Participants: Nick Evenson (Host), Dr. James Marcum
Series Code: UP
Program Code: UP000074A
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00:16 What goes in... will it always come out?
00:18 Today's topic on the program is "The Gastrointestinal System" 00:22 Dr. Marcum will be answering your questions on the topic. 00:25 You won't want to miss it. Stay tuned... 00:27 I'm Dr. James Marcum... Are you interested in 00:31 discovering the reason why? 00:33 Do you want solutions to your healthcare problem? 00:36 Are you tired on taking medications? 00:39 Well, you're about to be given "The Ultimate Prescription" 00:46 Thanks for joining us on today's program. 00:48 I'm your host, Nick Evenson, 00:50 and you know, there is a lot of literature that talks about 00:52 the GI system. 00:54 Dr. Marcum, thank you for tackling this subject, 00:56 and tell us what do we need to know. 00:57 Well you know, we've had a lot of questions come in and 01:00 most of what we need to know is going to be accomplished 01:02 in those questions, but if you think about the 01:04 GI system, Nick. 01:06 You know, it starts with your lips and ends with your bottom. 01:10 And what happens is the function of the GI system is to 01:14 give us energy and if we think about some of the big 01:17 concepts of what the GI system is, we can avoid pitfalls. 01:21 So the GI system's basic purpose is to give us energy 01:25 because we take food into the GI system and it extracts 01:29 from our food energy; the energy eventually 01:31 gets in our blood; the blood takes it to all 01:34 of our cells so our cells can function well. Okay 01:37 Just like the respiratory system gives oxygen to every cell, 01:41 the GI system helps us give energy to every cell. 01:44 And we take really 3 nutrients in that we really need... 01:49 We take our carbohydrates, that should be our primary 01:52 source of nutrients that is extracted from our GI system. 01:56 That means it pulls it out. 01:57 We have proteins - those are our building blocks, 02:01 those are enzymes - that is needed, 02:02 but not very much of our total calories is needed in proteins, 02:05 and a very small amount is needed in fat. 02:09 And if we upset that balance by what we put in, 02:13 things get altered - stress is put on the system. 02:17 So just what we put in our GI system 02:19 is very important as far as balance. 02:21 So when we put it in, digestion and breaking this 02:24 starts with our teeth, Nick, we start chewing it; 02:27 we start having enzymes in our mouth that actually 02:30 starts digestion in the mouth. 02:31 There is amylase that starts in the mouth. 02:33 I like to eat greens! 02:35 Greens - actually the digestion of greens starts in the mouth. 02:38 And I can absorb nitrites in my bloodstream, 02:41 even from my mouth. Right 02:42 So it starts in the mouth and you want to chew well. 02:45 If you don't chew up your food well - if you just gulp it down, 02:48 the rest of the body parts don't like that. 02:51 It's sort of like if you work in a television studio... 02:54 You know, someone doesn't do their job and then other people 02:56 downstream have to work harder. 02:58 Makes it harder for everybody. It makes it harder. 02:59 So when Mr. Teeth and Mr. Mouth aren't doing 03:02 their job, Mr. Stomach is going to go, "Hey, these guys 03:05 are lazy, I have to work harder." 03:06 Well luckily, we're not in a television studio like that. 03:08 Right, we're not in a TV studio... 03:10 So anyway, people have to work harder downstream... 03:12 and lots of things can happen 03:14 inside this part... you know, your teeth can 03:16 fall out, you can get infections in the mouth, 03:19 you can get cancers in the mouth, 03:21 lots of things can hurt that process. 03:23 So then - I call it the big tube because it's like a big tube 03:26 that runs through us that takes the food out. 03:28 Then it goes down, you swallow it, 03:30 there's a little tube that separates the lungs from 03:33 the stomach called the "epiglottis," 03:35 keeps it going the right way. Okay 03:37 So you want the epiglottis to be happy too. 03:39 So it goes down - the next thing is the esophagus. 03:42 The esophagus is pretty much just a transport area. 03:45 It helps it get to point A from the mouth 03:48 to B where digestion really starts ramping up 03:50 in the stomach. Right 03:52 So in the stomach, you know the esophagus is this 03:55 tube that goes down... in the stomach that's where 03:57 there are lots of acids and that's where the food 03:58 starts to be broken down. 04:00 You make things like "hydrochloric acid" in the 04:02 stomach that breaks down proteins. 04:04 Proteins are really hard to break down. 04:06 It starts breaking down the proteins and then it goes 04:09 into the small intestine where we start extracting 04:12 water from the system and then more nutrients are extracted. 04:16 Eventually it gets to the large intestines 04:17 where more water is dealt with and the wastes 04:20 are sort of dealt with, and then as it moves through 04:22 this gigantic tube, eventually it comes out the 04:25 other end as waste. Okay 04:27 So that's what the tube does, it's mainly there to extract 04:30 nutrients that we need. Pull out the good stuff. Right 04:33 But unfortunately, if we put bad stuff into this tube, 04:37 bad things happen. Pulls up the bad stuff. Yes 04:39 And things in the mouth that can be bad 04:41 or things like tobacco. 04:43 Tobacco can be that in not taking good care of your teeth, 04:46 that could hurt that. Sure 04:47 Not having enough water in you 04:49 could cause fissures in the mouth and things of that nature. 04:52 Infections can happen in the mouth. 04:54 That affects the way you absorb the food. 04:57 Lots of things can happen to the esophagus... 04:59 And of course, a lot of us take 05:01 in food that's not good for our system. 05:04 And when the stomach and some of the 05:06 parts see things that they don't want to handle, 05:09 they go, "Oh my, what is Nick doing to me today, 05:12 he is giving me this stuff and I don't know what 05:14 to do with it, I know I don't want to 05:16 break it down, but I gotta do something with it." 05:19 And actually, it takes some of the bad toxins into the body. 05:23 A lot of people don't realize, but one of our questions 05:25 today talks about "probiotics," but there is a trillion 05:28 bacteria in the system that also aid in this process, 05:33 so it's not only some of the chemicals like amylase 05:36 and lipase and digested enzymes, 05:38 it's a host of a trillion bacteria... 05:40 And those bacteria all have to be in the correct balance. 05:44 So this tube is very complicated, 05:46 a lot of stuff is going on in it. 05:49 It's there to help us feel good and a lot of people 05:51 don't realize that the bacteria in the stomach, 05:54 how the bowel works affects numerous parts of the body. 05:58 Because those trillion bacteria they make different 06:01 mutations happen - they make certain chemicals 06:03 that can affect the heart. 06:05 Them make chemicals that can give us hormones 06:08 that affect our brain like serotonin. 06:10 A lot of people don't realize the gut makes 80% 06:13 of our chemical called serotonin which helps us sleep. 06:16 A lot of different things that can happen just by keeping 06:19 good care of our gut - our big tube as I say. Right 06:24 So it's very important to take care of that big tube, 06:26 and we're going to answer some 06:28 great questions about that subject. 06:30 I've got to interrupt and ask... 06:31 This is a bright tie and I think it's related to 06:34 the topic today, what's on your tie here? 06:35 Well, this is a great tie that someone gave to me, Nick, 06:38 and I'm glad you pointed it out because not many people 06:41 can see all these fancy things, but on this tie 06:44 there's an artery, there's an EKG, 06:47 there's a spine, there's a prescription pad, 06:50 lots of neat things are on this tie... 06:53 And I like to wear this tie, probably only once or twice... 06:56 Here's a bug that's not on that tie, 06:58 but I'm glad you noticed that tie, Nick, because whoever 07:01 gave it to me - I can't remember who gave it to me, 07:03 was very proud to find this tie. 07:06 And I'm still trying to look, there's a heart there, 07:08 and a stethoscope, but I don't see the big tube there. 07:11 So no big tube today, but I'm glad you noticed that. 07:16 Well let's talk about it, we've been building a 07:18 first aid kit and what are some 07:20 more items that need to be in our first aid kit? 07:22 Well, I want to over that because that's one way that 07:25 everyone can be involved, not only do we learn things, 07:27 but there are some things that you can pass on to your 07:29 friends and neighbors and you can carry with you 07:32 in your first aid kit that you're creating at home. 07:34 Well this, Nick, here is a splint, okay, 07:38 and these are splints that you can buy that are very 07:41 small and these are great stocking stuffers 07:44 that are great for your own first aid kit. 07:46 And the key that happens when you break a bone or hurt 07:50 something is you want to immobilize it. Right 07:52 You want to keep it from moving. 07:54 So what's the idea behind immobilization? 07:57 We want to basically keep the joint from moving because 08:02 the more a joint moves, the more it can cause damage. 08:05 Does that help it grow back correctly if it doesn't? 08:07 Well if it hold it in place, and when it's in place 08:09 it does grow back better, the tissue holds still 08:12 so you don't keep causing more inflammation. 08:14 Bones love to stay together, and they make chemicals 08:18 that helps it heal faster if you keep moving it. 08:21 That's why if you break your arm, they put it in a cast. 08:24 It takes about 6 weeks for the bones to heal up. 08:27 That's the way, if you hurt your ankle, you know, 08:29 you want to put it in some type of immobilization device. 08:32 Well this happens to be a small 08:33 one that will go on your fingers. 08:36 If you hurt your fingers, it will mobile that 08:39 until you can get an x-ray to see if it needs 08:41 to be immobilized any further with a cast. 08:43 So this is something that's very useful for your fingers. 08:46 Feet - do you mobilize toes very much? 08:50 No, you usually wrap the toes, you know, you mobilize 08:54 toes by wrapping them. 08:55 Ankles - you immobilize ankles sometimes by using these 08:58 Ace wraps okay - and these Ace wraps are also beneficial 09:03 if, let's say, you might hurt your arm and you think 09:05 it's broken... 09:07 Well, you know, if you can immobilize the bone, 09:10 keep something straight, this is very useful 09:13 if you have something to keep it straight, a board or 09:16 something with you or something solid, you can use the Ace wrap 09:20 to wrap it around that board to sort of immobilize an arm. 09:23 Legs are a little bit harder, but an arm you can mobilize 09:26 with this fairly easily. 09:28 And that probably helps to reduce the pain 09:29 because if it was not moving as much, 09:30 it won't hurt as bad while you are on your way to the hospital. 09:33 And that makes sense, the more moving, guess what? 09:35 The more the nerves are turned on... 09:37 the more pain you have... Right So that's very good. 09:40 So this is something that I think everyone should have 09:42 in their first aid kit, a plan to immobilize 09:46 the joint or joint to hold still. 09:48 Ace wraps are very good, you can buy some splints 09:51 there are all sorts of neat things that they can have 09:53 to help for their first aid kit. 09:55 Well I'm going to go home and make sure 09:57 that I have these items in my first aid kit at home. 09:59 But we don't want to forget about the big tube 10:01 because we're talking about the big tube today, 10:03 we got a lot of questions. That's right! 10:04 Stay with us, we're going to be back in just a moment 10:06 when Dr. Marcum answers questions about 10:08 the gastrointestinal system. |
Revised 2016-08-23