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Digestion has as its purpose that of transform nutrients contained in food (proteins, carbohydrates and fats) in simpler substances that can be assimilated at the level of the absorbent mucosa of the small intestine.
How does digestion happen?
Prima digestio fit in ore is a motto of the Salerno school, “the first digestion takes place in the mouth”. The meaning is clear: chewing food for a long time is the first step to ensure good digestion.
The stomach carries out a good part of the digestive process thanks to the combined action of hydrochloric acid, pepsin (the enzyme capable of at least partially digesting proteins) and muscles. Stomach smooth muscle contractions are aimed at mix the food bolus with the gastric juices up to transform it into an almost liquid and very acid mush (due to the presence of hydrochloric acid) which is given the name of chyme.
The whole process lasts on average two hours and at the end of this digestive stage the foods are reduced to millimeter-sized fragments. Interestingly, not all foods have same residence times in the stomach. Mainly carbohydrate foods such as pasta, bread and rice are digested faster than proteins, and these in turn faster than fats (for example, everyone experiences the industriousness in digesting particularly fatty meat).
As the stomach does its job, the chyme is poured into the duodenum, the first portion of the small intestine. It is here that digestion is completed thanks to the presence of bile salts from the liver and gallbladder and digestive enzymes produced by the pancreas. At the end of this third and final digestive stage chyme becomes kilo and proceeds on its journey towards the last stretches of the small intestine, where the absorption of nutrients takes place.
Causes of indigestion
We have given a name to the difficulty in digesting and it is that of dyspepsia. There is a so-called functional dyspepsia in which, despite the absence of an organic disease, digestion does not take place as it should. To a lesser extent, the cause of indigestion is one of the organic diseases listed in this list:
- reflux esophagitis;
- acute and chronic gastritis;
- peptic ulcer or mucosal erosions;
- duodenitis;
- malabsorption syndrome;
- irritable colon;
- neoplasms of the digestive tract;
- gallbladder stones and / or biliary sand;
- chronic pancreatitis;
- neoplasms of the pancreas;
- diabetes mellitus;
- thyroid dysfunction.
L’alcohol abuse and certain medications they can partially impair digestive function and contribute to exacerbating symptoms associated with dyspepsia.
Symptoms
THE symptoms most typical associated with indigestion are:
- ache;
- stomach ache;
- belching;
- halitosis;
- acid regurgitation and retrosternal heartburn (ed. burning sensation behind the breastbone);
- sense of long and laborious digestion;
- sleepiness after meals.
Among the symptoms, the most suggestive is pain, which in some cases is perceived as one unpleasant feeling located in the upper abdomen. The other symptoms listed in the list they must not be present at the same time.
We then speak of ulcerative-like dyspepsia when the symptoms are similar to those of those with a peptic ulcer (ed. That is, a lesion of the mucous membrane of the stomach or duodenum that has been corroded by gastric acid and digestive juices) with pain often present on fasting and at night and which is relieved by food or by taking gastroprotectors. Then there is a motor-like dyspepsia in which it is the mechanical part of digestion resulting in a slowing of gastric emptying and onset of nausea, vomiting, distension and post-prandial sense of fullness, belching and early satiety.
There drowsiness it is linked to the fact that during digestion the blood flow to the digestive system increases and this leads to the theft of blood directed to the brain and the appearance of numbness, difficulty concentrating and headache. The slower the digestion, the more important the sleepiness is.
How to speed up digestion?
In case of dyspepsia, the first thing to do from a medical point of view is to exclude the presence of gastritis, an ulcer, gastroesophageal reflux, problems affecting the biliary tract. In three out of four cases at the origin of dyspepsia there is no organic cause and then one speaks of functional or idiopathic dyspepsia. In this case we will just treat the symptoms.
Here are 3 useful tips.
Correct the diet
The first step is to take some dietary precautions. First of all, it is necessary to abolish cigarette smoking, alcohol and coffee and avoid the consumption of particularly fatty foods that have the effect of slowing down gastric emptying.
Chew well
Chew for a long time, as the doctors of the Salerno school already taught, it is an essential practice to be able to digest any meal well. The benefits of slow chewing are related to the fact that you swallow less air with the swallowing of the food bolus, the residence times of the food in the stomach decrease and we eat less. About 20 minutes after the start of the meal, in fact, they come satiety hormones released which induce us to stop eating with the double advantage of engaging the gastrointestinal system less and guaranteeing the maintenance of an optimal weight.
Chewing doesn’t just involve shredding food. There are enzymes in the saliva able to start breaking down fats and carbohydrates.
Low in fat
It is important to pay particular attention to the gastric phase of the digestive process. Since fats, proteins and carbohydrates have different residence times in the stomach, dyspeptic individuals should limit the presence of fats in their meals.
A strategy that helps to achieve the sense of satiety while reducing the lipid component is that of start the meal with a plate of raw or cooked vegetables season with a small amount of extra virgin olive oil.
Drug therapy
There pharmacological therapy aimed at symptom management, it is based on the use of proton pump inhibitors also known as gastroprotectors or antacid drugs especially if we are faced with an ulcer-like dyspepsia. In the motor-like it is suggested to take prokinetics, drugs capable of accelerating and modulating peristalsis thus favoring gastric emptying. They must be taken until the symptom disappears e always under medical prescription. A few weeks are usually enough.
It must be abolished the “do it yourself” since these drugs are not without side effects, especially when taken for a long time. Other recommended drugs are digestive enzymes (mixtures of proteases, lipases and amylases) and bile acids (ursodeoxycholic acid).
