Digestion! Digestion! Digestion! Enhanced Digestion and Cellular Detoxification

So what kind of foods have a tendency to ferment more or ferment faster than others? Fruits that are higher in fructose also fall into this category like melons and citrus fruits such as mango. Fruits high in polyls sugar alcohols such as apples, peaches and pears would also be included. Many sweeteners also contain fructose, such as high fructose corn syrup HFCS , honey, and agave.

And of course, fructose is a major ingredient in most gels and sports drinks, so if you find that sports gels mess you up, this could be why. Oligosaccharides are short strands of simple sugars and all beans and lentils fall into this category. Maltodextrin, which is found in many, many sports gels, is also an oligosaccharide.

How Your Digestive System Works

Wheat is also an oligosaccharide, and in addition, contains sugar called fructan. Lactose, the sugar found in dairy especially unfermented forms of dairy such milk, as opposed to yogurt or kefir is a disaccharide. Examples of sugar alcohols, which are found as an ingredient in many packaged or processed foods, are xylitol, maltitol, and sorbitol.

But in the same way that baked beans and apples can cause an issue, you can also create a nuclear bomb in your gut by consuming grams of fructose and maltodextrin per hour from sports gels during a triathlon or marathon, downing a wheat-filled energy bar each afternoon at work, or sucking down lactose-laden recovery shakes after a workout. This is a problem I tend to often see in people who stress their guts with high amounts of food and also eat before, during or after exercise or in a stressed post-workout state. When you eat a meal, or even an bar, energy gel or, sip of sport drink, your digestive system primarily your pancreas and small intestine secretes enzymes that break down proteins, carbohydrates and fats into useable nutrients that can pass from your intestine to your bloodstream.

For example, foods such as meat, eggs, and beans consist of giant molecules of protein that must be digested by enzymes before they can be used to build and repair body tissues For example, an enzyme called pepsin exists in the juice of the stomach and this starts the digestion of swallowed protein. Then, in the small intestine, several enzymes from the pancreatic juice and the lining of the intestine complete the breakdown of these protein molecules into even smaller molecules amino acids. These amino acids can then be absorbed through the small intestine into the blood and then be carried to all parts of the body to build the walls and other parts of cells.

But in many cases, the amount of food you eat can often exceed the capacity of your digestive enzymes very typical among high-calorie consuming, active individuals …. This results in the problematic phenomenon you already learned about called leaky gut syndrome. You can also pay attention to symptoms. Symptoms that suggest you might have problems with digestive enzymes are:. Next, jumpstart the process of digestion by simply taking digestive enzymes before you eat. This seems to help tremendously.

A healthy human body carries over trillion microorganisms in the intestines, which is ten times greater than the total number of human cells in the body. In addition, an extremely low-fiber diet can also result in insufficient gut flora This is because prebiotics are fiber-based sugars that you get from fruits and vegetables, and these provide food and sustenance to the probiotics. Insufficient intake of fermented foods rich in good bacteria can also be an issue, especially in a modern, Westernized diet. Unfortunately, most commercial probiotic foods that you buy at the grocery store have been pasteurized, packaged improperly for keeping good bacteria alive, or treated with high amounts of added sugars to satisfy a palate conditioned to sweet foods.

Taking Colostrum with probiotics helps the bacteria colonize your gut. This formula has saved my ass quite literally after having to take antibiotics. As a matter of fact, I think this is a hugely underdiagnosed issue. Basically, SIBO is a chronic bacterial infection of the small intestine 3. The actual infection is with bacteria that would normally live in your gastrointestinal tract but have abnormally overgrown in a location that is simply not meant for that many bacteria. These bacteria interfere with your normal digestion and absorption of food and are associated with damage to the lining or membrane of the SI leaky gut syndrome, which I prefer to call leaky SI in this case.

This can be a serious issue, because the bacteria:. Your immune system reacts to these bacteria and their cell walls, and this can produce something called endotoxemia, which causes chronic fatigue and stress the liver. In addition to experiencing many of the signs and symptoms listed above, when you have SIBO, you actually react pretty badly when you consume fermented foods such as kombucha and kefir, and even can get irritable bowel syndrome from consuming probiotics — which basically dump bacteria on top of bacteria.

It may seem counterintuitive, but this is a case in which fermented foods could actually be bad for you. You can order a simple, at-home breath test that measures the amount of gas produced by bacteria. There are a variety of SIBO healing programs out there, but one basic protocol is:. This is nasty stuff to think about, but harmful bacteria are a fact of life — and I have been shocked at the number of seemingly healthy folks who have tested positive for parasites, yeast and fungus.

When these issues are allowed to take over and grow out of control, you get sick more often and you have some serious gut issues. A parasite is technically defined as a microscopic organism that derives nourishment from its host without benefiting or killing the host. In your body, you can have both parasitic fungi and parasitic yeast, and intestinal parasites are those that live in your intestines and can lead to issues such as abnormal bowel movements, muscle aches and pains, chronic fatigue, insomnia, skin problems and gut discomfort 4. They can be contracted in many ways, including raw meat and fish had sushi lately , polluted water like open water triathlon swims , contaminated fruits and veggies all over the place , contact with pets yes, including your beloved cat or dog , insect bites and travel outside of the country.

For example, after a particularly long triathlon training and racing trip to Thailand that included elephant rides, open water swims in stagnant man made lagoons, liberal consumption of foods much of it cooked in suspect ways and many insect bites, I returned and within 3 weeks had some strange coughing, skin rashes and seriously smelly poo. I tested with a home poop panel the Comprehensive Parasitology Profile from DirectLabs and sure enough — I had a few nasty critters in my gut. I opted to take a high-grade oil of oregano four times per day and a supplement called mastic gum two times per day, and I was good to go within a month.

I probably got lucky, because many times, parasitic infections require more serious medication and long term treatment.

1. Teaching Children to Ride Ponies.
2. Sexy! Amateur! Nudes! 16!
3. Le réenchantement du monde (French Edition).
4. Human Physiology/The gastrointestinal system?
5. How to detox for digestion - | www.newyorkethnicfood.com!
6. How Your Digestive System Works (And How to Maintain It) - Dr. Axe.
7. Mariage (Harlequin Edition Spéciale) (French Edition).

Often, it all depends on the type of parasite you have. Yeasts are microscopic organisms categorized as fungi, and the most common culprit for gut issues is candida albicans, which is normally in your body, but can cause some serious problems if it is allowed to thrive and multiply 5. When that happens, you get chronic fatigue, inability to lose weight, sugar and carbohydrate cravings, brain fog, and even food sensitivities or allergies to things you normally would be able to eat. This is an issue very similar to the SIBO you already learned about.

The most common group I see candida albicans in is women who eat lots of carbs — but guys can get this stuff growing out of control too. A low carb diet combined with a cleansing protocol can really help with this stuff see SIBO recommendations earlier. Basically, in the privacy of your home, a few stool samples are collected preferably by you, unless you have a very, very nice significant other and then sent to the laboratory. Results go directly to an office, after which you will receive a personalized letter of recommendations and test results which may include natural anti-parasite herbal formulas, nutritional supplements, diet, and lifestyle changes.

It bugs the heck out of me when I learn that someone with indigestion or heartburn has been prescribed a proton pump inhibitor or some type of other medication that blocks stomach acid hydrochloric acid, or HCl production. This is a pretty significant issue, since the sterilization of food by HCl against harmful micro-organisms reduces your risk of being colonized by other micro-organisms like parasites or fungus.

Stomach acid also plays an important role in the digestion of proteins and absorption of minerals and vitamins, and signals the release of digestive enzymes and bicarbonate from your pancreas, which is crucial for digestion Insufficient stomach acid can cause absorption of partially digested food molecules, which can lead to food intolerances or alleriges.

This is because food particles that would normally be digested and absorbed in your upper intestines instead pass through into your lower intestines and provide fuel for yeast or fungus, overgrowth of pathogens, and poor absorption of minerals, vitamins and amino acids. Low stomach acid levels can be genetic or acquired. So what can you do about insufficient stomach acid production? A combination of all of the following can be very effective. It has the natural antimicrobial allicin, which can help to lower levels of harmful bacteria and fungi such as candida.

The stuff has really good antimicrobial properties. Also avoid soda, alcohol, nightshade vegetables like tomatoes, potatoes, and peppers chili, green, red , wheat and gluten, peanuts, shellfish, excessive caffeine intake, artificial sweeteners like aspartame, sucralose, etc. This will allow for easier digestion. If no burning or indigestion, next day take 1 tablet in the same way. If still no burning or indigestion, next day take 2 tablets in the same way.

Continue until you get any burning, then back off. Every time he eats fruits, candies, baked goods, sports gels with fructose and even some vegetables, he feels queasy and tired, and his brain feels foggy. Sometimes, he even gets ravenous and has to eat mountains of pasta or rice to feel good again. Jane feels exactly the same way as Joe when she consumes foods containing fructose, however, unlike Joe she has adequate liver enzymes, but impaired fructose absorption from a deficiency of fructose carriers in the small intestine. As you may have guessed, both Jane and Joe would be classified as having a food intolerance to fructose.

These six factors include:. But other lesser known intolerances include food additives, preservatives, artificial colors and flavors, fructose, and foods that contain high levels of salicylate, which can include many fruits, juices, vegetables, spices, herbs, nuts, tea, wines, and coffee. While moderate indigestion is normal from high carbohydrate and high calorie intake, especially during long periods of exercise or racing, it is not normal to have the excessive mucus and coughing, itching, rash, sinus inflammation or headaches that dozens of folks have reported to me after a big workout or race — and these are all potential signs of a food intolerance.

The good news is that with proper identification of specific intolerances, adjustment of dietary intake, and choice of training and racing fuels, food intolerances can become a non-issue. Options include breath testing, skin pinprick, a stomach gastroscopy, an intestinal biopsy, stool analysis, skin sample analysis, electrical current testing, muscle testing methods, and more — and there is lots of controversy in the medical and nutrition community about which test is best. Results go all the way from questionable to downright useless. But if you actually suspect a specific intolerance, this can help to choose the proper test.

For example, a fructose intolerance is best identified via a breath test, which measures undigested fructose via hydrogen levels in the breath, whereas a lactose intolerance is better measured via analyzing the blood sugar response to lactose consumption. If you cock your head just the right way, you can see the little yellow marks that my doctor placed on these test results.

And herein lies the problem with blood based food intolerance testing like an IgG or IgA test: As a matter of fact, people who may have been allergic to milk or eggs as kids but eventually outgrew those allergies which is fairly common , tend to have higher levels of antibodies to these foods. In other words, the presence of the antibodies is actually linked to increased tolerance to those foods, not decreased tolerance. Yet when you test, you may receive a long and foreboding list of foods that you need to avoid often hundreds of foods!

So ultimately, I encourage you to simply keep a record for a few weeks of everything you eat and any symptoms that develop in response to specific foods. This can help narrow the list of foods that may be causing problems. The next step is a food elimination diet, in which you simply avoid suspected triggers.

The nature of the food intolerance will significantly affect the steps you take. For example, since a gluten intolerance is related to an antibody reaction and immune system response to gluten, it may be necessary for you to switch to a gluten-free diet. The same can be said for fructose intolerance, which requires a complete elimination of fructose and sucrose from the diet. Since multiple food intolerances are quite common, it may be necessary for you to adopt a diet that is free from common food culprits, especially if you are an athlete who is eating thousands of calories each day to support training or competition.

I also have a diet program at REVDiet. A food allergy is often accompanied by serious symptoms such as throat swelling or respiratory distress. Some proteins or fragments of proteins are resistant to digestion and those that are not broken down in the digestive process are tagged by an antibody called Immunoglobulin E IgE. These tags fool your immune system into thinking that the protein is an invader, and your immune system, thinks you are under attack and triggers an allergic reaction 7. These allergic reactions can range from mild to severe, and include hives, shock, a severe drop in blood pressure, dermatitis and other skin reactions, gastrointestinal and respiratory distress, and even life-threatening anaphylactic reactions in which the throat swells and closes, requiring immediate emergency response.

Unlike a food intolerance, you usually know for sure when you have a food allergy, because the response is readily identifiable and usually very uncomfortable or severe. Allergic and other hypersensitivity reactions to foods can actually characterized by elevated allergen-specific antibody levels in you blood, and you can get IgE tests from online companies like DirectLabs.

B cleaning up the diet and using nutrition supplementation wisely;. C attempting as much as possible to live in a stress-free state, since stress significantly aggravates any gut issue. Natural Treatment for Autism, Dyspraxia, A. Spend much time around office or household cleaning supplies? So I personally detox my body at least once a year — typically in the off-season when my levels of physical activity and exercise are lower. Heavy metals, toxins, pesticides and other compounds that your body is unable to metabolize can accumulate in your tissues, cells, and digestive tract Perhaps not to the extent that some of the more extreme folks would have you to believe e.

When combined with caloric restriction and light exercise, you can accelerate the rate at which fat tissues are metabolized by the body, and since your body stores many toxins in fat, this can also increase the rate at which your body clears toxins. You would simply do the following for one week to one month. Stay away from stressful hard sprints, intense intervals, and voluminous training sessions, as the impact, bouncing, jarring and metabolic stress is not be the best scenario for a fiber-filled gut or a digestive system that is detoxing.

Completely eliminate all processed foods like chips, crackers, cookies and candy, cut out anything that is non-organic, including non-organic meats, eggs, packaged foods, etc. There are actually specific foods that enhance your gut or liver detoxification pathways, including beets, cranberries, sea vegetables, dandelions leaves, broccoli, flaxseed, lemons, garlic, artichoke, turmeric, and apples.

Eat with nori seaweed wrap. Include dandelion leaves, flaxseed and a couple cloves of garlic in smoothie. Get as much sleep as possible, limit your exposure to stress and heavy work-days, and if possible, throw in regular steam-room sessions, sauna visits, or easy hot yoga classes, since your sweat can also remove toxins. The following supplements will support a clean diet by binding toxins and metals, supporting liver detoxification pathways, clearing the gut, and enhancing elimination of toxins via urine and stool — and they all come from very high quality sources:.

Health Topics

Once per day is fine. One with chlorella is best. Eat bits in the morning and evening, or put into daily smoothie. Finally, as mentioned earlier in this chapter, rebuilding your gut lining is important, and can be very complementary to a detox. You should also be warned that when you embark on a detox or cleanse, you may experience gas, bloating, unpleasant body odor, rash, hives or other unpleasant symptoms.

If this happens to you, be sure to drink plenty of pure, filtered water, which will help you to flush toxins and prevent re-absorption of these compounds. Of course, no discussion of clean eating or detoxing would be complete without some quick tips on how to mitigate the effects of alcohol. After all, us athletes do like to get our party on every now and again, right? In truth, preventing a hangover is way more complicated than simply drinking oodles of water or coconut water, or Gatorade, or Pedialyte along with your alcoholic beverage.

Dehydration is just part of hangover formation. Basically, your pituitary gland produces something called anti-diuretic hormone ADH , which naturally increases blood pressure by causing your body to retain water. As the name suggests, vasopressin increases your blood pressure by causing sodium retention and potassium loss. This is why people with heart problems are most prone to a heart attack during the hangover period after drinking. Your cardiovascular system goes into electrolyte roller-coaster hyperdrive to try and regain fluids.

This not only contributes to even more fluid retention, but also causes an increase in blood sugar levels by converting amino acids into glucose in your liver also known as gluconeogenesis. As your blood sugar levels go up, your pancreas churns out more insulin, resulting in abnormal stress on both your pancreas and liver function. These chronically elevated levels of cortisol can also causes catabolism decreased protein availability in skeletal muscles as well as a redistribution of body fat from your legs and arms to your belly.

Thromboxanes also cause blood platelets to stick together clot formation , and decrease your levels of natural killer cells crucial to immune system. Finally, most alcoholic beverages contain something called congeners, which also significantly contribute to hangover symptoms. As your body goes into fight mode to help you handle the high levels of congeners from excess alcohol consumption, you get gastrointestinal issues, nausea, headaches, and being sweaty, clammy or chilly. And exercise the next day absolutely sucks. So what can you do about it this milieu of misery?

Here are my top 3 ways to specifically detox your body from the effects of alcohol and a long night of post-race or post-workout partying: But by getting more potassium into your body before, during and after drinking, you can control the propensity for fuzzy thinking and headaches from dehydration. And what about bananas? Basically, cysteine is an amino acid that helps your liver break down acetaldehyde from alcohol metabolism — giving cysteine a bit of a detox effect.

We also have nerves that control the digestive system. We have nerves within the GI tract that are triggered when there is food present, and this allows our digestive system to work properly. What are the body parts involved in the digestive system? When you swallow, your food pushes into the esophagus, the muscular tube that carries food and liquids from the mouth to the stomach. Once swallowing begins, it becomes involuntary and proceeds under the control of the esophagus and brain. Spleen — The spleen is a brown, flat, oval-shaped lymphatic organ that filters and stores blood to protect the body from infections and blood loss.

The spleen is in charge of cleaning impurities from the blood, destroying old red blood cells and storing blood in case of emergency, such as an injury. This central organ not only holds the food, it also works as a mixer and grinder. The stomach contains hydrochloric acid and digestive enzymes that continue the digestion of food that began in the mouth.

Hydrochloric acid is a clear, colorless and highly pungent solution of hydrogen chloride in water. Liver — What does the liver do? But the main function of the liver in digestion is the production of bile and its release into the small intestine. The liver makes and secretes bile, which helps enzymes in the body break down fats into fatty acids. After you absorb nutrients through your small intestine, it then enters the bloodstream.

This blood is sent to the liver for filtering and detoxification. The liver has the amazing ability to break down and store amino acids , synthesize and metabolize fats and cholesterol , store glucose, detoxify the blood and regulate our internal functions. The gallbladder sits just under the liver and stores bile that is made in the liver, which then travels to the gallbladder through a channel called the cystic duct. The gallbladder stores bile between meals, and when we eat, the gallbladder squeezes bile through the bile ducts, which connect the gallbladder and liver to the small intestine.

Pancreas — The pancreas is a spongy, tube-shaped organ that is about six-inches long. It secretes digestive enzymes into the small intestine, and this completes the chemical digestion of foods. Both enzymes and hormones are needed to keep the body and digestive system working properly. The pancreas connects to the liver and the gallbladder with the common bile duct. As pancreatic juices are made, they flow into the main pancreatic duct and then join the common duct, which allows the bile which helps to digest fat break down food before it reaches the small intestine.

How does the small intestine function? When the chyme our juices that are being digested leaves the stomach, it enters the small intestine through the pyloric sphincter — a muscle that serves as a valve and prevents the regurgitation of food from the intestine back into the stomach. What is digestion and absorption? It transforms from an acidic environment to an alkaline one, which means the acids are neutralized.

The small intestine is lined with very small protrusions that increase the surface area of the intestinal wall, which creates a larger absorption area. Each protrusion, called villi, is covered in smaller hair-like structures, which are called microvilli. Enzymes exist on the villi, helping further break down nutrients into a readily absorbable form. It is the job of the villi to help prevent leaky gut. Leaky gut is when the bowel lining is damaged.

The folds in the small intestine are used to maximize the digestion of food and the absorption of nutrients. By the time food leaves the small intestine, around 90 percent of all nutrients have been extracted from the food that entered it. Once the nutrients have been absorbed, the liquid left over passes through the small intestine and goes to the large intestine, or colon.

Colon or large intestine function is the final stage of the digestive process. Once the juices that used to be your food leave your small intestine, they enter your large intestine. At this point, most of the nutrient absorption has happened, but water, fat soluble vitamins and minerals can be absorbed in the colon as well.

The naturally present bacteria in your colon will continue to help with digestion; these gut bacteria are called flora. Flora breaks down waste and extracts small amounts of nutrients whatever is left. The waste that is left over will exit the body from the colon by means of peristalsis peristalsis definition: At first the waste is in a liquid state, but as it moves through the colon, the water is removed and it becomes the solid form of stool.

The stool is mostly food debris and bacteria; the bacteria fuse vitamins, process waste and food particles and protect us against harmful bacteria. How long does it take to clean out your colon? It takes about 36 hours for stool to get through the colon, and when the colon becomes full, it empties its contents into the rectum, which begins the elimination process. According to the ideas of Eastern medicine, exercise and a healthy diet can benefit the body only if the spleen is able to transmit nutrition and energy to the muscles, and a person with deficient spleen function will often experience weakness and fatigue.

How to Heal Your Digestive Problems Naturally

It separates usable and unusable fluids that we consume daily. The digestive systems of representative animals. Images from Purves et al. The digestive system uses mechanical and chemical methods to break food down into nutrient molecules that can be absorbed into the blood. Once in the blood, the food molecules are routed to every cell in the animal's body. There are two types of animal body plans as well as two locations fordigestion to occur. Sac-like plans are found in many invertebrates, who have a single opening for food intake and the discharge of wastes.

Vertebrates, the animal group humans belong to, use the more efficient tube-within-a-tube plan with food entering through one opening the mouth and wastes leaving through another the anus. Where the digestion of the food happens is also variable. Some animals use intracellular digestion , where food is taken into cells by phagocytosis with digestive enzymes being secreted into the phagocytic vesicles. This type of digestion occurs in sponges, coelenterates corals, hydras and their relatives and most protozoans.

Extracellular digestion occurs in the lumen or opening of a digestive system, with the nutrient molecules being transferred to the blood or some other body fluid.

Navigation menu

This more advanced type of digestion occurs in chordates, annelids, and crustaceans. Food for the most part consists of various organic macromolecules such as starch, proteins, and fats. These molecules are polymers made of individual monomer units as discussed in an earlier chapter. Breaking these large molecules into smaller components involves: Three processes occur during what we loosely refer to as "digestion". Absorption is the passage of food monomers into the blood stream.

Assimilation is the passage of the food molecules into body cells.

1. The Secret Life of Lesbians!
2. Human Physiology/The gastrointestinal system - Wikibooks, open books for an open world!
3. Get FREE Access!.

The human digestive system, as shown in Figure 2, is a coiled, muscular tube meters long when fully extended stretching from the mouth to the anus. Several specialized compartments occur along this length: Accessory digestive organs are connected to the main system by a series of ducts: The human digestive system. Mechanical breakdown begins in the mouth by chewing teeth and actions of the tongue.

Chemical breakdown of starch by production of salivary amylase from the salivary glands. This mixture of food and saliva is then pushed into the pharynx and esophagus. The esophagus is a muscular tube whose muscular contractions peristalsis propel food to the stomach. In the mouth, teeth, jaws and the tongue begin the mechanical breakdown of food into smaller particles, as shown in Figure 3.

Most vertebrates, except birds who have lost their teeth to a hardened bill , have teeth for tearing, grinding and chewing food. The tongue manipulates food during chewing and swallowing; mammals have tastebuds clustered on their tongues. Salivary glands secrete salivary amylase, an enzyme that begins the breakdown of starch into glucose. Mucus moistens food and lubricates the esophagus. Bicarbonate ions in saliva neutralize the acids in foods.

Swallowing moves food from the mouth through the pharynx into the esophagus and then to the stomach. Structure of the throat and the mechanics of swallowing. Image from Purves et al. Peristalsis and the movement of food from the mouth to the stomach. During a meal, the stomach gradually fills to a capacity of 1 liter, from an empty capacity of milliliters. At a price of discomfort, the stomach can distend to hold 2 liters or more.

Epithelial cells line inner surface of the stomach, as shown in Figure 5, and secrete about 2 liters of gastric juices per day. Gastric juice contains hydrochloric acid, pepsinogen , and mucus; ingredients important in digestion. Secretions are controlled by nervous smells, thoughts, and caffeine and endocrine signals. The stomach secretes hydrochloric acid and pepsin. Hydrochloric acid HCl lowers pH of the stomach so pepsin is activated. Pepsin is an enzyme that controls the hydrolysis of proteins into peptides.

The stomach also mechanically churns the food. Chyme, the mix of acid and food in the stomach, leaves the stomach and enters the small intestine. Scanning electron micrograph of the stomach lining of a mammal, X This image is from http: Hydrochloric acid does not directly function in digestion: Pepsinogen is an enzyme that starts protein digestion. Pepsinogen is produced in cells that line the gastric pits.

It is activated by cleaving off a portion of the molecule, producing the enzyme pepsin that splits off fragments of peptides from a protein molecule during digestion in the stomach. Carbohydrate digestion, begun by salivary amylase in the mouth, continues in the bolus as it passes to the stomach. The bolus is broken down into acid chyme in the lower third of the stomach, allowing the stomach's acidity to inhibit further carbohydrate breakdown. Protein digestion by pepsin begins. Alcohol and aspirin are absorbed through the stomach lining into the blood.

Epithelial cells secrete mucus that forms a protective barrier between the cells and the stomach acids. Pepsin is inactivated when it comes into contact with the mucus. Bicarbonate ions reduce acidity near the cells lining the stomach. Tight junctions link the epithelial stomach-lining cells together, further reducing or preventing stomach acids from passing. Peptic ulcers result when these protective mechanisms fail.

Bleeding ulcers result when tissue damage is so severe that bleeding occurs into the stomach. Perforated ulcers are life-threatening situations where a hole has formed in the stomach wall. Other factors, including stress and aspirin, can also produce ulcers. The small intestine , shown in Figure 6, is where final digestion and absorption occur. The small intestine is a coiled tube over 3 meters long. Coils and folding plus villi give this 3m tube the surface area of a m long tube. Final digestion of proteins and carbohydrates must occur, and fats have not yet been digested. Villi have cells that produce intestinal enzymes which complete the digestion of peptides and sugars.

The absorption process also occurs in the small intestine. Food has been broken down into particles small enough to pass into the small intestine. Sugars and amino acids go into the bloodstream via capillaries in each villus.

Glycerol and fatty acids go into the lymphatic system. Absorption is an active transport, requiring cellular energy. Structure and details of the small intestine. Food is mixed in the lower part of the stomach by peristaltic waves that also propel the acid-chyme mixture against the pyloric sphincter. Increased contractions of the stomach push the food through the sphincter and into the small intestine as the stomach eempties over a 1 to 2 hour period.

High fat diets significantly increase this time period. The small intestine is the major site for digestion and absorption of nutrients. The small intestine is up to 6 meters long and is centimeters wide.