Digestion - The Foundation of Health
By Dr. Peter Rouse Ph.D, B.S, NMT
It is an unfortunate fact that clients and
patients that we are seeing today are in a worst state health than what we
may have been seeing ten years ago (for those who can remember that far
back).
They are being misled by an establishment whose sole interest is financial
rather than the health of the people that they are meant to represent, but I
won’t go off on a tangent discussing that issue.
There is an old saying “death begins in the colon”, in fact this should
really be the digestive system but I guess it just doesn’t have the same
ring to it. The digestive system is where we should start looking at our
clients and patients state of health.
Before we go any further we should cover some basics of the digestive system
that a lot of you may already know but some may not be so familiar with.
Digestion is the process of breaking down food into molecules the body can
use, it’s the absorption of nutrients, and the elimination of waste.
Carbohydrates are broken down to monosaccharides (eg. glucose), proteins are
broken down to amino acids and lipids are broken down to fatty acids and
glycerol.
There are two mechanisms of breaking the food down for digestion, mechanical
digestion where breaking chunks of food into smaller pieces and chemical
digestion which further breaks food down further ready for absorption.
Once the food reaches the stomach the food is churned mixing it with the
gastric fluid, this mixture is referred to as chyme. Chyme moves from the
stomach to the small intestine.
Gastric fluid carries out chemical digestion in the stomach. Parietal cells
in the stomach produce hydrochloric acid and pepsinogen and ensures a low pH
in the stomach. This acidic environment allows the pepsinogen to be
converted to pepsin, dissolves minerals, kills bacteria and begins the
digestion of protein while also stimulating the pancreas to produce other
digestive enzymes and bile. Pepsin begins the breakdown of proteins into
peptide chains (chains of amino acids). Pepsin functions in a pH of
about 2 so having optimal HCl levels is very important. Because of the
strong acidity of the HCl A mucus (mucopolysaccharides) coats the stomach
and protects it from HCl and digestive enzymes.
This is where many of your clients and patients problems begin.
Hypochlorhydria is a condition where there is a lack of production of
hydrochloric acid. This condition is far more common than you may think.
Over ninety prevent of our personal clients and patients that we test have
some level of underproduction of hydrochloric acid and we have heard similar
numbers for others.
Some of the symptoms of hypochlorhydria include diarrhea, steatorrhea,
macrocytic anemia, weight loss, weight gain, protein-losing enteropathy,
abdominal discomfort, bloating, reflux, undigested food in stools, dysbiosis
and the list goes on and on. deficiencies in certain nutrients due to lack
of absorption may result in other seemingly unrelated symptoms.
An item called "intrinsic factor" may also be deficient, because
it also is made by the parietal cells which produce HCl and pepsinogen.
Intrinsic factor makes the absorption of vitamin B12 possible which will
result in B12 deficiency. This is another area that may need to be
addressed.
There are several ways for testing levels of hydrochloric acid, some more
invasive than others, however a simple non-invasive test that anyone can
perform to determine if there is in fact an underproduction of hydrochloric
acid. This test however should not be used if your client or patient
has been diagnosed with gastritis or stomach ulcers.
The HCl test involves taking a hydrochloric acid (HCl) supplement. It is
important that the HCl supplement also contains pepsin to be effective. As
mentioned above pepsin is converted from pepsinogen that is produced by the
parietal cells. These parietal cells also produce HCl so it is fair to
assume if there is an underproduction of HCL there is more than likely an
underproduction of pepsinogen (pepsin).
Start the test by taking 250mg of a hydrochloric acid (HCl) supplement with
a normal meal that includes protein and fats. The HCl should be taken after
you have eaten at least a few mouthfuls of the meal.
You should then have your client or patient take note of any increase
feeling of warmth in their stomach. They will know what you are talking
about when it does happen and if this warmth becomes uncomfortable then have
them drink a large glass of water which will dilute the gastric fluid.
If after taking the first 250mg of HCL they get this warm feeling then they
more than likely have normal hydrochloric acid production however the test
should be repeated with several meals just to be sure.
If after taking the initial 250mg of HCl they do not get any increase
feeling of warmth in their stomach then increase the dosage to 500mg of HCl
with your next solid meal. Continue to increase the dose by 250mg at each
subsequent meal until they either feel warmth in your stomach or they reach
1500mg of HCl. Never exceed 1500mg of HCl.
Once the dose has been determined that produces a warm sensation you now
know that your client or patient require a dosage of 200-250mg less than
that which created the warm sensation with each meal.
Be aware that smaller meals might require less and larger meals might
require more. When consuming meals that contain little or no protein and
fats, much less HCl is needed. Keep these points in mind when having your
client or patient use HCl supplement and modify their usage accordingly.
They should immediately notice changes like a decrease in bloating,
belching, and less indigestion.
Attention:
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