Arthritis / The Comprehensive Digestive Stool Analysis	Navigate This Article 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 References
submitted by Dr. Gary Farr - Contact the author here. Last Updated June, 25, 2004	Save Money! Check out our special offers here.

Nutrition and digestion are undeniably important to good health. We are, essentially, what we eat and then absorb. Over the long haul, excellent health is impossible without good nutrition. However, without adequate breakdown and assimilation, even the best diet offers little help. Additionally, incomplete or faulty digestive processes may lead to a variety of chronic disorders.

I often tell my patients that the gastrointestinal tract is much like a carburetor in a car. Your digestive tract tract must take gasoline (your food), and then mix it with air (enzymes and other digestive juices). If this mixing process goes well, your car runs and doesn't cough or sputter. How efficiently your fuel burns determines to a large extent how many years you're going to get out of your car. Although a rather crude analogy, this principle does hold true for the human digestive tract. There are many points along the digestive where some "burning" process can go awry and cause seemingly unrelated problems elsewhere in the body. This article will discuss those various places and give you a very good detail of what can go wrong.

Gastrointestinal disorders have a major impact on health. One recent study found that during a three-month period nearly 70% of American households experienced one or more gastrointestinal symptom.¹

Maldigestion, malabsorption and abnormal gut flora and ecology, as well as many complex chronic illnesses and symptoms, lie at the root of most common GI complaints. Thus, nutrition and digestive processes are central to long-term health. Great Smokies’ Comprehensive Digestive Stool Analysis (CDSA) provides clinicians with a critical tool for evaluating the status of the GI tract.

This test helps pinpoint imbalances, provide clues about current symptoms and warns of potential problems should the imbalances progress. With an accurate assessment, custom-tailored treatment can be easily applied, greatly increasing the chances for therapeutic success.

The CDSA is used in the evaluation of various gastrointestinal symptoms or systemic illnesses that may have started in the intestine.

Because illnesses are often not discernable from symptoms, the CDSA is a valuable means of identifying critical imbalances previously unsuspected.

Role of the Gastrointestinal Tract

As most food molecules can’t be absorbed or utilized in their native state, a primary function of the gastrointestinal system is to break down molecules and absorb nutrients. This is a complex process taking place primarily in the gastrointestinal mucosa, where the battle for health—to absorb nutrients and exclude toxins—is fought. The gastrointestinal mucosa does this through a combination of physical barriers to diffusion, mucosal fluids and active immune processes.²

The Mouth

Teeth break up food and mix it with saliva. Saliva in turn helps form a bolus and protects the pharyngeal and esophageal mucosa, primarily with secretory IgA antibodies. Saliva also helps remineralize the teeth with calcium salts. The enzymes lingual lipase, salivary amylase and ptyalin initiate fat and starch digestion.³

The Stomach

The stomach mechanically churns food, breaks up and emulsifies fats and exposes molecules to additional enzymes. In doing this, it produces one to two liters of gastric juices per day.⁴

Gastric juice has several components:

• Hydrochloric acid is secreted by the parietal cells. It activates pepsinogens to convert to pepsin and renders some minerals (e.g. calcium and iron) more absorbable. Stomach acid prevents bacterial overgrowth by creating an essentially sterile environment.
(A potential exception is Helicobacter pylori which is implicated in the cause of ulers).
• Mucus forms an acid- and pepsin-resistant coating of the stomach lining.
• Gastric lipase begins the hydrolysis of fats.

The Small Intestine

Most digestion and absorption takes place in the small intestine and is mediated by pancreatic enzymes and bile.⁴

The process involves several steps:

1. Secretion of pancreatic juices (about 2.5 liters/day) is controlled by the vagus nerve and the duodenal hormones secretin and cholecystokinin. Hormone production, in turn, is stimulated by the presence of fat, protein and acid chyme.
2. Bicarbonate begins the process of neutralizing stomach acid.
3. The proteases trypsinogen, chymotrypsinogen and procarboxypeptidase are activated to trypsin, chymotrypsin and carboxypeptidase. These enzymes digest proteins to oligopeptides and amino acids.
4. Amylase splits starch to maltose.
5. Lipase hydrolyzes diglycerides and triglycerides, producing long chain fatty acids.
6. Bile secreted by the liver (about 700 ml/ daily) is stored in the gall bladder. Bile salts solubilize and emulsify fats, enabling enzymatic hydrolysis.

The Crypts of Lieberkuhn of the intestinal mucosa also produce immunoglobulins and small amounts of digestive enzymes such as peptidase and disaccharidases.

The Large Intestine

A primary role of the large intestine is absorption of water—about one liter daily. The large intestine also provides an environment for microbial fermentation of soluble fiber, starch and undigested carbohydrates.

Anaerobic colonic fermentation results in production of short chain fatty acids, the main energy source for colonic epithelial cells. It is largely these SCFAs, in combination with amines derived from protein degradation, that provide buffering and create the slightly acidic pH of fecal matter.

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