Digestive health
The digestive system includes the digestive tract and its accessory organs, which process food into molecules that can be absorbed and utilized by the cells of the body. Digestion of food begins in the mouth, continues in the stomach and is completed in the small intestine. Saliva contains an enzyme called ptyalin, an a-amylase, which begins the process of digestion by breaking down carbohydrates. Ptyalin remains active in the stomach and continues its digestion of carbohydrates until acid is produced in the stomach and gastric pH decreases. Along with acid, the stomach also produces an enzyme known as pepsin. Pepsin is a protease, which digests proteins. Pepsin is only active at the low pH of the stomach. The partially digested mixture then moves into the small intestine where the acid is neutralized by bicarbonate and the pH elevates to neutral. The various proteases, carbohydrases and lipases produced by the pancreas and the cells of the small intestine then further break down the partially digested food into a form that can be absorbed by the body. This is the ideal digestive process. However, most people occasionally suffer from some kind of digestive disorder. The most commonly occurring digestive problems are heartburn, indigestion and flatulence. Gastric discomfort is a common ailment. In a healthy human stomach and duodenum, an effective balance exists between the potential for gastric acid and pepsin to damage gastric mucosal cells, and the ability of these gastric mucosal cells to protect themselves from injury. Heartburn and other maladies caused by the acid in the stomach can be a mild annoyance, or they can be a sign of a pathological disorder, such as gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Gastroesophageal reflux, better known as heartburn or acid indigestion, occurs when the esophageal mucosa suffers prolonged exposure to noxious gastric acid and pepsin because of deficiencies of the esophageal reflux barrier and acid-clearing mechanisms. Nausea and vomiting are two of the most common symptoms of illness and are also commonly experienced as side effects of numerous medical treatments. Both nausea and vomiting are also commonly experienced as a result of various external factors and during various conditions. Nausea and vomiting can occur individually or in conjunction with one another. A common cause of nausea and vomiting is motion sickness. Motion sickness typically occurs when humans are subjected to long-lasting external movement or transportation accompanied by unusual movements such as shaking, waving, atmospheric changes (e.g., flying in an airplane), great acceleration, and uneven road conditions, etc. Diarrhoea is a condition, which results from the failure of one or more functions of alimentary canal. The alimentary canal receives mixes, digests and absorbs a wide variety and unpredictable amount of food with remarkable efficiency. What is left of the mixture of the food at the end of the alimentary canal is finally excreted as a small and convenient volume of the solid waste. Failure of the one or more of the aforementioned processes results in the passage of inconveniently bulky and liquid stools at increased frequency. High fiber diets have been promoted over the past several years because of the potential health benefits they offer. Because dietary fiber is not well digested by humans, dietary fiber ingredients are non-caloric and contribute to a reduction in total food calories to the extent that they are used as a replacement for caloric ingredients such as carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. Dietary fibers such as psyllium powder, bran, cellulose derivatives such as sodium carboxymethyl cellulose, malt extract, wheat germ and the like have long been used as dietary supplements.
Digestive health categories
Antacids
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