Digestive Health Guide: Enzymes, Probiotics & Intolerance

Digestive health depends on a balance of enzymes like pepsin and beneficial bacteria. Understanding lactose intolerance and how pH affects digestion can help alleviate common issues like bloating, fatigue after eating, and chest discomfort.

various bread items

Starch and Digestion

Starch is the main form of dietary, digestible carbohydrates. The process of digestion involves the breakdown of a complex molecule into the simplest form the body can use. Once the starch molecule is broken down, the small intestine transfers it into the bloodstream, where it is shuttled to the cells that need it.

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What Digestive Enzyme is Produced by the Liver?

The human liver is an organ located within the abdomen, with its larger lobe on the right side of the body. The liver is the largest gland in the body and possesses remarkable regeneration capabilities. The gland secretes bile, a green-colored digestive enzyme stored in the gall bladder during fasting.

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Can Hot Peppers Damage Your Digestive System?

In addition to having a spicy-hot flavor, hot peppers may also cause a short-term rise in body temperature accompanied by sweating. Many people complain of stomach irritation and heartburn after eating hot peppers as well, so you may wonder what kind of damage hot peppers do to your digestive system.

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Girl drinking milk

Symptoms of Lactose Intolerance in a Toddler

Any toddler might have gastrointestinal symptoms occasionally. When your child has them on a regular basis, however, it could be related to diet. Lactose intolerance is a deficiency in the enzyme toddlers need to break down the milk sugar called lactose.

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How Fast Do Carbs Digest in Your Body?

Carbohydrates are the body's preferred source of energy. They are readily converted into glucose, a form of sugar, which is transported around the body to be used as energy. An excess of quickly digested carbohydrates in the diet can lead to weight gain and increased risk of adult-onset diabetes.

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How Does a Poor Diet Affect Your Digestive System?

The digestive system includes the following: mouth, throat, esophagus, stomach, small and large intestines, liver, pancreas, gallbladder, and anus. All these organs need proper nutrients to function properly.

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Bile and Fat Digestion

Digestion is the process by which food is broken down into absorbable nutrients in your body. Digestion involves your mouth, esophagus, stomach, small intestine and large intestine, as well as accessory organs, which include the pancreas, liver and gallbladder.

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Pieces of sturgeon marlin and butterfish

Butterfish and Digestion

Your digestive system is made up of a series of hollow organs and twisted tubes that run from your mouth to your anus. The digestive system produces juices and enzymes that can digest almost any type of food.

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How to Make Your Digestive System Work More Quickly

Slow digestive systems can leave you feeling lethargic, bloated and possibly even like you have gained weight. Your digestive system is an essential part of your metabolism, and along with eliminating waste, it is through this system that you absorb the vitamins and other nutrients that are in your food.

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How the Digestive System & Muscular System Work in Conjunction During Digestion

The human digestive system is the organ system responsible for extracting nutrition from consumed food items and absorbing the nutritional molecules into the bloodstream. Doing this requires breaking food into smaller pieces mechanically and chemically, so that nutritional molecules are isolated and can be absorbed.

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Lactose Intolerance and Weight Gain in Adults

There's a common misconception in the general public that weight gain is a result of digestive disorders and, more specifically, of digestive enzyme deficiencies. This is not the case; if anything, such a disorder would have the opposite effect.

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Black-tailed rattlesnake in desert

What Are the Functions of Lipase Enzymes?

Lipases are a general class of enzymes that break down fat molecules. Fats, also called lipids, exist in many forms; different kinds of fats require different lipases to break them down. Your body uses lipases to digest fat and also depends on lipases to help move cholesterol in the body.

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Fried cod fillets and vegetables

Digestive Enzymes & Gas

Digestive gas, or flatulence, results from bacterial fermentation of undigested food in your intestine, mostly in the colon.

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Peeling a banana

Does Eating Bananas Help With Gas and Bloating?

Gas and bloating can be two embarrassing health concerns, but they don’t necessarily indicate a problem with your digestive tract. They are typically caused by your dietary and eating habits.

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Onions & Digestion

Onions are vegetables with a distinctive taste, commonly used in recipes. Additionally, onions have several uses in herbal medicine. However, some individuals have difficulty digesting onions. These digestive problems can result from either an allergy or an intolerance to onions.

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Peanuts splashed

Does Your Body Digest Peanuts?

Peanuts are a high-energy food containing an abundance of healthful fats, protein and fiber, as well as a wide array of vitamins and minerals. Your body digests peanuts with the same physical and enzymatic processes employed for other foods that contain a mixture of nutrients.

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quinoa with shrimp and parsley

The Worst Grains to Digest

For most people, grains are fairly easy to digest, as long as they’re cooked. The exceptions are people who are gluten intolerant and those who suffer from Complex Carbohydrate Intolerance, or CCI.

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diary products on wooden table

Lactose Intolerance & Heart Palpitations

Lactose intolerance does not affect the cardiovascular system and does not cause heart palpitations. A milk allergy, which can cause heart palpitations, is commonly confused with lactose intolerance.

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Assorted Mushrooms

Examples of Good Bacteria or Fungi That Benefit People

Despite the common notion that bacteria and fungi are infection-causing proponents, a variety of species are beneficial to people. In many cases, they are common food sources. Regularly consuming these organisms can improve your health, while providing a tasty addition to your everyday cuisine.

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In supermarket

Can People on a Dairy-Free Diet Take Probiotics?

Probiotics are good bacteria that help balance bacteria in the colon and can boost overall gastrointestinal health. Probiotics can be taken as supplements and are found naturally in certain foods. If you follow a dairy-free diet, you can still take probiotics.

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