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You've probably heard the term before, but you might be wondering, "What is GI and what does it stand for?" Gastrointestinal (GI) refers to something that belongs to both the stomach and intestines. The gastrointestinal tract or gastrointestinal system refers to the organs that form a long "tube" that leads from the mouth to the anus. This system helps digest and move food and drink through your body to give it the nutrients it needs. You've probably said it yourself many times without really thinking about it: "I'm loose in my stomach", "I'm hard in my stomach", "I feel bloated in my stomach", etc... It's usually not really the stomach it's about, but simply your intestines! Below we have compiled the entire process through the gastrointestinal tract and common stomach diseases and common intestinal diseases. As said, the GI tract consists of a number of different organs and we list them below:
The pharynx is a cavity located behind the oral cavity and nasal cavity. It continues down to the esophagus and larynx. Here the paths for the esophagus and trachea cross. In the mouth, the food is mixed with saliva. Saliva consists mostly of water. The liquid contains salts and various substances that have the task of breaking down the food. These substances are called enzymes. Enzymes are catalysts, that is, they influence chemical reactions. In the human body, it is the job of enzymes to keep the processes going all the time. Without enzymes, these processes would stop.
More saliva is produced when you taste or smell food, or think about food.
The food you eat is moved to the stomach through the esophagus. The esophagus is a 25 cm long tube. The esophagus transports food from the mouth to the stomach. The enzymes from the saliva continue to break down the food all the way down to the stomach.
The food you eat is transported by the muscles in the esophagus pushing the food down with wave movements. These wave movements are found throughout the gastrointestinal tract.
From the time you swallow your food, it takes about ten seconds for solid food to reach the stomach, but only about a second for what you drink.
The stomach is the place where food and drink stops before it is moved on through the rest of the gastrointestinal tract. The stomach holds about one and a half litres. It is usually emptied of food and drink about four hours after a meal. Drinks pass the fastest and fatty food stays the furthest in the stomach.
The stomach is located high up in the abdomen*, just below the diaphragm on the left side. It is shaped much like a bag with two openings. The upper opening comes from the esophagus and the lower opening goes to the duodenum. The openings are called the upper stomach and lower stomach. The food is kneaded and mixed with gastric juice in the stomach. This causes the food to decompose further. The food that leaves the stomach is a viscous liquid.
*The abdomen is the entire area where the gallbladder, liver, spleen, stomach and intestines are located. The liver produces half to a liter of bile each day, which is needed to break down the fat in the food you eat. The liver also forms cholesterol, but also stores sugar (liver glycogen), vitamins and iron. The liver also helps the pancreas regulate blood sugar levels, takes care of toxins, and stores and cleans the blood. The pancreas produces pancreas that contains enzymes that help with the breakdown of food. The pancreas also contains bicarbonate to neutralize the acidic contents coming from the stomach. This gland also produces the hormones glucagon and insulin, which are important for keeping the body's blood sugar at the right level.
Glucagon: Glucagon is a natural hormone, which has the opposite effect to insulin in the body. It helps the liver convert a substance called glycogen into glucose (sugar). Glucose is then released into the blood – causing the blood sugar level to rise.
Insulin: Insulin helps sugar in the blood enter the body's cells and give them energy. Without insulin, the cells in the body get no fuel.
The small intestine is divided into duodenum, jejunum and ileum. In humans, the small intestine makes up two-thirds of the digestive tract. The small intestine is normally three to five meters long in humans. The mucous membrane is strongly folded. On the mucous membrane there are small projections called intestinal fluff. On the surface of the intestinal fluff there is a layer of intestinal cells, which absorb nutrients. If this single-celled layer of cells remains intact, so-called leaky gut occur, and substances from the small intestine can pass into the blood, which can, among other things, form a so-called autoimmune response.
Collagen prebiotics + L-glutamine is an optimal food supplement with collagen, prebiotics (inulin), L-glutamine and vitamin C to repair a leaky gut. It is packed with a high concentration of gut-repairing amino acids that repair your gut cells and restore the gut's natural lining.
Collagen contributes with the building blocks to keep the gut healthy. Collagen "seals and heals" a leaky gut, and the biggest benefit of collagen for leaky gut is precisely its ability to repair the gut's delicate intestinal lining.
L-glutamine is one of the most important nutrients, along with collagen and prebiotics, to restore gut health thanks to the way it supports cell regeneration. This amino acid helps to repair the broken joints in the intestinal wall so that they can function normally. L-glutamine can also be used as a preventative nutrient, minimizing the damage caused by food, toxins, infections and stress that can lead to leaky gut in the first place.
Prebiotics are foods that your good bacteria (probiotics) can eat. In other words, they fuel the good bacteria that live inside your gut and help them grow strong.
If there is a lack of prebiotic fibers, these bacteria look for an alternative carbohydrate source: the intestinal cell wall. In addition, this alternative fuel causes your bacteria to stop producing the compounds that support gut function.
If your good bacteria don't get enough fuel in the form of prebiotic fiber (prebiotics), they don't have the energy to fight the bad bacteria either. They become powerless and exhausted and simply let the bad bacteria take over and cause serious damage to the gut.
The folded surface, the intestinal fluff and the intestinal cells make the surface of the small intestine very large. The small intestine's main job is to absorb the nutrients from the food you eat and drink, such as minerals and vitamins, and also some water from the intestinal contents. Every day, the small intestine receives six to seven liters of fluid. It is partly food and liquid that we have eaten and drunk, and partly liquids that have been introduced into the gastrointestinal tract, i.e. saliva, gastric juice, bile and pancreas.
The mucosa of the small intestine itself emits another two liters of liquid in the form of intestinal juice. The intestinal juice contains digestive enzymes as well as water and mucus that lubricates the intestine and facilitates transport. Of the eight to nine liters of fluid that passes through the small intestine, the vast majority is reabsorbed, the largest part in the lower part of the small intestine and in the large intestine. Barely two deciliters of fluid leave the body every day together with the feces.
In the small intestine, the food has had time to break down into its smallest components. This allows the small intestine to start absorbing the parts of the food that the body needs.
The mucosa of the small intestine absorbs sugar, fat, vitamins, salts and amino acids. Amino acids are what proteins are made of. These substances are then transported to the liver where they are either used to form different substances or stored.
What remains of the intestinal contents leaves the small intestine after three to seven hours. It is necessary that the passage through the small intestine takes quite a long time because all important nutrients must have time to be absorbed.
The large intestine consists of several sections. In humans, it is about 1.5 m long, twice as thick as the small intestine, and begins with the cecum (caecum) followed by the large intestine (colon, colon) and rectum (rectum).
The large intestine receives one to two liters of intestinal contents from the small intestine every day. This stays in the colon for three hours up to over a day. The intestinal contents are transported down the intestine with the help of wave movements. A large part of the intestinal contents consists of water, the rest of food that has not been broken down, salts and bacteria. Most of the water is absorbed from the intestine into the blood. Therefore, the stool becomes firmer in consistency. The large intestine also absorbs some salts. In the large intestine there is also a large part of our intestinal flora (the intestinal bacteria) and these have several tasks. They are important for the body's immune system and also vitamin K. The bacteria also break down certain substances that the digestive enzymes were unable to break down when the food has passed through the stomach and intestinal tract. The bacteria in the large intestine are prevented from entering the body with the help of so-called lymphatic tissue in the intestinal wall. Lymphatic tissue is scattered throughout the body. Its task is to protect the organism against attack by microorganisms. The lymphatic system includes all free lymphocytes, the lymph follicles and also the actual lymphatic tissue, which forms the thymus, spleen and lymph nodes.
During the decomposition, gas is formed, a total of one to two liters per day. Sometimes the gas can cause the intestinal wall to stretch and you may experience pain or a feeling of tightness (which many would say stomach cramps or stomach ache). Some types of food can cause more gas than others, such as cabbage, beans, and products sweetened with certain sweeteners.
The rectum, which takes in after the large intestine, is about 15 cm long. The lower part of the rectum is slightly larger than the upper part of the rectum. Therefore, some faeces can collect there before the bowel has to be emptied. The very last part is called the rectal opening or anus. Surrounding the rectal opening are two ring-shaped muscles called sphincters. The outer of them can be controlled with the help of the will.
The stool consists of water, bacteria, food remains that have not been broken down, cells that are pushed away from the intestinal mucosa and mucus.
Sometimes GI problems can develop that affect how well the GI tract works. These can also lead to symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea or constipation. It can be helpful to know different types of GI diseases and their symptoms.
There are two main types of GI disorders:
These can affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract and cause various conditions and diseases.
Functional gastrointestinal disorders are disorders that do not appear to have a physical cause that can be diagnosed with standard testing methods such as blood tests, X-rays or other tests. Instead, these disorders are thought to be caused by a combination of abnormal muscle contractions, sensitive nerves, and brain-gut dysfunction (a malfunctioning gut), which affects communication between the brain and the gastrointestinal tract. Examples of these disorders include irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)
On the other hand, structural gastrointestinal disorders are caused by physical changes in the gastrointestinal tract, which lead to symptoms. These disorders can be detected with imaging tests and/or blood tests. Examples of these disorders include tumors, strictures (narrowing of the intestinal tract), or inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
Below is a list of the most common stomach and intestinal disorders and their signs and symptoms.
Diverticulitis is inflammation that originates from one or more diverticula in the intestine. Usually, diverticula (pocket formations, diverticulosis) occur in the colon, most often in the sigmoid. For this reason, the term sigmoiditis is sometimes used. The sigmoid colon is called the last S-shaped part of the large intestine, before the rectum (rectum).
Symptoms of this condition include pain and cramping in the lower left abdomen, nausea, vomiting and fever.
CD is a chronic disease that causes inflammation and irritation mainly in the small and large intestines. Common symptoms of CD include abdominal pain and cramps, weight loss, and diarrhea.
UC is another chronic inflammatory disease, but it mainly affects the large intestine (colon). Symptoms of UC include abdominal pain and cramping, bloody stools, diarrhea, and the constant feeling of having stool in your colon even when your bowel is empty.
IBS refers to a group of GI symptoms that occur together that cause abdominal pain and affect your bowel movements. Depending on the type of IBS you have, you may experience painful bowel movements with diarrhea, constipation, or both.
Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) refers to severe, chronic acid reflux caused by stomach acid backing up into the esophagus. Symptoms of GERD include stomach pain, heartburn, chest pain, nausea, and regurgitation (food coming back up the esophagus and into the throat or mouth).
Peptic ulcers are ulcers that form in the lining of the stomach or the first part of the small intestine (duodenum or duodenum). Symptoms of these ulcers include nausea, vomiting, bloating, severe stomach pain, and feeling full early during a meal or after eating.
Stomach bleeding is a symptom of many diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. Symptoms may include bright red bloody vomit, stomach cramps, vomit that looks like coffee grounds, black or tarry stools, bright red or dark blood in the stool, and shortness of breath.
Gastritis refers to inflammation of the stomach lining. Symptoms of gastritis include abdominal pain, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting and weight loss. Breakdown of the stomach lining or stomach ulcers can also cause stomach bleeding.
