Digestive diseases, imbalances and lifelong disorders are on the increase in the UK.

Liz Chandler, of Natures Corner, Newbury, looks at some of the factors affecting our digestion. info@naturescorner.co.uk

Day in, day out, year after year, we put our digestive system through stress and offer it junk food, irregular meals and stimulants. Then we seem surprised when it doesn’t work properly.
Our digestion is an amazing system. During an average lifetime we eat 45,000 kilos of food and drink 55,000 litres of fluid. Some of us may well have read that the small intestine is the length of a double decker bus, but the overall sophistication of the system is easily taken for granted – until it goes out of sync.
Our stomach contains very powerful hydrochloric acid (HCl), which aids both digestion and sterilization. As we age, levels of HCl tend to decline leaving us with problems such as heartburn and indigestion, bloating and flatulence. Aside from age there are other factors that affect our ability to digest and absorb food:-

Stress, Overeating or eating too quickly, Irregular eating,
Eating late at night, Food sensitivities.

People who believe they produce too much acid tend to relieve their discomfort after meals by taking antacids – alkaline products designed to neutralise the amount of acid in the stomach. In fact the problem usually lies in the stomach lining, where tiny lesions allow bacteria called Helicobacter pylori to take hold and make the lesions worse. Once this happens, even small amounts of stomach acid can irritate the lining and cause discomfort and acid reflux. Antacids merely relieve the symptoms but can cause further problems. Firstly the stomach is now not able to break down foods and kill bacteria and secondly, because the stomach needs to keep the acid at a certain, very precise, level, the brain will send a message for the stomach to work harder and produce more acid, causing more discomfort. Manuka honey is extremely beneficial in these circumstances, as its anti viral properties will fight bacterial viruses such as Helicobacter pylori and in addition, will soothe the symptoms of Crohn’s Disease and Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Centaurium is also a helpful stomach bitter, that strengthens the oesophageal sphincter, aids digestion and relieves acid reflux. Another powerful anti inflammatory and natural healer is Aloe Vera Juice, which works within the intestinal tract to help break down impacted food residues and cleanse the bowel.

Finally, it would be wrong to neglect the issue of gut flora and the benefits of taking ‘beneficial bacteria’, known as probiotics. The food industry supply probiotics as food, usually in yogurts or drinking yogurts, but it is worth making the distinction between the probiotic potency of foods and the probiotic potency of supplements (powder or capsules). To get the equivalent of a potency of a two billion bacteria supplement, we would need to eat one litre of probiotic yogurt.

An important fact to remember is that we are  NOT what we eat, but what we digest and absorb.