As the saying goes, "eating is heaven, stomach is first", a healthy stomach is the premise and key to good food.

However, in this fast-paced and high-stress Chinese society, modern people surrounded by various jobs and entertainment have "something wrong with their stomachs". According to the statistics of the World Health Organization, the incidence of gastrointestinal diseases in China is as high as 80%, and the number of patients is about 120 million [1].

What is the reason for China to become a country with a high incidence of gastrointestinal diseases? How to nourish the stomach and protect the stomach? Today, let's talk about it.

Ten people have nine stomachs, disease enters from the mouth

Common clinical gastrointestinal diseases include acute and chronic gastritis, gastric ulcer, duodenal ulcer and perforation, compound ulcer, gastric polyps, etc. The main symptoms are bloating, stomach pain, acid regurgitation, heartburn, etc. The common pathogenesis of all gastrointestinal diseases is gastrointestinal mucosal damage.

In reality, the situation of nine stomachs in ten people is closely related to some common bad eating habits, the so-called "disease comes from the mouth", which can cause gastrointestinal mucosal damage and induce gastrointestinal diseases.

• long-term irregular diet

The stomach has the function of peristaltic emptying, which can help digest food in time. Under normal circumstances, it takes 4-6 hours for the stomach to empty completely, and the digestion of different foods will follow a so-called "schedule": the gastric emptying time of starch and sugar is about more than 1 hour; protein is about 3 hours. ; The fastest emptying of fat takes more than 6 hours [2].

If the diet is irregular, the last meal is not eaten, the interval between two meals is too long, and the stomach is hungry but does not eat, then in the fasting state, too much gastric acid will stimulate the gastric mucosa.

Stomach acid is a strong acid, and a healthy gastric mucosa is a natural defense barrier, which can resist strong acid stimulation. However, irregular diet for a long time can easily damage the gastric mucosa, cause gastric smooth muscle spasm, and cause stomach pain, acid regurgitation, and bloating. If the symptoms are not treated in time, gastrointestinal diseases such as peptic ulcer may occur over time.

• overeating

Eating too much will keep the stomach full, which will increase the burden on the stomach and intestines.

Under normal circumstances, the gastric mucosal epithelial cells are in constant renewal, and it takes 3-7 days to completely renew [3]. Therefore, the gastric mucosa has the ability to protect and heal itself, and can quickly repair damage, resist harmful factors, and maintain integrity. . If you overeat, the stomach will continue to secrete gastric acid, which makes the stomach continue to work and cannot repair itself. Sustained gastric acid erosion aggravates gastric mucosal damage and induces disease.

• stimulating diet

In pursuit of taste and greed for a while, many people like to eat "ice and spicy oil" foods, such as iced milk tea, hot pot, barbecue, coffee, wine, etc. These irritating foods will suddenly constrict blood vessels, reduce blood flow, and also reduce blood flow. It will stimulate the gastric mucosa, cause the gastrointestinal spasmodic contraction and abdominal pain, and may also lead to digestive system dysfunction in the long-term, causing gastroenteritis, diarrhea, etc.

Gastrointestinal diseases depend on nourishment, and taboos are the "iron rule"

After the occurrence of gastrointestinal diseases, stomach pains, bloating, acid regurgitation and heartburn from time to time torment the body and mind. Pay more attention to the diet. Good eating habits and reasonable diet are very important to the recovery of the disease.

1. Eat three meals regularly

Three meals a day should be eaten regularly, not one full meal, nor overeating. If conditions permit, it is advisable to eat small meals and frequent meals, which can not only provide nutrition, but also avoid the stimulation of the lesions caused by gastric acid.

2. Eat slowly

It is advisable to chew slowly when eating to avoid gobbling it down. Adequate chewing can effectively play the role of saliva, which is the first step of digestion. If you swallow after just chewing a few times, the stomach needs to secrete more digestive juice to help digest food, which will undoubtedly increase the burden on the stomach.

3. Avoiding food is the "iron law"

Gastrointestinal disorders can affect food or nutrient intake, so be selective about what you eat. It is necessary to ensure comprehensive nutrition, but also need to avoid food, especially to avoid eating food that will aggravate gastrointestinal irritation.

The typical representative is spicy food. For a long time, many people believe that spicy will hurt the stomach, but studies have shown that capsaicin has a protective effect on the gastric mucosa, which may increase gastric mucosal blood flow, promote gastric motility, and regulate gastric acid and prostaglandin secretion [4]. Therefore, in the case of gastrointestinal health, appropriate spicy food can protect the gastric mucosa.

However, for patients with gastrointestinal diseases, there are many inflammatory lesions or wounds in the stomach. At this time, if you eat spicy food, capsaicin may directly stimulate the wounds, aggravate the damage, and lead to aggravation of the disease.

In addition, greasy food such as fried food will be difficult to digest due to excessive fat, causing the stomach to secrete more gastric acid automatically, increasing the burden on the stomach, and also easy to increase the chance of acid reflux and irritable bowel syndrome.

Alcohol and pickled foods are more damaging to the gastrointestinal tract than spicy, greasy foods. Alcohol can promote gastric acid secretion, weaken the protective barrier of gastric mucosa, cause gastric mucosal damage, and make gastrointestinal diseases difficult to heal and easy to relapse. Take gastric ulcers, for example, which often worsen, bleed, perforate, or recur.

Pickled food is a high-salt diet, and the added nitrite and other preservatives can easily corrode the mucous membranes and cause damage, resulting in a series of lesions such as congestion, edema, erosion, and ulcers, and there is also a risk of cancer.

For patients with gastritis and peptic ulcer, eat less soy products in the diet. The high content of purine in soy products will promote gastric acid secretion. At the same time, these gas-producing foods are also prone to cause abdominal pain, bloating, hiccups and other symptoms.

Seven points of nourishment, but also three-point rule

When there are no symptoms of gastrointestinal diseases, daily self-care, reasonable diet and emotional management can stabilize the condition, nourish the stomach and protect the stomach. However, "seven points of nourishment, but also three points of governance", and drug treatment is also required when necessary.

Both Chinese and Western medicine can treat gastrointestinal diseases, but the combination of Chinese and Western medicine is more effective in treating gastrointestinal diseases. The treatment of gastrointestinal diseases with traditional Chinese medicine is a long-term process, which can achieve good results, but the onset of effects is slow and cannot quickly relieve symptoms.

Therefore, when there are obvious symptoms of stomach discomfort, it is recommended to use aluminum magnesium carbonate (antacids to quickly neutralize stomach acid) to relieve various symptoms of stomach discomfort. In addition to being an antacid, magnesium aluminum carbonate is also a gastric mucosal protective agent. It is hardly absorbed into the blood. It can form a protective film on the mucosal surface to resist the erosion of gastric acid and pepsin, repair damage, help quickly relieve symptoms, and last for a long time. Protect gastric mucosa.

Of course, if the symptoms cannot be effectively controlled after drug treatment, you should go to the hospital in time.

> > References: >

> > [1] Li Yan. Why do we get stomach problems [J]. Health Must Read 2019, Issue 24, pp. 214-215, 2020. >

> > [2] Wang Feng. Food selection according to digestion time [J]. Frontiers in Medicine, 2013: 22-22. >

> > [3]Laine L,Takeuchi K, Tarnawski A. Gastrie mucosal de-fense and cytoprotection: bench to bedside[ J] . Gastroen-terology,2008,135(1)：41-60. >

> > [4] Wang Jin, & Peng Yan. (2007). The effect of capsaicin on gastric mucosa and its mechanism. World Journal of Chinese Digestion, 15(17), 5. >