hackskii

Copied from another board, someone named Emma-Leigh but I thought this was a good read.

Ok - Digestion 101:

What order you eat a meal is not going to make a difference to digestion. Once they hit your stomach the peristaltic motion (that is - the muscles in your stomach wall contracting) will mix it all together regardless! Also , the 'different enzymes' that are released are realised regardless of the order you eat your food.

In your stomach -
The presence of food in your stomach stimulates-
1. Gastrin - this is the thing that is responsible for the eventual relsease of HCl - or acid.
2. Pepsinogen - this is converted to pepsin by the acid in your stomach. Pepsin is important in the digestion of proteins.

In the small intestine -
Once food hits the small intestine the pancreas and gall bladder are stimulated:
1. the pancreas - It secretes many enzymes which help digest proteins, starches and triglycerides.
2. The liver/gall bladder - This is responsible for making and secreting bile. This is important in fat digestion. It is stimulated more when you eat fatty foods.

The small intestine itself is also important, but it actually does not secrete anything. It acts to further digest the carbohydrates, proteins and fats, due to enzymes that are bound to the wall of the intestines, and then acts to absorb these things.

So - digestion occurs in two parts - the LUMENAL phase - which involves all of the enzymes that are secreted by the stomach, pancreas and liver. And the MEMBRANOUS phase which is that which occurs because of the enzymes attached to the intestinal wall. It does not matter when you eat carbohydrates or proteins or fats during a meal, because the simple stimuli of food in your digestive tract will cause the secretion of the luminal enzymes (although as you increase your fat, you will stimulate more fat enzymes to be released).

Carbohydrates -
Starches are the only type of carbohydrates to undergo luminal phase of digestion. This results from enzymes (called amylases) that are released from the pancreas. These act to break down the long starches into shorter polysaccharides (intermediate chains called dextrins). These are then cleaved again to form Disaccharides or trisaccharides (such as maltose or maltotriose).

Sugars and the trisaccharides and disaccharides from the starches are then further digested in the Membranous phase. This involves enzymes (such as lactase - for the breakdown of lactose, sucrase for the digestion of sucrose and maltase for the breakdown of maltose) that are bound to the intestinal wall. So - these enzymes act on lactose, sucrose and the di and trisaccharides from the breakdown of starch to form glucose, galactose and fructose. These are them absorbed across the intestinal wall and enter the blood to go to the liver.

The liver then takes up most of the glucose/fructose/galactose and converts it into glycogen or fats while the rest stays in the blood for the rest of the body.

Proteins -
These are broken down in a similar fashion as carbs. But - the enzymes involved in protein breakdown are secreted by the stomach (pepsin and chymosin) and the pancreas. There are lots of different enzymes involved in protein breakdown (because of the large variety of amino acids). So - digestion of proteins begins in the stomach with the secretion of HCl and pepsin which begin to cleave the long protein molecules. This then continues in the small intestines with the secretion of pancreatic enzymes.

These smaller chains of amino acids (called peptides) are then either broken down by MEMBRANOUS phase enzymes on the intestine cells to form amino acids or are absorbed as dipeptides or tripeptides and then convert to simple amino acids by the cells. The amino acids are then released into the blood and are taken to the liver.

In the liver some of the amino acids go straight into circulation for the muscles, some are used directly for protein synthesis, but the rest are processed to enter the pathway of energy metabolism, carbohydrate formation or fatty acid formation.

Fats -
This is a little different. Fat is harder to digest because it does not absorb in the fluids in your gut. The digestion of fat is divided into four stages -
1. Emulsification - This begins in the stomach and involves the warming and mixing of the fats. This breaks the fats into globules. The Bile acids from the liver are then secreted into the intestines and makes the fat droplets even smaller.
2. Hydrolysis - Enzymes from the pancreas (lipases) then act on the fats to form smaller molecules.
3. Micelle formation - These smaller molecules (free fatty acids, cholesterol, single chain fats etc) combine with bile to form tiny, droplets called micelles.
4. Absorption - The micelles then attach to the intestinal wall and all the components (except the bile) are then absobed. These are then packaged (into things called chylomicrons) and secreted by the intestinal cells into tiny tubes in your intestinal wall called lacteals which take the fats straight to your heart, which then enters your back to your heart, which then pumps it to the body. These are then taken up by the liver or the fat cells.

These processes in the intestine take a while to complete (depending on what you eat) and so eating one thing 5 minutes after the other will have no effect.

After the initial absorption phase lots of other things happen... but that is another story......

Oh yeah - my moral... The only reason why you would eat something before or after the other during a single meal is for taste or because you wanted to. It will not alter digestion.

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Scott


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Tinytom

That's a good read Scott, I reckon it should be a sticky?

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BL1

^^^^Agree with Tom would be a good sticky.

Hackskii - what ways can you aid digestion? I know theres certain simple things you can do e.g. smaller meals, warm drinks with your meals, etc

hackskii

That is the easiest question of all.

Digestive enzymes, they are pretty cheap (well unless you get the good ones), Twin Labs have a excellant product.
When overfeeding, this is a must as you wont be able to digest your food properly overfeeding.
Most people just stuff and stuff, well you wont get all out of what you eat.
Taking digestive enzymes makes it easier for the body to digest your food.

A while ago, I saw a thing on TV where they had some oatmeal (cooked) in a bowl on the table.
They sprinkled digestive enzymes on the oats and in 20 minutes it looked like pudding.
It was crazy, totally broke that down to something soft. Oats have alot of fiber too.
I was sold right then and there on this stuff.
I have been taking them for years.

One of the only things in my diet I notice that takes away bloat, when dieting I notice it just seems easier when taking these.
They are non habit forming, non addictive and using digestive enzymes will help to keep your enzyme pool strong to perform metabolic functions instead of digestive functions.

Most raw foods have enzymes in it. Many enzymes in food get destroyed at just 118 degrees.
So if you eat an apple it has enzymes in it. If you cook that apple it wont.
see the diffrence?

There are many enzymes like bromelain in pineapple, and papain in papaya, both these will help in digestion of protein.
But for lets say fats it would be Lipase or Amalase for carbs.

Many digestive enzymes have all that stuff in it and even some have bile and other stuff to aid in digestion too.
You can not go wrong adding these as most of our food now days is processed and have no enzymes.

Not only that, us bodybuilders use more protein and again digestive enzymes like Protease aids in protein breakdown.

__________________
"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away." - George Carlin


Scott


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