestible nutrients to mutualistic microbes residing in our intestinal lining. Hence A diverse and organised diet having all the crucial nutrients helps maintain our gut microbiota. So what we eat decides how gut microbiota will maintain gut homeostasis by interacting with gut mucosal lining and regulating gut immunity healthily. 
2. Lifestyle: Maintaining an active lifestyle benefits gut microbiota a lot.  Exercise daily helps increase the diversity of microbiota which as a result helps to reduce gut inflammation. Because of an active lifestyle blood circulation increases which makes the digestive tract more stronger and healthier. Also, exercise improves Digestive health through consistent bowel movement with less bloating and gas. On the other hand stress, passive lifestyle, late night sleep, and meals, and altered internal body clock have adverse effects on gut microbiota which as a result harm digestive health   
3. Medication: certain drugs like antibiotics alter, kill, and deplete gut microbiota. Due to a changed environment gut homeostasis is disturbed and controlled microbial diversity becomes unbalanced means some microbial species increase in number while others decrease. Excessive usage of antibiotics depletes gut microbiota which decreases competition for food and space to reside for pathogenic microbial strains in intestinal linings.,  
4. Genetics: Inherited genes like lactose intolerance and Blood type can cause about 1.2-8.1 % variation in gut microbiota which causes increases in susceptibility to gut diseases and infections and affects gut health. According to the latest research, there is a strong connection between the genetic makeup and gut microbiota in a human being. However, it is still unclear how and why gut microbiota is linked to our genes.     
5. Age: In our gut, there are hundreds and thousands of microbial species residing,  which means our gut microbiota in normal and healthy conditions is very diverse and versatile. As we age the diversity of gut microbiota decreases continuously which may lead to Gut infections and alter your Gut health with a high chance of getting  diabetes and heart disease    
6. Host immunity: Host immune system integrity plays an important role in maintaining gut microbiota homeostasis. The immune system regulates the Gut microbiota as the first line of defense. In case of compromised Gut immunity can lead to opportunistic infection due to gut microbes which affects gut health.

Recommended Readings:

Sign for unhealthy gut

1.  You feel frequent heartburn, bloating, gas, diarrhea, and constipation after eating your meal. Your upset stomach shows your Digestive system is having a hard time proceeding with digestion.  
2. Your skin irritations like acne, skin rashes, and  psoriasis  may direct you toward poor gut health
3. If you feel more tired without any excessive workout that may be a clue that you have  IBS. According to the studies about half of people having chronic fatigue suffer from  Irritable bowel syndrome.
4. You have trouble sleeping and have altered your body’s sleep cycle or it is very hard to fall asleep. Your insomnia is also a sign of your gut inflammation. Serotonin is the hormone in our body that controls our sleep and mood majorly secret from our Digestive system. So an unhealthy digestive system has affected serotonin secretion.
5.  If you have migraine in conjunction with vomiting and nausea then there is a higher chance your Digestive health is compromised.
6. Autoimmune diseases like diabetes type 1 and rheumatoid arthritis may be because of gastrointestinal infections. In the condition of unbalanced gut homeostasis, the pathogenic strains of microbes increase in number which triggers autoimmune diseases.
7.  frequent changes in your mood may be a cause of your unstable gut microbiota. Our Gut flora is connected with our nervous system. So people with frequent depression and anxiety may have unstable gut neuro connection due to inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract.
8.  Intolerance to certain food and being unable to digest certain food, this condition directs toward poor microbial conditions and less diverse gut flora.   
9. High concentration of sugar, especially fructose in your food makes your gut lining populated with harmful bacterial species which causes more sweet food cravings and affects your gut health adversely.

Read More Blogs:

Problems related to Digestive Health:

Sometimes one and more than one organ of the digestive system is unable to do its work which may cause mild symptoms of chronic disease. Some of them are described below:   

Irritable bowel syndrome

Irritable bowel syndrome is usually abbreviated as IBS. IBS has multiple symptoms with an effective large intestine combined with pain and discomfort.IBS requires long-term treatment when chronic. Most people are advised to develop their diet and lifestyle by symptoms related to their digestive system at the initial stages of IBS. But with chronic IBS patients need proper clinical treatment and monitoring. IBS has the following symptoms:

• Mucoid feces
• Chronic fatigue
• Gas and Bloating
• Constipation and diarrhoea 
• Abdominal Cramps

Gallstones:

A medical condition in which stone-like rigid chunks form in the gallbladder by accumulation of digestive fluid containing high concentrations of cholesterol or bilirubin. The size of gallstones varies from a few mm to cm. Small gallstones remain untreated while large gallstones make patients very uncomfortable and require removal permanently. In chronic conditions, surgeons have to remove the gallbladder itself from the liver for proper treatment. Based on chemical nature and composition gallstones are of two types. Some gallstones are made up of cholesterol and are yellow in color while others are black in colour and are composed of bilirubin.  Patients with small gallstones don’t feel any symptoms  while patients having large gallbladder experience intense symptoms which are:

• Yellowish skin colour
• Fever
• Pain in the upper right abdomen 
• Nausea and vomiting
•  The stool has clay colour

Acid reflux

Acid reflux is a condition in which gastric juice and bile rush upward passing the cardiac sphincter into the esophagus causing heartburn and pain. Usually after eating spicy food, people feel acid reflux. Overeating also causes acid reflux. The frequency of acid reflux is very important as people with high acid reflux frequency per week may suffer from GERD (Gastroesophageal reflux disease ). Acid reflux usually has mild symptoms while GERD makes you feel the following  serious symptoms:

• Feeling a lump in the throat
• Heartburn
•  Nausea
• Sore throat coupled with dry cough
• Bad breath
• Decaying of teeth

Hemorrhoids

Hemorrhoids are a medical condition in which patients suffer from swallowing of blood veins around the anus or inside the lower rectum comes just after descending colon. Hemorrhoids in common terminology are also known as piles. Based on the location of swallow veins there are two types: internal hemorrhoids and external hemorrhoids. External ones have swallow veins beneath the skin around the anus and in internal hemorrhoids swallow blood veins are present in the rectum. Piles can be treated using topical creams and ointments while in adverse conditions it is necessary to be removed by surgery. People with piles have the following symptoms:

• Stool leakage
• Swollen anus
• Pain and Itchiness around the anus
• Lump near anus
• Bleeding while excretion of feces

If you have any symptoms mentioned above you must consult your doctor and start proper treatment of your disease to maintain your digestive gut.

Tips to Maintain Your Digestive Health

You can prevent digestive tract disease by taking care of your diet, lifestyle, and sleep time. The following tips will help you.

1. Seasonal fruits contain high dietary fiber content in combination of prebiotics and enzymes that help to maintain your Gut microbiota diverse. So eat at least 7 servings of food daily
2. Whole grain items like bread, cereal, and pasta contain nutrients and high fiber content as compared to processed white enriched grains. Eating whole grains helps you maintain your digestive health
3. Stay yourself away from processed food. Processed food especially meat contains preservatives that may disturb your gut microbiota and leave enough space for harmful bacteria. Also reduce lamb, beef, and pork meat from your diet when improperly cooked may contaminate your gut microbiota with pathogens and cause gut infection
4. Exercise daily for at least 30 mins which helps you maintain your Digestive system
5. Have a vitamin D-rich diet. Vitamin D can help prevent digestive inflammation and improve your digestive health.

Bottom line:

Your digestive health revolves around the diversity and stability of your gut microbiota. Adopt such a diet and lifestyle which promotes the quality of your gut microbiome. Any activity and food that will disturb the balance and homeostasis between your gut microbes and immunity will eventually result in gut infections. 

Discover More:

FAQs

What is digestive health?

There isn’t any proper definition of digestive health, but we usually relate digestive health with the digestion ability of someone’s gut for the food they eat. A person with good digestion has a healthy gut with a diverse gut microbiome. These people have less chance to face problems like bloating, vomiting, acidity, and gas.

What are probiotics and how do they help with digestion? 

The food supplements that contain live bacterial species to improve gut microbiota are probiotics. In case of overuse of antibiotics, good microbiota also gets eradicated along with pathogenic microbes. This creates a large space for pathogens too to reside on the gut lining. To quickly fill this space probiotics are used. 

How does fiber benefit my digestive system?

Fibre helps in boosting digestion. Dietary fibers improve stool volume and weight. A stool with good volume and weight is easy to excrete. Dietary fibers help to speed up stool movement and help to prevent constipation. So during constipation, a diet with high fiber helps to recover from constipation.

 How can I improve my digestive health?

Eating diverse food like pro and prebiotics-rich fermented food,   green leafy vegetables with high fiber content, and fruits having many vital vitamins. Stay hydrated adopt an active lifestyle and add 30 minutes of exercise to your daily to-do list.

Can stress affect my digestive health?  

Yes, in stress conditions, our gut microbiota and immune homeostasis get disturbed which results from mild to serious symptoms like diarrhea, constipation,  nausea, cramping, and Irritable bowel syndrome. Stress activates fight and flight response by triggering nerve impulses toward muscles in the gut tract. This condition initiates many gut abnormalities.