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Malabsorption and Leaky Gut
R
emember your intestinal tract is just another organ. It has a pretty
complex task, which is to break down all kinds of foodstuffs and
turn these into metabolizable fuel for the cells. Think of it a bit like
the way ancient pine forests were decayed and turned into fossil fuels, such
as oil and coal, but much much quicker – in a few hours instead of millions
of years.
It does this by means of chemical reagents we call enzymes. These
are remarkable substances which enable complex chemical processes to take
place quickly at body temperature; where normally such transformation
processes would take a very long time or require a source of heat, such as a
Bunsen burner – the normal chemical reaction you would see in a test tube
at High School.
In the mouth, ptyalin (salivary amylase) is added to our food, a
starch digester, which begins to break down carbohydrates, even as we
chew. Also in saliva are lysozyme, an enzyme which attacks bacteria, and
IgA antibodies, a class characteristic of the whole intestinal tract.
In the stomach hydrochloric acid is secreted, together with pepsin,
which starts to break down proteins and rennin, for the digestion of
milk. One other important stomach secretion to mention is intrinsic factor,
without which we cannot properly absorb vitamin B12. Lack of stomach
acid (called achlorhydria) often goes along with B12 deficiencies, which leads
to a condition called pernicious anemia (because it really was fatal, until
all the causes were discovered). I can tell you that achlorhydria (no acid)
or hypochlorhydria (not enough) are quite common in patients with food
allergy and intolerance and may lead to a similar B12 deficiency.
As soon as the sloppy food mass reaches the next section of gut,
the duodenum, then two more very important organs come into play:
the pancreas and gallbladder. The pancreas adds some industrial-strength
enzymes, for the digestion of fats, proteins and carbohydrates. At the same