Understanding the Human Digestive System
Part 2: Probiotics--Acidophilus and the Small Intestine

Hello and welcome to chapter 3 of our Journey to Better Nutrition!

In this discussion we deepen our knowledge and experience about how nutrition works inside the human body. This will lead us naturally and organically into a conversation about how the Simplexity nutrition products work inside the human body. The main purpose behind this and all our nutrition conversations is to assist you in experiencing optimum product benefits and results. And all of this is designed to be an integral part of your enthusiastic commitment to creating a healthier diet and lifestyle.

Review part 1 of Understanding the Human Digestive System.

"You often hear about ecology, the relationship between organisms and their environment. Within your body there is an entire miniature ecosystem, a microecology, which has a major influence on your health. This inner ecology is made up of the microflora, more than 400 species of microscopic living bacteria, creating an internal environment that is diverse, complex, interrelated, and ever-changing. This population, although minute, is so enormous that the number of microbial (bacterial) cells in our body at any one time is greater than the total number of all the other cells in our body. The microflora are essential to our well-being. These bacteria provide very real beneficial effects. They limit the populations of harmful bacteria. They assist in the process of digestion. They manufacture essential nutrients. When our gut ecology is in balance, we thrive."

Nigel Plummer, Ph.D., "Friendly Flora" (from the book Optimal Digestion, chapter five, page 46)

It is a curious irony that as we begin the 21st century most of us are more familiar with the term antibiotics than we are with the term probiotics. Most of us at one time or another have had the experience of taking prescription antibiotics for strep throat, for a bout of the latest "Asian" flu, or for that nasty cut on our finger that got infected back in third grade. Most of us are familiar with the grim spectre of bacterial infections that haunted the early part of the 20th century. You may have heard of the work of renowned British physician Alexander Fleming, the man who discovered penicillin. In the year 1918 alone, the most infamous of all flu epidemics ravaged the United States and two million people died. Many of our parents and grandparents (and great-grandparents!) lived through that epidemic and talked about it often throughout the rest of their lives. For most people the word antibiotics in general, and the word penicillin in particular, are the closest things we have ever seen to a medical cure.

Yet, as powerful as antibiotics were (and some still are), there was--and is--something far more powerful. That would be the bacteria the antibiotic was developed to destroy! The word "bacteria" is closely linked with the word "biotics" (Greek for "life") and in fact these two words are often seen together in sentences side by side, as in the familiar phrase: bacterial life.

Single-celled bacteria, the cyanobacteria, were among the very first living organisms to evolve. Aphanizomenom flos-aquae (the scientific name for Simplexity Health's Super Blue Green Algae) is a species of blue-green cyanobacteria directly related to earth's first foods.

"Probiotics" refers to a category of beneficial bacteria whose various functions are designed to promote life, thus the term pro-biotic! At last count, scientists have identified at least 400 different strains of beneficial bacteria that live inside the human body. Most of these probiotic bacteria inhabit the human gastrointestinal tract and provide a variety of services that are essential for optimum human digestion.

The healthy human digestive system contains upwards of three to five pounds of acidophilus bacteria, most of which can be found throughout the many twists and turns of the small intestine, that 24-foot-long tube that starts at the stomach and ends at the appendix. This profusion of acidophilus bacteria (technically called Lactobacillus acidophilus) provides at least five very important services instrumental to the optimum functioning of the digestive system in general and the small intestine in particular.

1. Acidophilus bacteria help to maintain the proper alkaline/salt (or pH) balance throughout the entire gastrointestinal tract, particularly in the small intestine. Remember that saliva is slightly alkaline or salty. The stomach is dominated by secretions of hydrochloric acid (HCL), which lowers the pH considerably. As the initially digested and very acid-laden food leaves the stomach and enters the duodenum (the first section of the small intestine), bile salts are secreted from the gall bladder to begin to raise the pH. Acidophilus bacteria assist in this process and help to maintain a pH level that will facilitate the transfer of micronutrients from the millions of finger-like projections (villi and microvilli) of the small intestine into the bloodstream on the other side of the intestinal wall. The pH of human blood is not a fixed number but can range anywhere from 7.35 to 7.45 (the approximate pH of sea water). Intestinal cramping and bloating can and will occur when the intestinal pH is out of balance. Many other uncomfortable symptoms and conditions that characterize irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) are partly connected to pH imbalances as well.
2. Acidophilus bacteria are helpful in serving as co-factors to various food and digestive enzymes in thoroughly transforming once solid food to liquid, called chyme. Only in this liquid state are the micronutrients in our food small enough to be absorbed into the villi and microvilli via capillaries across the intestinal wall and into our eagerly awaiting bloodstream. These micronutrients in the blood are then transported via the hepatic vein to the liver for further purification and storage.
3. Acidophilus bacteria help to maintain the strength, flexibility, and integrity of the intestinal walls. Acidophilus bacteria by the trillions attempt to inhabit every square inch of the villi and microvilli that line the small intestinal wall. This "wall" is a narrow circular tube about one inch in diameter and 24 feet long. The surface area of the small intestine could easily cover an entire tennis court! Acidophilus bacteria inhabit the villi and microvilli, and facilitate the transfer and transport of micronutrients from the liquid food (chyme), across the one-cell-thick intestinal wall, and into the bloodstream.
4. Acidophilus bacteria secrete B vitamins essential for absorption and assimilation of nutrients. Acidophilus bacteria secrete acidophilin, which is a naturally occurring antibiotic that inhibits the growth of unfriendly bacteria in the intestine.
5. Acidophilus bacteria service and protect the many lymph nodes that line the small intestine. This aggregation of lymph nodules is called Peyer's patches. These lymph nodes are essential components of the human immune system and are currently the target of much research on the topic of a gut-brain-immune connection. Inside the nodules of Peyer's patches live very specific plasma cells that manufacture antibodies. Antibodies are part of our immune "artillery" that protects us from various kinds of invader organisms.

"The balance that exists among our microflora is an example of nature's incredible perfection. When microflora coexist in harmony, a healthy state of symbiosis results and we thrive. When they live not in symbiosis, but in dysbiosis, this disturbed ecology often results in a sense of unwellness or even disease."

Len Saputo, M.D. "Harmful Flora" (from Optimal Digestion, chapter six, page 54)

Insults to healthy probiotic and intestinal function:

Here is a partial list of various insulting habits and influences that can destroy or seriously impair the normal functioning ability of our intestinal microflora, the beneficial bacteria that are essential to our overall health and well-being. Remember, "when our gut ecology is in balance, we thrive." - (Nigel Plummer, Ph.D.)

Consequently...when our gut ecology is out of balance or impaired in any way, we suffer!

Insults to the digestive system in general and the status of our intestinal microflora or probiotics in particular include: antibiotics, alcohol, antacids, all drugs, coffee, tea, all sources of caffeine, chlorine in drinking water, chlorine in bathing water, chronic dehydration, lack of exercise, too much negative stress in the forms of worry and anxiety, not enough sleep, overeating, anti-depressant drugs, carbonated beverages of all kinds (even carbonated water!), cigarettes and any inhaled tobacco smoke, chewing tobacco, processed foods in general, additives, colorings, preservatives, artificial sweeteners, flavor enhancers, excess intake of dairy products, microwave ovens, excess sugar in any form, excess consumption of fruit juices from concentrates, excess meat consumption, exposure to environmental pollutants (solvents, cleaning agents, pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, etc.), petro-chemical out-gassing from plastics in various building materials (carpets, floorings, clothes, glues, magic markers, paints, paint thinners, etc.), eating too late in the day, eating or drinking anything too cold, the lack of thorough chewing, and many more. For a more comprehensive list read the Habits of Naturally Healthy People.

Action Steps for Chapter 3!

1. Learn more about Simplexity Health's Acidophilus.
2. Learn more about probiotics.
3. Read the article Better Nutrition: Always the Best Response.
4. Fill out your Weekly Benefits Chart.
5. Identify an insulting habit in your diet or lifestyle and minimize its impact. You could eliminate the insult altogether or simply modify it. Just try it one day at a time, for one week, and see if you notice improvements in your health and energy. Also, identify a new complementary habit in your diet and lifestyle and optimize its impact. Review the Habits of Naturally Healthy People for suggestions.
6. Make sure you do something that really makes you laugh every day!
7. Got questions?