Participants: Agatha Thrash (Host), Rhonda Clark
Series Code: HYTH
Program Code: HYTH000218
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00:01 As common as eating is very few people understand all about,
00:06 digestion, and there are some parts that we know a lot about 00:11 but the common person knows nothing about. 00:15 So we would like to talk with you some today 00:16 about this process of digestion, what eating does in the process 00:22 of digestion, what your program can do in this 00:25 process of digestion, I think you will enjoy the program. 00:49 Welcome to Help Yourself to Health 00:52 with Dr. Agatha Thrash of Uchee Pines Institute, 00:55 and now here is your host Dr. Thrash. 00:59 Now you may think that because eating and digestion 01:07 are so common, after all you have done it thousands of times, 01:11 that there isn't anything really very complex about this process, 01:15 but actually there is. 01:17 Now I would like you to come with me and try to understand 01:21 this whole subject of digestion and the selection of foods 01:27 and just what we can do to make it so that indeed 01:32 this complex process runs as smoothly as we can make it 01:38 and leaves us as healthy as possible, 01:41 so I've asked Rhonda Clark to come and help me with this 01:45 thing of explaining this matter of the complexity of digestion 01:50 and Rhonda is one of my colleagues at Uchee Pines, 01:54 and Rhonda what do you do at Uchee Pines mainly? 01:58 - I work currently in the Lifestyle Center, 02:00 where I do telephone counseling with individuals who call 02:03 with health questions, I also am one of the instructors 02:06 in the Lifestyle Education course. 02:09 - Now Rhonda, I suspect that you have to do counseling 02:14 with people on this very complicated subject of digestion 02:18 because digestive complaints are so common. 02:20 - Indeed they are, we frequently discuss these issues with people 02:24 over the phone. 02:25 Not only for those who suffer from the complaints, 02:27 but for those who want to prevent them. 02:29 - And is G.E.R.D. ever one of those things? 02:33 - G.E.R.D. indeed is, G.E.R.D. is the four initials G.E.R.D. 02:40 it stands for gastro esophageal reflux disease. 02:44 It's quite common, about 20% of Americans suffer 02:48 from G.E.R.D., and while some people may take it lightly 02:52 it can lead to more serious conditions: a narrowing of the 02:57 esophagus, which makes it difficult to swallow, 02:59 or ultimately esophageal cancer. 03:02 One of the important structures in the anatomy of the 03:06 digestion system plays a critical role in G.E.R.D. 03:09 The esophagus is the tube that brings the food 03:13 from our mouth to our stomach, and as the esophagus 03:16 joins with the stomach, right there is a small ring 03:20 of muscular tissue known as the cardiac sphincter. 03:24 The cardiac sphincter plays a crucial role, 03:27 in the sense that it separates the stomach contents from 03:31 the esophagus. 03:33 When the cardiac sphincter is relaxed, it's open and food 03:38 and beverages can pass freely into the stomach, 03:41 when it contracts, it closes and protects the esophagus 03:45 from the acid contents of the stomach. 03:47 What happens in G.E.R.D., is that the cardiac sphincter 03:52 is not functioning properly and stomach contents 03:55 splash up on to the esophagus causing pain and spasm. 03:59 One of the main causes of G.E.R.D. is back pressure 04:07 on the cardiac sphincter, some of the things that cause that 04:11 and things that should strictly be avoided if you suffer 04:15 from G.E.R.D. are things such as tight belts, 04:19 or bands around the abdomen, which put pressure upward 04:23 against that delicate sphincter. 04:25 Even wearing tight clothing on the lower half of the body 04:29 can cause that back pressure, overeating, a very common cause, 04:35 where the little sphincter constantly has that pressure 04:38 against it. 04:40 Taking liquids in large amounts with meals, 04:43 even taking in large amounts of gas producing beverages 04:47 like soda pop, or gas producing vegetables 04:51 and other foods help put that pressure there. 04:55 Constipation, pregnancy, these are conditions which put 05:02 back pressure against and can contribute to G.E.R.D. 05:05 and there are some drugs that play a role by relaxing 05:10 the cardiac sphincter, caffeine being one of the most common 05:14 but some of the common over the counter pain relievers 05:18 like Tylenol, aspirin, they play a role, anti-depressant 05:22 medications also do that, and tranquilizers, 05:25 some of the sleeping medications. 05:27 Another common cause is laying down or reclining 05:31 after a meal, or exerting oneself strenuously after eating 05:36 a meal, so you begin to see how G.E.R.D. is treated then 05:40 in avoiding those activities, or those drugs, 05:45 that put back pressure on this delicate sphincter. 05:49 Other things that we look at in the treatment of G.E.R.D., 05:52 one very healthful treatment is going to a two meal 05:57 eating plan, this ensures by leaving off the third meal 06:01 of the day, that the stomach is completely empty 06:04 by the time one retires, so that as they lay down 06:08 to prepare for bed, there's nothing there to press against 06:11 the cardiac sphincter. 06:13 Another helpful treatment is to go for walks after meals 06:18 these are not to be strenuous or vigorous walks, 06:21 but nice brisk walks that are gentle exercise using the force 06:26 of gravity, the motion of the body to help keep the 06:29 stomach contents down in the stomach and protecting 06:33 the esophagus from any flowing upwards. 06:36 If the person has pain with G.E.R.D., one lovely treatment 06:41 is to take Aloe Vera juice, a couple ounces 06:45 when there is pain can help relieve the discomfort of 06:48 the esophagus, one interesting thing about G.E.R.D. 06:54 is that it can cause a very uncomfortable condition 06:58 known as cardio-spasm, and Dr. Thrash, I imagine 07:02 you have had some experience in treating patients 07:06 or counseling patients with cardio spasm. 07:08 - Oh yes, it is indeed quite common, in fact just last week 07:13 I had a patient, I had been counseling with her for a number 07:17 of years about various things, one is tight clothing, 07:20 tight bands around the waist and as she complained 07:23 about various intestinal problems, I pointed out that she 07:28 was indeed tight around the waste, and since she was 07:32 overweight, to have a tight band and to be overweight 07:35 that was going to cause a variety of intestinal problems. 07:40 Poor digestion, pain from intestinal gas, or bloating 07:46 and then of course the gastro esophageal reflux disorder. 07:50 So one night last week her husband called me and said 07:55 I'm having to take my wife down to the emergency room 08:00 and I don't know what else to do she is just in such pain. 08:04 So they did go to the emergency room and spent 14 hours there 08:09 from the time they got there until the treatment 08:13 and the testing had been accomplished. 08:15 It would have been very much better for her, 08:18 if years ago she had lost some weight, and she had 08:22 adjusted her clothing, by the way this is not the first time 08:27 that she had suffered an acute attack of G.E.R.D. 08:31 What other things can you tell us about this very complex 08:36 problem of digestion? 08:37 - One common call that we receive at the Lifestyle Center 08:42 is about the bacterial infection Helicobacter pylori. 08:47 This bacteria is a leading cause of ulcers, 08:50 both in the stomach and in the duodenum 08:52 the beginning part of the small bowel. 08:55 Helicobacter pylori is spread through food sources 08:59 and water sources, and the Center For Disease Control 09:02 estimates that two thirds of the worlds population 09:05 is infected by it. 09:06 Some people however have these manifestations of ulcers 09:10 when Helicobacter pylori occurring in the stomach, 09:14 and it's a bacteria, that very unusually thrives in that 09:18 acid environment. 09:19 There are tests now to determine if a person has this, 09:23 if you begin showing signs of an ulcer, such as a gnawing 09:27 burning pain over the stomach, or above the stomach, 09:30 especially when your stomach is empty or between meals 09:35 then you may want to have some testing, some further workup 09:38 to see if indeed you may have an ulcer. 09:41 Helicobacter pylori used to be only diagnosed by the patient 09:47 swallowing a tube, passing a tube down into the stomach 09:51 where specimens can be taken and grown in the laboratory, 09:55 that was how it was diagnosed. 09:56 But today there are blood tests, tests of stool specimens 10:01 and more interestingly, a breath test that can diagnose 10:05 H- pylori. 10:06 With the breath test, the patient fasts overnight 10:10 and in the morning takes either a capsule, or a small beverage 10:14 of a drink that contains urea. 10:17 In the presence of urea, Helicobacter pylori emits 10:23 ammonia, after the person has taken the beverage and waits 10:27 a period of time they will blow into a little balloon, 10:30 the balloon is sent to the lab, where they will test 10:33 for the presence of ammonia, and if ammonia is present, 10:37 the test is positive or H-pylori. 10:40 How do we get rid of it? 10:43 That's one of the difficult questions, and to understand 10:46 the three main aspects of treating an ulcer 10:50 caused by H-pylori, it's helpful to look again 10:53 at the anatomy, a close up view now of the wall 10:56 of the stomach. 10:58 When we look at the wall of the stomach 11:00 represented by this little line here, you will notice 11:04 that our stomach is normally covered by a mucous lining 11:08 it's protective. 11:10 Inside the stomach, we have hydrochloric acid, 11:14 and other digestive juices which are very strong 11:17 behind this mucous lining the wall of the stomach is 11:20 protected. 11:21 One enzyme of particular note is pepsinogen, 11:26 this is the enzyme that breaks down proteins 11:29 when it is secreted from the cells from the gastric wall 11:33 it is perfectly safe to this muscular structure, 11:37 it does nothing to damage it, 11:39 as it passes beyond this mucous barrier, and comes in contact 11:45 with hydrochloric acid, it's converted into pepsin, 11:48 the enzyme that breaks down protein. 11:51 Our stomach wall is made of protein, the action of H pylori 11:58 is to destroy this mucous barrier, to prevent the stomach 12:02 from having that, so pepsin works directly on the stomach 12:08 to begin digesting it, causing erosion, pain, and 12:13 a great discomfort for the person who has 12:16 suffered with an ulcer. 12:17 Treatment involves three things: eliminating the H pylori 12:22 helping to heal the ulcer that has developed, 12:25 and replacing, providing a alternative mucous barrier 12:29 to protect that area as it heals. 12:31 The New England Journal of Medicine published 12:34 an interesting report about an herb, it's actually a resin 12:38 from a Mediterranean tree, particularly grown in Greece 12:42 called "mastic gum," they gave patients with 12:47 Helicobacter pylori infections a gram of mastic gum 12:51 every day for two weeks, 80% of the patients reported 12:56 improvement in their symptoms and by taking a look 13:00 through a camera, at their stomachs, 70% showed improvement 13:05 in the size and depth of their ulcers. 13:08 It was recommended by the researchers of this group 13:12 and others, if you have a H pylori infection 13:16 take one gram of mastic gum every day for four weeks 13:21 and then you can use a maintenance dose of 500 mg 13:25 a day to eradicate the H pylori bacteria itself. 13:30 Another herb that has shown promise, in eliminating H pylori 13:34 is red Ginseng, and the two very common antibiotic herbs 13:41 Echinacea and Golden Seal in combination, 13:44 they also prove beneficial in eliminating H pylori bacteria. 13:48 To replace the mucous lining that protects the ulcer 13:54 as it's healing and as the H pylori is being killed. 13:58 Aloe Vera juice which we mentioned for G.E.R.D. 14:01 taking two ounces of Aloe Vera juice before each meal, 14:05 at bedtime, and really any time there is discomfort, 14:09 can help put a coating over the stomach wall 14:12 to bring relief. 14:13 Slippery Elm is another herb that has a mucilage property 14:18 that can help protect that area, and to heal the ulcer 14:22 itself interestingly cabbage juice is incredibly beneficial, 14:28 eating raw cabbage or taking cabbage juice was shown to 14:32 help bring healing. 14:34 Sixty two patients were given a liter of cabbage juice a day 14:38 divided in doses over the course of the day 14:40 and showed healing in a little over seven days. 14:44 When compared with patients on conventional 14:48 ulcer medications, healing didn't occur until 14:50 after forty days, so cabbage juice is a wonderful 14:53 healing agent for ulcers. 14:56 Some other things to consider would be to avoid any foods 15:00 that will irritate the area, such as high fat foods, 15:04 spicy and irritating foods, even sugar can contribute 15:09 to the ongoing erosion and pain of the ulcer. 15:13 Taking a two meal plan will show less pepsin 15:18 in the stomach, less pepsin will mean there is less 15:21 opportunity for that ulcer area to have further damage 15:25 so eating in frequently, eating simple meals 15:28 these are things that can benefit, make sure that you 15:31 drink plenty of water, and avoid snacking at all costs. 15:37 Even a small snack between meals will bring pepsin 15:41 to the stomach, and the opportunity to further damage 15:44 that area. 15:45 Dr. Thrash, I'm sure you have worked with patients 15:49 with all types of abdominal disorders. 15:51 - Yes I have, and let's just review those things 15:54 that can be used to heal a peptic ulcer, because 15:58 most of the time we think we must have an antibiotic 16:02 but there are some anti-microbial herbs that can 16:06 can help: mastic gum is extremely good, and let's name 16:11 the others, Red Ginseng also very beneficial, Echinacea, 16:16 and Golden Seal. 16:18 Those are very helpful, and then the Aloe Vera to soothe 16:24 and coat the lining of the stomach, so that it can 16:28 heal better, sounds great. 16:31 I enjoy treating peptic ulcer now. 16:34 I remember when I was in medical school, 16:37 we knew that the treatment that the treatment that we had 16:40 for peptic ulcer was not good, but we didn't know what to do 16:43 because our understanding of it's cause was all together 16:48 wrong, but we have advanced very far in our understanding 16:53 just by getting the Helicobacter pylori identified and 16:59 to understand that it causes a large percentage 17:02 of peptic ulcers. 17:04 Now I would like to talk with you some about 17:07 this matter of digestion and it's anatomy. 17:11 Of course as an anatomist I am most thankful 17:16 that we have such wonderful charts that can help us to know 17:20 just how to understand this process of digestion 17:25 and you might think that digestion begins down here 17:29 in the abdomen some where, but not so. 17:31 It begins with the chewing process, and notice this 17:34 wonderful structure called the tooth, it has a little bit 17:38 of bone here to support it and probably if you and I 17:41 had made the teeth, we would probably have just made 17:44 one straight line of tooth right here and just had 17:47 one tooth, but out wonderful divine designer 17:51 who knows all about physiology and physics, gave us individual 17:55 teeth, each supported by a little bit of bone, 17:58 and put in a socket like this. 18:01 Notice the various parts, the beautiful enamel, 18:04 the gum which we can see, the dentin, the pulp, 18:09 and of course this portion right here, being the part 18:14 that comes in contact with the little bone the cementum 18:18 here and the gum here. 18:20 Now that's the tooth, why do we need such an elaborate 18:26 tooth to keep our understanding of this matter of the first part 18:33 of digestion, indeed it is chewing. 18:36 We need to chew so that we can break the food particles 18:40 into smaller pieces, so that digestion can be complete. 18:45 Is there some reason why digestion needs to be complete? 18:49 Or could we tolerate just a little bit of incomplete 18:54 digestion, we're beginning to think that probably 18:58 no that we should not tolerate poor digestion 19:01 if we can avoid it, because there are certain chemicals 19:06 that are produced, possibly because of poor digestion 19:09 that can cause us to have serious Neurologic and muscular 19:14 and bone problems. 19:17 Such things as Alzheimer's, a little substance called Amyloid 19:22 is deposited in the Neurologic tissue of the brain, 19:27 where does it come from, possibly from poor digestion. 19:32 Now I would like to show you a very nice chart, 19:36 which I think will make it much clearer 19:39 what I'm going to be talking to you about. 19:41 Here is the esophagus, a lot of things can happen 19:45 to the esophagus from the Barrettes esophagus, 19:48 which is a dilation and inflammation, even an 19:52 adenocarcinoma of the esophagus although adenomas of the... 19:56 adenocarcinomas of the esophagus are very rare 20:00 among us who do not use heavy spices, 20:04 but those who use a lot of very hot spices, 20:07 they tend to get more cancer of the esophagus 20:10 than others. 20:12 What kind of hot spices, well such things as: 20:15 cayenne pepper, black pepper, other very hot spices 20:19 that are common in some cultures, and it's interesting 20:22 that in those cultures where spices are the most frequently 20:26 used and the greatest use of them, then carcinoma 20:30 of the esophagus is indeed more common than other places 20:34 in the world. 20:35 For people who drink alcohol and get cirrhosis of the liver 20:39 they may get Varicose veins of the lower end of the esophagus 20:44 and here you can see them dilated. 20:46 Because of the constant flow of food into the stomach 20:51 as food goes past the esophagus if there are varices 20:57 here, then they can ulcerate and a major hemorrhage 21:02 can occur, and this is one of the common causes 21:05 of death in people who have severe cirrhosis. 21:08 Here is the stomach from an adenocarcinoma to an ulcer 21:14 to gastritis, and a variety of other afflictions of the stomach 21:20 many of them caused by our poor lifestyle. 21:24 Here is the duodenum and there is an ulcer, now 21:29 from what we have just learned from Rhonda 21:31 we will remember that H- pylori which is a bacteria 21:35 this germ can cause an ulceration either in the 21:40 stomach such as here, or here or in the duodenum. 21:45 If they ulcerate through then they can cause 21:49 a major hemorrhage, now notice that the pancreas 21:53 is just beneath the stomach, in this area. 21:56 If a peptic ulcer in the duodenum ulcerates 22:00 all the way through the duodenum, it can ulcerate 22:03 into the pancreas. 22:05 The pancreas has very heavy duty enzymes which assist us 22:06 with digestion, and these very heavy duty enzymes 22:14 then begin to soften and digest the pancreas itself 22:19 and we can get a really florid type of pancreatitis, 22:25 acute pancreatitis is a life threatening disease. 22:28 A ruptured peptic ulcer is also a life threatening disease 22:33 and that lifestyle is an important part of this 22:37 whole process of ruptured peptic ulcers, 22:43 or even the development of peptic ulcers, 22:45 all of this indeed is very much associated with our lifestyle. 22:51 Now back to the chart, the pancreas located here 22:56 can have acute pancreatitis or we can get adenocarcinoma, 23:02 of the pancreas. 23:04 This seems to be an hereditary type of cancer, much more common 23:10 in certain families, not to say that everybody who has a 23:15 carcinoma or a cancer of the pancreas will have relatives 23:20 that have that, but that certainly can be. 23:22 Now let's go to the colon, the colon is subject to 23:27 quite a lot of problems, here are polyps, 23:31 and if you notice carefully you can see that some of these 23:35 hang by a little pedicle, we can with a scope, 23:41 simply snare one of these polyps and remove them. 23:46 If they don't have a pedicle, then they are a little harder 23:48 to snare, but can still be snared and a polyp can often be 23:54 just removed through a scope. 23:56 If it progresses really far, then we may have a cancer 24:02 to occur in the colon, such as we have here, 24:07 so that the polyp goes from being a benign polyp, 24:11 to being a cancer, and here we have a cancer which we call 24:16 an annular cancer. 24:18 That means that this cancer has now become circular 24:23 so that it entirely encircles the colon and makes it so that 24:29 it cannot pass material through the colon. 24:33 Here we see diverticula of the colon, 24:38 and these diverticula are caused by the very same thing 24:42 that can cause the G.E.R.D., which we mentioned originally. 24:47 Increased intra-abdominal pressure which can come 24:51 from tight bands, from being overweight, from pregnancy 24:55 from overeating many times, that is on a habitual basis, 25:02 that overeating is your custom, 25:04 if so, that increases intra-abdominal pressure 25:07 and can cause the diverticula. 25:10 They can be most painful because as the material 25:15 gets into these little ballooned out areas, such as we see 25:20 right here, here is the interior of the colon, 25:24 and a little portion of it has opened up and ballooned out 25:28 so that there is this little diverticulum here, 25:32 and a cluster of diverticula quite common in this portion 25:38 the last part of the descending colon and the first part 25:43 of the sigmoid colon, this is a common area for diverticula 25:48 and the pain can be intense from these, so intense that 25:54 people that have these believe that for sure they have 25:58 some serious kind of digestive problem or perhaps 26:02 even a cancer of the colon, and because of the fact 26:06 that periodically they become irritated. 26:10 These individuals may feel that the serious problems 26:15 inside the abdomen will probably result in their death. 26:18 An interesting thing is that our use of a very simple diet 26:26 high in fiber, can go far toward eliminating the pain 26:31 that we have from these diverticula which are these 26:35 dilated portions in the wall of the colon. 26:39 Now as we find that these simple things such as a very 26:43 simple diet high in fiber, that this very simple 26:48 addition to your lifestyle that this can alleviate 26:53 a lot of the symptoms that occur in the stomach, 26:54 a lot of those that occur in the colon, 26:57 we can be thankful, thankful that our 26:59 Heavenly Father designed us, put us in a beautiful garden, 27:04 a garden that grew vegetables, and fruits, and nuts, and seeds, 27:10 and He prescribed this for man's maintenance, 27:16 his good health, and as we see that disease that has 27:20 already developed in this sinful world that we live in 27:24 even disease that has already developed, we can do a lot 27:29 to assuage this kind of disease as well. 27:32 So my encouragement to you is to learn the appropriate 27:37 lifestyle which includes eating, proper chewing, 27:42 proper selection of our food, and the proper understanding 27:46 of this whole process that we can do so much to take care of. 27:52 May the Lord Bless you and give you good digestion. |
Revised 2014-12-17