Wisdom Wednesday: Betafood

No, not the fish food. Betafood is a product manufactured by Standard Process. It is nothing more than organic beets.

Red beets contain betalain pigments, such as betanin and betacyanin. That is what gives the characteristic red color.

Taken daily, betanin will thin the bile that is released from the gallbladder to emulsify fats in the diet. When the food bolus leaves the stomach and enters the small intestine it is slightly acidic (unless you take a proton pump inhibitor like Nexium). The small intestine is slightly alkaline when empty. As the food drops into the small intestine, the pH drops and temporarily becomes acidic. This signals the gallbladder to contract and expel bile.

The bile runs along the common bile duct. As it passes the pancreatic duct it triggers the release of pancreatic enzymes that digest the fats, carbohydrates, and proteins. Together, all these digestive chemicals are then dumped into the small intestine.

As we age, the bile typically thickens, becoming sluggish and the flow decreases. This is a significant impairment to digestion. The amount of bile released from the gallbladder can also decrease (decreased ejection fraction). This often leads to a gallbladder attack and subsequent surgery to remove the gallbladder.

Of course, without adequate HCl to lower the pH of the food bolus, there is no trigger for the gallbladder and subsequently no trigger for the pancreatic enzymes either. This is why proton pump inhibitors create malabsorption syndromes like vitamin B12 deficient anemia and osteoporosis.

Clinically, I recommend Betafood daily in my practice. The lowest ejection fraction I have documented is 3% and we raised it to 80% in 3 months by having the patient take one tablet of Betafood with each meal.

Wisdom Wednesday: Constipation

Constipation is the most common digestive complaint in the United States. It is a symptom, not a disease.

However, diagnostic workup generally does not occur until medical management of the symptoms fail. Even with a diagnosis, treatment is aimed at alleviating symptoms with a bulk laxative, a stool softener, and/or drug that increases peristaltic action of the bowel.

The medical definition is a having at least two of the following symptoms over the course of the past three months:

• Fewer than 3 bowel movements per week
• Straining
• Lumpy or hard stools
• Sensation of anorectal obstruction
• Sensation of incomplete defecation
• Manual maneuvering required to defecate

MY TAKE:
If you are not having a bowel movement every day, preferably twice per day, you are constipated.
The most common cause of constipation is a sluggish gallbladder. The gallbladder stores bile manufactured in the liver. When the food bolus moves from the stomach to the small intestine, the presence of HCl lowers the pH of the small intestine and stimulate the gallbladder to contract. The released bile travels down the common bile duct, stimulating the release of all the pancreatic digestive enzymes. The bile emulsifies the fat while the pancreatic enzymes breakdown our food for absorption.

If the fat is not broken down, the ileocecal valve will close, trying to prevent the fat from entering the large intestine resulting in constipation. Fat does not belong in the large intestine as it feeds the harmful bacteria in the bowel.

Enter the protein pump inhibitors (PPIs). Nexium is the third most commonly prescribed drug in the US, behind Synthroid and Creastor. Twenty million people in America take Nexium to prevent acid reflux, effectively stopping the normal digestive process. In addition to constipation, PPIs cause anemia, osteoporosis and a host of malabsoption syndromes.

Of course eating excessive fat will also cause a sluggish gallbladder. Americans eat too much fat. They just eat too much – too much protein and refined carbohydrates as well. The only thing well don’t eat too much of are fruits and vegetables.