Stomach Health
The Role of the Stomach
Stomach Health is very important. The stomach is an organ located just to the left of the upper abdomen. It plays a crucial role in your everyday life and helps the digestive system. The walls of the stomach physically break down food you have eaten throughout the day. Acid and Enzymes are also released in the stomach to help breakdown food chemically. Thus, the food has now been broken down, so it is now easier for the body to process. For example pepsin is involved in the breakdown of proteins. Having an unhealthy stomach can lead to all sorts of problems.
What is Oesophagel Stricture?
Oesophagel Stricture refers to the swelling of the esophagus. This is the passageway from your throat to your stomach. For obvious reasons this can have a detrimental effect on your ability to eat and digest, affecting your stomach health.
Causes and Risks
Causes include reflux esophagitis (which causes constant irritation from gastric secretions), prolonged use of a nasogastric tube, ingestion of corrosive substances, viral or bacterial infections, treatment of oesophageal varices , and injuries caused by endoscopes. Risk factors are related to the causes. The incidence is 2 out of 1000 people.
Lactose Intolerance
Lactose is a substance found in milk and milk products. Inadequate production of the enzyme lactase in the small intestine results in the body’s inability to digest lactose. Patients with lactose intolerance who have ingested milk products may have symptoms such as abdominal bloating, excessive intestinal gas, nausea , diarrhea , and abdominal cramping.
Lactose intolerance is very common in adults and is not dangerous. Most adults, by the time they are 20 years old (approximately 30 million Americans), have some degree of lactose intolerance. This may be present at birth, develop in infancy when cow’s milk is introduced in the diet, or develop later in adulthood. For more information on dealing with lactose intolerance visit the NHS Website here.
Lactose Intolerance
Diarrhoea
The majority of diarrheal disease results from enteric infection and is generally a short lived self-limiting condition. Common forms of diarrhea are grouped under terms such as “stomach flu” and gastroenteritis. These conditions may include vomiting, and often appear in mini-epidemics in schools, neighborhoods or families. Quite often parents and local physicians are aware the stomach flu is “going around”.
Most diarrhoea will stop without treatment in a few days. Certain drugs can cause or worsen diarrhoea. Thus for the best stomach health you may just want to grin and bare it.