8
votes
Accepted
Do protein bars/shakes provide nutrients that your body can use?
What you are asking about is called bioavailability, which is the term for how much of a consumed substance is actually taken up by the body, and bioequivalence, which is about whether two products ...
- 6,992
7
votes
Is stomach acid an emulsion?
Well, you eat a number of things - protein, carbohydrates, fats, water, alcohol (at times), etc. Digestion begins in the mouth.The stomach muscles contract periodically, churning food to enhance ...
- 8,904
7
votes
Accepted
How to increase my gut bacteria? Are there any drugs available?
You have no lack of gut bacteria, that much is very safe to say. Everyone has gut bacteria in spades. The gut bacteria that you do have may not be the optimal, but no one even knows what the optimal ...
- 8,904
6
votes
Accepted
When is a stomach "empty" for the purpose of taking medication?
In my experience most anesthesiologists use 5 hours as the minimum time necessary for the stomach to be sufficiently empty to make it safe to administer anesthesia. However, their criteria is quite ...
- 9,592
6
votes
What are the causes of Chronic Diarrhea?
Chronic mouth ulcers are relatively common, especially in young people. It's called apthous stomatitis, affects at least 20% of the population, and its natural course is one of eventual remission. By ...
- 8,904
6
votes
Long term use of stomach acid reducers: Omeprazole or Ranitidine?
Before we discuss safety, I wouldn't agree that these two work 'equally well'. While ranitidine (a histamine 2-receptor antagonist - H2A) is a medicine with good efficacy, studies have shown that ...
- 2,823
6
votes
Accepted
Do artificial sweeteners increase risk of diabetes or hyperinsulinemia?
Findings
There is a strong link between the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB), obesity, and Type 2 diabetes, recognized by multiple studies, for example this survey (1).
This article (2) ...
- 331
6
votes
Accepted
Can adults get new gut bacteria from external exposure?
In principle: yes, the gut microbiome can be altered by external exposures. It is the large but and a large range of buts that follow.
The newborns indeed get their initial "seeding" by ...
- 6,847
5
votes
Accepted
How long should you wait after lunch if you want to take a bath, and why?
Is it true that one shouldn't take a bath after lunch?
No.
That's a long hold myth, nothing more.
Although it might have all the pedagogical value of scare stories in general:
So telling kids they ...
- 6,847
5
votes
What is the mechanism of heartburn?
WebMD has an interesting article on heartburn that states1
With gravity's help, a muscular valve called the lower esophageal sphincter, or LES, keeps stomach acid in the stomach. The LES is located ...
- 1,838
5
votes
Why does my girlfriend have such smaller stools when we eat the same food?
Modern evidence-based medicine won't be able to fully answer your question, but there are indications that bacteria, or more exactly, the individual gut flora heavily influence your fecal weight or ...
- 781
5
votes
Does the digestive disorders affect the location of aorta beat around navel?
During my last course called "Physical Examination of the Abdomen" (at medical school), we learned to palpate the abdominal aorta, which can be easily palpated in +/- lean patients.
This ...
- 882
5
votes
Dietary Interactions that cause Constipation
The major dietary causes are not enough water and not enough fibre. (See the Risk Factors section of this Mayo Clinic article, which focuses on medical causes of constipation.) There's nothing ...
- 3,770
5
votes
Is fibre an essential nutrient?
Essential nutrient means any substance normally consumed as a constituent of food which is needed for growth and development and/or the maintenance of life and which cannot be synthesized in adequate ...
- 15.7k
5
votes
Digestion and absorption of large scale protein structures
Do some proteins survive human digestion?
Yes. Prions are misfolded proteins with abnormal tertiary or quaternary structures. That grants them resistance (to some extent, at least) to proteases (1).
...
- 211
4
votes
Acidity of gut contents
Not sure if I answered this right:
leaflady.org
The system begins in the mouth, where the pH of saliva is 5.7 – 7.0.
In the esophagus the pH is 7.0. The stomach pH is 1.5 – 3.0. In the
...
- 2,964
4
votes
Long term use of stomach acid reducers: Omeprazole or Ranitidine?
Recent research results point to serious adverse health risks with the long term use of PPIs. These medicines increase the risk of heart disease, increase the risk of dementia and chronic kidney ...
- 2,230
4
votes
How much food is necessary to buffer the stomach when taking medicine?
As you mentioned in the side note, it really depends on the type of pill. Because there are chemical interactions between the food and the pill e.g. tetracycline and milk (tetracycline and calcium ...
- 51
4
votes
Can a person eliminate lactose intolerance through extended exposure?
Very generally speaking I would say it depends on the cause of the intolerance - if it is a primary intolerance (i. e. genetic problem with lactase persistence deficiency, the enzyme for digesting ...
- 1,161
4
votes
Accepted
What is the mechanism of eczema?
TLDR: The pathogenesis of eczema is multifactorial, but broadly follows a process of genetic (or epigenetic, in the case of the early gut microbiome) dysregulation relating to barrier integrity ...
4
votes
How do probiotics work?
The internet is overflowing with information regarding probiotics, and since these products are not registered as drugs and are widely sold as nutritional supplements, it might be hard to "separate ...
- 1,618
4
votes
Accepted
Does IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) lower the risk of cancer?
The study authors have released a statement on their institutional website that states:
That neither the papers (http://pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/ArticleLanding/2014/MD/C3MD00323J#!divAbstract, http:/...
- 13.2k
4
votes
Accepted
Supplements: When and how to take them to maximize absorption
To get the most of your vitamins/minerals is quite simple, really.
There are two types of soluble vitamins/minerals:
Water-soluble
Fat-soluble
Absorption of water-soluble vitamins is quite easy, ...
- 480
4
votes
Do proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) shut down all the proton pumps in all cells across our body?
"Proton pump" is a broad category of proteins rather than a specific pump.
The drugs called "proton pump inhibitors (PPIs)" to reduce stomach acid target a specific proton pump, ...
- 13.1k
4
votes
Do proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) shut down all the proton pumps in all cells across our body?
First of all, if you found papers that suggest certain unexplored side effects, it means the research is underway and it can very well be that in the next years we get new information about how drugs ...
- 709
4
votes
Eating egg shells: advantages v.s. disadvantages?
Not allowed to comment, so just a partial answer from my part:
Salmonella bacteria are commonly found in the excrements of birds and egg shells are usually contaminated with them, and even let them ...
- 101
4
votes
Interested in how these particular supplements work together
SE Health is not meant for personal advice. Only your doctor can answer this question based on an evaluation of your medical conditions, medications, allergies, and physical exam.
What I can do is ...
- 5,714
4
votes
Accepted
How can we digest protein, fats and carbs at the same time?
Acidic environment in the stomach (ph ~2) is necessary for the activity of the enzyme pepsin, which partly digests proteins to peptides (NCBI).
"Alkaline environment," which is not really alkaline ...
- 15.7k
3
votes
Accepted
How does the stomach handle liquid vs solid food?
More stuff = More time
The stomach has sensory capabilities that help determine the nutritional content of what it receives. This allows it to "taste" and decide what it needs to add to the "stirring ...
- 4,866
3
votes
Can the body be shocked into a faster metabolism?
If a person's body is in a low-metabolism state induced by starvation or restricted calorie intake, then an increase in the calorie intake will allow a raised metabolism. The natural lower limit to ...
- 416
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