Digestion

Papers on Health
by John Kirk

(Page 9 of 22)

Digestion is the process whereby the food we eat is turned into material fit to be assimilated by the blood. It begins in the mouth by the mechanical grinding and crushing of the food, and the chemical conversion of the starchy part into sugar, in which form alone it can be assimilated. This conversion is carried out by the saliva. Hence the necessity for thorough mastication, even of sloppy foods that do not seem to require it, and for attention to the teeth in order that they may thoroughly chew. Alcohol and tobacco, as they spoil the saliva, are very unfavorable to digestion, and should always be avoided.

Twenty minutes longer to chew one's dinner is worth a whole box of pills, and no one need expect good digestion who neglects thorough chewing and salivation of the food. This may, with advantage, be increased to an extent which most people would think quite absurd. It has been proved that when all food is chewed until completely reduced to a liquid, its nutritive qualities are so increased that about half as much will suffice. This is of immense importance in all cases of weak digestion, or indeed whenever an absence of vigorous health renders the economy of vital energy important.

In the stomach the food meets with the gastric juice, which has the property of turning protein (see Diet for the various substances contained in food) into material ready for assimilation. The walls of the stomach are muscular, and their contraction churns the food with the juice. The gastric juice is secreted by glands embedded in the walls of the stomach, and is poured out when food is taken.

The whole food, now in the form of a paste, passes into a pipe about 12 inches long (the Duodenum), into which pours the secretion of the pancreas and that of the liver (bile). The pancreatic juice acts upon the starch which has escaped the action of the saliva, and also continues the work of the stomach. It furthermore emulsifies the fat or divides it into extremely fine drops.

The food passes now into a long coiled pipe - the small intestine. This secretes the intestinal juice which further assists the pancreatic juice. Absorption has been proceeding from the stomach onwards (see Assimilation). The mass of undigested food is pushed along the small intestine by means of muscles in its walls and passes into the large intestine where a similar process to that of the small intestine goes on, the remains of the food ultimately reaching the vent in a semi solid form, consisting of the undigested part and the débris of digestion.

During this complex process much blood and energy is needed for the abdominal region, therefore hard work or exercise should not immediately follow a meal. It will be noticed that each stage of digestion prepares the food for the next stage e.g., the mouth prepares the food for the stomach. Now, as the food ceases to be under our control when it leaves the mouth, every effort should, as we have said, there be made to prepare the food for its reception by the stomach. Chew food dry as far as possible, for that excites saliva. It is best not to drink till after the meal. The digestive powers often become weakened in advancing years, but may be greatly preserved, and even restored to health after long debility, by careful attention to the above hints.

Drinks made of lemon juice or orange juice and water are often very good to help an invalid digestion, but nothing is better than sips of hot water for some time before a meal. Distilled water is especially a most valuable drink. Cooling applications to a fevered stomach and warm fomentations to a cold one will often promote digestion marvelously. The feet and legs may be fomented if cold while the cold cloth is pressed over the stomach, especially if the process be long continued. Where heat is necessary it should be gradually and cautiously applied, so that sickening the patient may be avoided. (See also Assimilation, Food in Health, Indigestion).

Diet, Economy in - Dr. Hutchison, one of our greatest authorities on the subject of Dietetics, has well said -

"The dearest foods are by no means the best. 'Cheap and nasty' is not a phrase which can be applied to things which you eat. A pound of Stilton cheese at 1s. 2d. contains no more nutriment than a pound of American cheese at sixpence. A given weight of bloater will yield more building material than the same quantity of salmon or sole.

"The upper classes in this country eat too much. The laboring classes are insufficiently fed - much worse fed than their brethren in America. One of the chief consequences is an undue craving for alcoholic stimulants; another is that our poor are not properly armed against tuberculosis and epidemic disease.

"How can this be rectified? Anyone who knows anything about the poor man's budget knows that he already spends as much on food as he is able. As it is, 50 per cent. of a workman's wages are absorbed in its purchase, so that half the struggle for life is a struggle for food.

"The only remedy is to buy the things which are the most nourishing and which yield the most energy. Quite a good diet can be obtained for four pence a day, yet the average working man spends seven pence.

"I advise the buying of more vegetable foods, particularly peas, beans, and lentils, and the cheaper varieties of fish. The working classes should also be taught how to cook cheese, and thus make it more digestible, as the Italians do. Cheese contains much building material, and is therefore a valuable article of diet.

"I strongly recommend one good meal of oatmeal a day, instead of so much bread, butter, and tea, which is the staple diet of so many poor families, because it is easily prepared, and because of human laziness.

"Skimmed milk is better than no milk at all, for it contains all the original proteins, and has only lost its fat. More dripping and margarine should be eaten, instead of jam; margarine being quite as digestible and nourishing as butter."

Vegetable oils are, however, more digestible than animal fats. Cocoanut butter is a cheap and excellent substitute for margarine or butter. As it contains no water it will go much further.

Another instance of bad economy is the use of cod liver oil. Butter or even cream are quite as fattening and much more digestible.

Malt extract is much dearer than honey, which is superior to it in value as a food.

To supply a healthy man with the amount of protein required by him daily in beef extracts would cost 7s., in milk (a comparatively expensive food) would only cost about 1s.

Printed by Hurst Bros., Shaw Heath, Stockport. 1904.