Health and Longevity

(Published Dec, 2023)

Section 0: Introduction

This document is a work in progress, so there are certain gaps yet to be filled. Nonetheless, the information thus far is as accurate as I’m aware. 

Likely most now agree, that understanding one’s basic-health has become way too complicated in the 21st century. Regardless of good intentions and hard-work by our health-care industry, sadly - many of our friends and relatives have been taken away from us much too soon.

It is difficult to sift through the noise and focus upon a few basic principles for good health. I would like to state that most (not all) of what science has to offer I agree with, it’s just that there’s too much information for the average person to digest.

Whatever path one chooses to enrich their health, consistency is the key. Just like the game of golf, if we stick to a few basic principles - all will be fine in the end. Don’t overthink your shot… slow down, breathe - and keep it simple!

The approach of this document, is to relay certain concepts which are not merely regurgitating what’s readily available. Be forewarned, that there are certain concepts in this document which become a little technical to properly explain. Nonetheless, working them into one's lifestyle is actually quite simple. The information herein is not necessarily meant to be a cure for any particular disease, but as a potential way to increase one’s longevity.

Our Continual Struggle

Past health-trends have included those such as certain vitamins, diets, super-fruits, drugs, exercise routines, lifestyle choices, vaccines, etc., etc. It’s no wonder that many now ignore the “science”, as it's always a moving target.

As I begin to describe a few basic principles which I am aware, please understand that much of this adheres to the old adage of: do as I say, and not as I do. Although I do try to stick to the principles described herein, I certainly miss the mark most days. My wife often reminds me of this fact, as I'm scouring for junk food in the kitchen.

What follows, is a Bible passage that acknowledges the fact that all of us struggle against our inner-self. Mindfully, this verse pertains to a myriad of scenarios, and much more than our attitude towards personal-health. But it works well here, nonetheless.

As this prior passage states, there is a continual battle of good and evil within all of us. Within an earlier document, I've tried to explain that this internal struggle is basically a byproduct of human consciousness.

Although we usually understand what we should be doing to keep healthy, we don’t always follow through for whatever reason. In fact, we fail most of the time. This is the human condition, and this is what we must persevere while living upon planet earth.

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Our day-to-day lives gravitate towards activities and people we are most comfortable with. Both physically and mentally, we are all different. We have different DNA, blood types, life styles, experiences, and education. We’ve all been raised differently, eat differently, and exercise differently. As well, due to past medical procedures or birth anomalies - many of us don’t all have the same body parts. As for myself, I've had both my tonsils and appendix removed while quite young.
As a result of our uniqueness, learn to listen to what your body is telling you. Certainly, listen to advice from others, yes. But always take it with a grain of salt. What works well for others might not work out quite so well for you, and vice versa. So, don’t fret if you can’t jog for miles or stay on a diet for any length of time. We all struggle in some form or fashion, this is the human condition!

1.0 Common-Sense Basics

1.1 Our Body's Ebbs and Flows

Health-wise, most of us have run across those certain individuals who seemingly do all of the wrong things - and yet still experience a good long life. I believe that one of the primary reasons for this, is their strict adherence to a predictable daily-routine.

There are trillions of cells within our body, and they learn to adapt in order to survive. Carefully consider that the ebb and flow of your body's energy is your cell’s ever-changing environment. Cells are quite complex, and each has a daily routine for nutrient and waste exchange, just like our whole-body does.

Certain cells like the ones located on the inner lining of our stomach and small-intestine, live for just a matter of days. Other types of cells, such as red-blood-cells - live for months. Further, the cells of our CNS (central nervous system) are meant to last a lifetime. Cells are unique depending upon their ultimate purpose and where they’re located within the body.

One of the factors which determine how efficient our cells are, is how well they forecast our body's requirements. They need to learn when to store energy and when to use it. Similar to how we've all learned the best time for consuming nutrients, when to burn them, and when to rest.

The more stringent one's daily routine becomes through activities like eating, drinking, exercising, and sleeping…. the easier it is for the body’s cells as a group - to appropriately forecast and set aside the correct amount of energy (nutrients) to efficiently function on a day-to-day basis.

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While I was growing up, my siblings and I had two set of remarkable grandparents. One of my grandfathers lived a fair bit longer than the others; one hundred and two years old. He was quite healthy until he finally broke his hip and was hospitalized. I believe he was in the hospital for about two years or so before he passed away. Using this one-hundred-and-two-year-old man as an example - he appeared to be a master of controlling his energy’s ebbs and flows. I’m sure that this minimized his stress levels which became a huge factor for his longevity.

His strict daily-routine was all too predictable. He ate three square meals a day, always wanted to have lunch at high noon, and rarely snacked between meals. He abstained from alcohol and primarily drank milk, tea, and juice.

He loved to eat desert, and especially home-made pie. I'm sure there were exceptions, but he normally didn’t take any medication. He once told me that the only pill he took regularly was one small multivitamin a day. That was it! I believe he adhered to that most of his life, and until he was hospitalized.

Of course, my other three grandparents had their normal daily-routines as well, but I don't think you could actually set your clock by them like my 102-year-old grandfather. I'm sure genes played a huge factor here, since his dad lived to be 103. Nonetheless, it's the appropriate daily-habits which take advantage of good genetics.

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You may wonder why many of earth’s creatures hunt and eat so early in the morning, and long before we’ve opened our eyes. It's because their internal circadian clock is highly tuned with earth's natural rhythm.

In a large part, this is due to energy from the sun’s rays as they pierce the earth’s crust long before dawn’s early-light. In addition, the sun warms the atmosphere high above us, which in turn - releases secondary-radiation before we see the sunrise. In effect, our body’s cells begin to experience a boost of energy well before we wake up!

I understand (from the Lord) that if we wait until the sun is shining brightly overhead before we get up, it can be quite a shock to our system energy-wise. It’s similar to approaching a highway whereas, you have to push the pedal to the mat in order to merge into high-speed traffic. It’s quite stressful. Sometimes this takes a couple cups of coffee until our body gets up to speed!

Those who get up before sunrise have the advantage of easing into their day. From my own experience, I don’t need as many hours sleep during the night - if I remember to get to bed early and wake up well before sunrise. In past jobs, I know that whenever I had worked the midnight shift, it didn't matter how much sleep I got during the day… I still got extremely tired before my shift was over. From my experience, I would say that circadian-rhythms are a real thing.

1.2 Attitude is Everything

Notably, my one-hundred-and-two-year-old grandfather never seemed to worry about anything. He once told me that there was no point in worrying, since likely eighty percent of the problems we face today will be gone tomorrow. He explained that tomorrow we will have a whole new set of challenges, they are a merely a part of being alive.

Perhaps this next verse is where he got that nugget of wisdom....

As I’m also speaking to myself here - one way to minimize stress is not to procrastinate. Don’t postpone those unpleasant tasks which create undue stress just by thinking about them. If those tasks are tackled early in the day, the remaining hours will breeze on by.

Here’s another tip which most don’t abide by. Do yourself a favor, and don’t base your life expectancy strictly based upon heredity. I understand that genetics play a large factor upon one's lifespan, yes; but more often than naught - I believe that one’s lifespan has more to do with the fact that one is either blessed or burdened with the same lifestyle-choices as their parents.

Consider the following. If you don’t think you will live very long you won’t. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy based totally upon bad habits. A close friend of mine with health problems once jokingly stated: if I knew that I was going to live this long, I would’ve taken better care of myself.

1.3 Importance of Drinking Water

Since the human body has an average water composition of perhaps up to seventy percent, and percentage-wise our brain contains more water than the other parts of the body... it’s no mystery why water is required for good health.

Within our body; water is used for carrying nutrients, flushing out toxins, supporting the lymphatic system, lubricating our joints, digestion, cooling, etc. Unfortunately, many of the fluids we drink such as soft-drinks, alcohol, and coffee, are classified as diuretics. Due to their net effect, we're often thirstier than we were prior to drinking them. Diuretics can flush out many of our body's minerals, including that of salt.

As well, our body loses fluid from every-day functions like saliva-production and sweating. We always need to be cognitive of our water reserves or lack thereof. I’ve found that just by having good-tasting drinking water close by, plays a huge factor in promoting water reserves. Further, if good drinking-water is always handy - there’s less of a chance of you reaching for that favorite drink that's almost guaranteed to be a diuretic.

Some folks are quite particular to the type of water they drink. Since my grandfather drank tap-water most of his life and lived to be over a hundred years of age… I don’t think we need to be overly concerned. So long as the water is clean, tastes proper, and is generally free from undue chemicals, microplastics, and pathogens - it’s likely fine. Nonetheless, since the chemical industry has been around for quite some time, certain sources of drinking water may not be as safe as they were years ago.

Other than certain man-made chemicals (toxins), it's likely those pathogenic-bacteria which are our next greatest threat against good drinking-water. In the year 2000, a community here in Ontario (Walkerton) experienced two-thousand plus illnesses and seven deaths from a contaminated water supply.

A number of factors led up to this incident, but basically runoff from a farmer’s field which had been fertilized with cattle-manure… ended up in the town's (inadequately-chlorinated) drinking-water. I understand that the discovered pathogens were E-coli (Escherichia coli) and C. jejuni (campylobacter jejuni) bacteria. These two bacterial-strains are commonly associated with livestock and poultry feces.

With regards to plastic water-bottles, there's always the chance of chemicals leaching out of the plastic when heated by the sun. Although this danger is often disputed, it's likely a good idea to be on the safe side and store your bottled-water in the shade.

From time to time, the chemicals which are added to a city’s water-supply can become quite a controversial topic. In addition, how much chlorine should be added to the common water supply? There's both a good and bad side to chlorine, since it not only kills pathogenic bacteria, but the beneficial bacteria as well.

Health and Longevity ---> Contents

1.4 Importance of Fiber

Fiber occurs naturally within raw and unprocessed fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains. Unfortunately, due to many of our modern food-processing techniques, much of the high-quality fiber which was once a mainstay of our diet - has gone by the wayside.

Note that it’s not the nutritional function of the fiber that’s most important, but what the fiber does during the digestive process. Fiber is the part of the food which often cannot be fully digested, or at least not digested easily.

Fiber is comprised of internal thread-like structures found within plants and their protective outer coatings. These outer-coatings are usually referred to as either skins or husks. Modern processing techniques commonly either strip out plant-fiber completely, or grind it up so fine that it’s almost a non-factor within the digestive process.

Fiber helps to scrub the inner linings of our intestines and slow down the digestive process itself. Importantly, it keeps our stool from becoming packed like concrete. Health professionals understand that fiber is important for the following reasons:

• Increasing fiber results in better bowel health and minimizes risk of certain cancers.
• It aids to balance and slow the digestive process. In effect, this minimizes spiking of blood sugar and insulin levels.
• Fiber lowers cholesterol levels.
• Fiber is beneficial for losing weight.

When it comes to knowing how much fiber you need in your diet, realize that you always need enough to keep things flowing nicely. Below are few suggestions to keep in mind while adjusting your fiber.

• If you take nutritional supplements and/or medications in the form of hard-to-digest pills, then you will likely want to increase fiber consumption. If your fiber-consumption is habitually too low, then adding hard-pills and powders often exasperates the problem.
• A certain amount of liquid is required to utilize fiber's benefits. With raw fruits and vegetables this is a non-issue, as moisture is always part of the equation. In contrast, processed and refined foods are often very dry and moisture deficient.
• If you drink a lot of fruit juice or soft drinks, keep this in mind. Since they can have little to no fiber content, spikes in blood sugar and insulin levels may result.
  

If you are considering supplementation, a word of caution based upon my own experience. If your body is not accustomed to a good dose of fiber, it doesn’t take much before you double over in pain from cramping. You need to sneak up on it gradually over a number of days, and see how your body responds. And read instructions!

Experiment some and see what works best for you. Often-times, by slightly adjusting your diet you can experience quite a difference. As a starting point, consider beginning your day with some moist raw-fruit instead of those two pieces of dry white-toast.

If you want to purchase supplements, most health food companies have a good well-rounded fiber supplement. A simple way to add fiber to your diet, is to mix psyllium husks into your favorite drink or food. Psyllium is basically just dried and ground up corn-husks, and can usually be purchased inexpensively in bulk.

1.5 Bacteria and Our Microbiome

Quite likely, bacteria are as just important to one’s digestive system as fiber. Bacteria is the plural form, and bacterium is the singular form, of these single-celled organisms. From what I understand, there are more bacterial cells both in and on our body, then the number of our body's cells themselves. For rough numbers, this equates to about thirty-trillion bacteria, most of which are located in our gut.

Bacteria are microscopic and single-celled (although not necessarily limited to a single cell) organisms capable of multiplying rather quickly. Given the proper environment, they can double their population in mere minutes. A bacterium does not need a mate to reproduce, and does so asexually through binary fission. So, under the proper conditions - a single bacterium can very quickly create its own colony.

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Most bacteria are beneficial to their host, due to the fact that they feed upon what would otherwise be biological waste. This is why bacteria thrive within the intestines. Nonetheless, certain bacterial species are pathogenic.

Under normal circumstances, our body simply rejects harmful bacteria with mild digestion issues. Unfortunately, some bacterial infections are quite serious. Examples of serious infections are: salmonella, E. coli, and tuberculosis.

Since we are focusing on topics related to better long-term health and not disease, it’s the good-bacteria within our gut we’re concerned about. As a general grouping, beneficial-bacterial-strains are normally referred to as probiotics.

Probiotic and non-harmful symbiotic bacteria within our gut have a variety of functions. A few of which are shown below.

• Bacteria assist the digestive process, and produce secondary nutrients which can often be digested by their host.
• A digestive system’s efficiency is increased by non-harmful symbiotic and probiotic bacteria, and aid to control one’s weight.
• A healthy balance of gut bacterial strains ward off sickness and disease.
• It is mostly our intestine’s fiber, bacteria, and water; which complete the digestive process after the highly-enzymatic (digestive) process wanes.
  

Note that intestinal bacteria are merely one component (although likely the most important) of our gut’s microbiome. This microbiome protects its host (our body) from disease and supports digestion.

It seems that there are various stances regarding the microbiome's composition. Minimally, the microbiome consists of living bacteria, archaea, fungi, and algae.

Below, are significant factors regarding microbiome health.

Within the digestive tract, the health benefits of our microbiome become significant at a location where the highly-enzymatic digestive-process begins to wane. In effect, its likely that our microbiome begins about the mid-part of the small-intestine, and is highly active until it reaches the distal-end of the large intestine (anus).

The microbiome includes various bacterial strains which compete against one another for “nutrients” (left-over waste) to feed upon. So naturally, we should have a good number of bacterial colonies and disparate strains living within our gut. I believe that certain strains of bacteria remain with us for life.

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An important thing to keep in mind, is that it’s up to us as individuals to maintain our microbiome. As an analogy, a healthy microbiome is like that of a nicely trimmed lawn. The good bacteria grow and multiply like our lawn's green grass, whereas the bad bacteria, viruses, parasites, and possibly fungi as well - grow like weeds. Hence, we need to be continually watering (drinking good water), aerating (adding fiber), seeding and fertilizing (adding probiotic bacteria and natural nutrients) - in order to choke out the weeds (pathogenic bacteria, viruses, parasites).

Health and Longevity ---> Contents

2.0 Factors Impacting Our Health

2.1 Human-Evolution versus Pathogens

Consider how many generations have passed since the beginning of mankind. For simplicity’s sake, let's assume that on the average, these past generations were twenty-five years apart. Now, if we begin counting from our ancestor the homo-erectus, who arrived about two-million years ago - then mankind has been here for 80,000 generations. For comparison’s sake, if we think that man has been on this planet for about six-thousand years - then only 240 generations have passed.

Since the modern industrial-age has been around for about mmm.… let's say three-hundred years - then that's a twelve-generation span of time. I believe that many of our health-issues stem from the fact that our genomes just haven't had enough time to adapt to our new surroundings. Particularly as of late, since we've been making tremendous technological-strides on a regular basis.

Take note, that from one generation to the next – our race keeps evolving. Yes, I purposely stated “evolved”. From one generation to another, it’s our hereditary DNA which keeps the human-race both durable and adaptable. If our race didn’t continually evolve, it wouldn’t be long before we were wiped off the planet. Particularly since human pathogens like viruses and bacteria, continually evolve as well.

Let’s momentarily pivot this conversation back to our gut’s microbiome. Evolutionary-wise, our microbiome fills in certain gaps, which can’t be accommodated by generational-fixed DNA.

DNA only changes after a certain generation has offspring. Whatever DNA and genes we are born with, we have them for life. In contrast, our personal microbiome continually adapts. It can dynamically change based upon one's diet, lifestyle, and age. In other words, it rolls with the punches; similar to our adaptive immune system. This concept will come more into focus, once we review certain mechanisms of the digestive-system.

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Health-wise, in order for a species’ offspring to succeed and have future generations stronger than the former – their genomes have to be able to adapt. Importantly, they need to adapt at least as fast as their ever-changing environment. If they don’t succeed in doing so, then their species will be overtaken and no longer exist.

An important concept to consider, is that nature’s way of making a species stronger - is to provide a mechanism in which the weakest offspring don't survive long enough to reproduce. This ensures that defective (comparatively weaker) genomes reach the end of their existence, and don't become replicated through offspring.

Further, a newly-evolved pathogen typically hinders the weakest of the population. Hence, the very-young and the very-old are typically the most vulnerable. This is a natural occurrence within ongoing human evolution.

As a result, it's logical to conclude that if a serious outbreak occurs (like our last pandemic) which strikes down a substantial amount of people within reproductive age (young mothers and fathers), this is not natural! Something had to have occurred in order to disrupt the natural-order of things, and for healthy-young-adults to be concerned about a pandemic.

With the exception of earth’s great flood, God's preference has always been for earth's population to increase - not decrease! Further, if viruses could naturally evolve faster than mankind’s ability to fight them off... then we would have been wiped out long ago. Obviously, this hasn't been the case; in fact, quite the opposite!

2.2 Modern-Day Health Challenges

Due to modern industry, our environment can change rather quickly. It's quite a struggle for the human body to keep up to an ever-changing environment. Consider the changes we've experienced during a single generation, much less through the past few-hundred years.

• The air and water pollution has intensified.
• A good percentage of people now work indoors. Much of our day is spend in air-conditioned rooms, automobiles, buses, and airplanes. Breathing recycled air has become all too typical.
• Since much of our work is indoors, we get less sun exposure than those past generations. Stating it mildly, this negatively impacts our immune system. Further, both tinted and clear glass, filter out the greater part of natural UV (ultraviolet) rays from the sun. Particular wavelengths of UV are needed to ward off many of our pathogens.
• Genetically, I'm guessing that ninety-percent of humans are now exercise-deficient compared to what our genetics are capable of. Machines do most of the physical work for us, and we spend too many hours sitting and staring at screens.
• To a large extent, some of the highly-processed foods which we ingest, have been stripped of their natural-fiber and nutrients. In addition, nutritious foods are often buffered with lower-cost alternatives and inferior products. As a result, these highly-processed foods might be considered as a mix of both natural and unnatural foods.
• We now incur genetically-altered foods, and there’s an ever-increasingly amount of chemicals used for food colouring and preservatives. Consider that corn has quite a history of being a genetically-altered crop, and is also one of the hardest to digest. 
  
• I understand that food dye can be harmful and most surely causes hyperactivity in children. Youth are vulnerable more so than adults, since food-dye is commonly used in candy, ice cream, popsicles, and artificial drinks.
• We ingest deep-fried foods which weren’t popular in North America until about the nineteenth-century. Further, consider that much of the foods we reheat in the oven, were previously deep-fried during the manufacturing process.
• Depending upon one's daily routine and type of job - our skin becomes exposed to unnatural substances like hair-dye, detergent, harsh cleaning-chemicals, paints, solvents, adhesives, and synthetics.
• From a biological standpoint, I believe that man-made plastics are basically inert substances. Due to the tremendous pressures and temperatures required to create them, it’s no wonder. Our digestive-system cannot easily unwind a plastic’s structure like it can for natural foods. Microplastics commonly enter our body by breathing, drinking, and eating. As well, plastics are absorbed under the fingernails and through abrasive-cuts to the skin. I believe that the jury is out, as to how much of a determent plastics are towards good health.

As we reflect upon this prior list, it's not likely that any single item on its own will drastically alter our lifespan. However, when these items are taken as a whole - we can understand why we experience health-issues which were quite rare just a couple of centuries ago.

2.3 Consequences of Refrigerated Food and Drink

Refrigeration is a modern convenience which has changed our lifestyles dramatically. Some of the "refrigerators" of the past, were dug into the ground and packed with blocks of ice. The ice was cut out from local-lakes and transported by horse and wagon. Once these bunker-like "refrigerators" were insulated with straw and the like, they could keep perishables through most of the summer.

The modern refrigerator, although quite beneficial to say the least - has created certain challenges for our digestive systems. If you consider that our stomach along with its acids are analogous to an oven which heats its contents - it’s logical to assume that more stomach-acid is required to digest cold foods versus those at room temperature.

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There are certain foods and drinks which we now take for granted, that were virtually non-existent before refrigerators were popular. A few of these include whipped-cream, ice-cream, popsicles and soft-drinks. A few centuries back, it would've been difficult to find ice on a hot day to plunk into your favorite beverage.

Since refrigerators have been around for only about four or five generations, from an evolutionary-standpoint… it seems reasonable that cold (and frozen) food and drink are not great for our digestive system. Our race hasn't had enough generations pass since the advent of the refrigerator to fully adapt.

Take particular note, that the process of freezing foods does not kill-off their bacteria! Pathological bacteria can survive cold temperatures and will often return with a vengeance, upon being thawed.

Particularly susceptible to this scenario, are choice-steaks laid out for display, in order to entice potential customers. Further, if these choice-slabs-of-meat don't sell, then they might be frozen and re-thawed at a later date. Consecutive freezing and thawing cycles increase the chance of proliferating pathogens, such as certain strains of E-coli bacteria.

One final comment here regarding frozen meat. If you throw frozen hamburgers on the barbecue, ensure that they are thoroughly cooked in order to keep harmful bacteria at bay.

Health and Longevity ---> Contents

3.0 The Gastrointestinal Tract

3.1 General Arrangement of the GI Tract

Our gastrointestinal (GI) tract is the primary route which food and liquid take through the center of our body while as it extracts nutrients.

One way to think of our GI tract, is a secure method of separating ourselves from the outside world. Until our cells determine otherwise, everything which enters our mouth is assumed to be foreign in nature.

The GI tract's, route of passage.

• mouth
• pharynx
  
• esophagus
• stomach
• small intestine
• large intestine
• anus

The small intestine is termed as such - since its diameter is a fair bit smaller than its counterpart, the large intestine. Although its diameter is smaller - the small intestine is at least three times longer than the larger one. As we compare the shape of one intestine to the other - the small-intestine is coiled and tightly wound, whereas the large-intestine is spread out and shaped like an upside down "U".

Inside the GI tract we have a number of "valves" which are referred to as sphincters. They control the flow and separation of food, liquid, and feces. Sphincters are basically circular muscles which can be either totally open, totally closed, or for regulatory-purposes - anywhere in between. The sphincters of the GI tract are listed below.

• The upper esophageal sphincter, located directly below the pharynx.
• The lower esophageal sphincter is located at the bottom of the esophagus and immediately before the stomach.
• The pyloric sphincter is attached to the discharge of the stomach, and separates the stomach from the small intestine.
• The ileocecal sphincter is located at the distal end of the small intestine, and separates the small intestine from the larger one.
• There are two anal sphincter-muscles, an inner and an outer. The inner is an involuntary muscle, whereas the outer is voluntary.

Now, there's another important sphincter related to digestion, though not directly part of the GI-tract. It is referred to as the sphincter of Oddi. Its function was characterized by the Italian Ruggero Oddi in the year 1887, although it was known to exist a number of years earlier.

This sphincter of Oddi releases bile and pancreatic juice into the small intestine's duodenum. The duodenum, is the first part of the small intestine. It is the primary location for mixing ingested food that's released from the stomach (bile) and certain bodily fluids.

These bodily fluids injected into the duodenum, are basically enzymes. These liquid enzymes are used to both facilitate and regulate the digestive process. 

Enzymes which are released through the sphincter of Oddi come from three organs; the pancreas, liver, and gallbladder. Prior to these enzymes reaching the sphincter of Oddi, they travel through a common duct referred to as the hepatopancreatic duct. This duct effectively joins the discharge of the pancreas, liver, and gallbladder, to the sphincter of Oddi.

Since this hepatopancreatic duct is common to three organs and one sphincter, issues with one common component oftentimes affects another. One such problem occurs when gallstones are passed from the gallbladder, and block either the hepatopancreatic duct or the sphincter of Oddi.

Gallstones can interfere with enzyme delivery to the duodenum, or cause the sphincter of Oddi to react sluggishly. Infection and/or disease can set in if corrective measures are not implemented.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, perhaps the next graphic clears up much of what I've attempted to explain.

The small intestine has three distinct regions, the duodenum being its first. The duodenum is a "C" shaped structure which follows the stomach and is attached to the pyloric sphincter.

The other two regions of the small intestine are the jejunum and ileum. These later two regions better reflect the long-and-narrow intestinal shape which are usually depicted as being coiled up.

Although the jejunum and ileum are both outwardly similar structural-wise; internally... certain features and functionality differentiate the two.

Diameter wise, the largest part of the intestines is the cecum. Notably, the appendix is affixed to the bottom of the cecum and is associated with the lymphatic system (known lymphoid tissue). The appendix is a finger shaped structure a few inches or so in length, with a sealed end.

3.2 General Processes of the GI Tract

Approximately ninety-percent of the nutrients absorbed by the GI tract are done by the small intestine. This occurs about 6-8 hours after the food first enters the stomach.

The food and liquids we ingest, are broken down into their basic constituents before they can be absorbed.

• Carbohydrates are broken down into simple sugars.
• Proteins are broken down into peptides and amino-acids.
• Fats are broken down into fatty acids and glycerol.

As soon as we begin to chew our food, our GI tract anticipates the work required to facilitate digestion. The saliva within our mouth  contains enzymes that assists the digestion process, and lubricates the food we swallow.

As we swallow the food, it doesn't immediately fall into our stomach. It's carefully guided down past our trachea (which leads into the lungs), and through the esophagus. The ball of food that's initially chewed and swallowed, is referred to as a bolus.

The esophagus has outer layers of muscle-tissue used to create wave-like contractions (peristaltic) that send the bolus down to the stomach in a semi-controlled manner. After the bolus (or a series of them) enters the stomach, the lower-esophageal-sphincter closes. This sphincter prevents stomach acids from rising into the esophagus which causes acid reflux.

The stomach expands as required, and by using timely muscle contractions - it churns away at its contents. Similar to a washing machine, it churns and mixes over a duration of time. The stomach also works similar to that of a furnace. The acid within our stomach heats its contents to facilitate digestion.

Once the stomach's gastric-acid mixes with food, it becomes a semi-liquid mass having an approximate pH of 3-6 (very acidic). The consistency of this semi-liquid mass evolves into a soup-like-mix called chyme.

Processed chyme moves into the last section of the stomach called the pylorus. This pylorus filters out the larger clumps of food from the chyme, and then passes it ahead to the pyloric sphincter. This sphincter then regulates the flow of chyme into the duodenum.

Liquid enzymes which are released from what I refer to as the "auxiliary enzyme injection system" (see prior drawing), flow through the hepatopancreatic duct and the sphincter of Oddi - into the duodenum. A feature of this enzymatic fluid, is that its pH is basic (alkaline); which thereby protects the small intestine from harmful stomach acids.

Digestive enzymes are introduced not only from the auxiliary enzyme injection system; but are also secreted from glands embedded within the walls of the stomach and small intestine.

All of these enzymes work synergistically to facilitate the digestive process. Some of them go to work immediately, whereas others don't complete their job until they get further into the small intestine. Oftentimes, enzymes are known to initiate a (chemical) chain-reaction, which can lead to later-occurring sub-processes. 

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The whole digestion process takes anywhere from twenty-four to seventy-two hours to complete, and sometimes longer. As nutrients enter the GI tract, its only natural that water gets absorbed rather quickly (within a few minutes), secondary liquids take slightly longer, and the semi-solids and solids - take up most of the processing time.

The stomach takes about one-and-a-half to two-hours to complete its part and the small intestine takes up to six-hours to complete its part. However, when it comes to the large intestine, the feces transition time is highly variable and is unique from person to person.

3.3 Enteric Nervous System

The organs of the GI tract function cohesively as a unit, and communicate directly with one another. While doing so, they utilize their own autonomous nervous system referred to as the enteric nervous system (ENS). This word enteric, basically means that it's associated with the intestines.

This ENS coordinates GI-tract functionality from the esophagus through to the anus. I will assume that it also coordinates functions provided by the liver, gallbladder, and pancreas - since these are the organs which deliver enzymes directly into the duodenum of the small intestine.

The ENS might also be considered as semi-autonomous in nature. What I mean by this, is that it’s not totally isolated from our systemic nervous system. This ENS also communicates to our brain for such occurrences as those listed below.

• Letting us know when our body needs nourishment.
• When to eat and when to swallow. Or perhaps more accurate, when not to eat.
• It lets us know when our stomach and/or intestines are full.
• It gives us urgent signals when to inform us that what we’ve just eaten has to immediately come right back up.

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3.4 Specific Processes of the GI Tract

3.4.1 Peristaltic contractions. This feature utilizes external muscles which line and encompass the stomach and intestines. These organ-muscles work in tandem to push their contents forward by using wave-like contractions.

This phenomenon is often described as requiring both circular and longitudinal muscle-layers working in a coordinated-fashion along a tubular and segmented structure. Similar perhaps, as to how a visibly segmented worm crawls along the ground.

Within the esophagus, I believe that these peristaltic-contractions are triggered from the outward pressure caused from the bolus.

The resulting action of esophageal peristaltic-contractions could be analogous to lightly squeezing a soft straw with two fingers and then sliding them from one end of the straw to the other. The straw's contents would naturally be pushed forward.

Within the stomach, I believe that the outward pressure from the ingested-food initiates these peristaltic-contractions. They likely begin while the stomach is still filling.

It's feasible that the peristaltic muscle rhythms for both the esophagus and the stomach operate in a predetermined-fashion once initiated. Likely, there’s a minimum duration of time allowed for reoccurring sets of these wave-like contractions.

Peristaltic contractions of the stomach are not only used to propel its contents forward, but backwards as well. This mechanism is also useful for ejecting something from the stomach when deemed unsuitable. Obviously, this can occur from instances like the flu, nausea, and food poisoning.

3.4.2 Migrating Motor Complex (MMC). The migrating motor complex is a process which imposes timely muscle-contractions within the gut, as an attempt to completely empty the stomach and small-intestine. Hence, these muscle contractions likely occur at frequencies and intensities different than those peristaltic-like contractions which are used to digest nutrients. From what I understand, the growling pains we experience on an empty stomach are caused by the MMC.

This MMC only functions during periods of fasting. So, the MMC relies upon our eating habits or lack thereof for its operation. As a result, for those grazers who periodically keep eating throughout the day - the MMC will not function. I believe that minimally, the MMC goes through its routine once a night while we sleep.

This MMC wants to make darn sure that the stomach and small-intestine get fully emptied at least once a day. Any leftovers which can’t be fully digested for whatever reason - get swept out of the stomach and small-intestine, and become deposited into the cecum of the large-intestine.

3.4.3 Functions of the Cecum and Appendix. The cecum of the large intestine is located at a point where aqueous fluids, oxygenated-gas, leftover nutrients, and undigested fiber enter the large intestine. Remaining fluids from the digestive process tend to remain within the cecum, since it’s located at the initial low-point of the large intestine.

Note that there are colonies of both aerobic and anaerobic bacteria within the large intestine. Aerobic bacteria require an oxygenated environment to survive, whereas anaerobic bacteria do not. Hence the dark and moist cecum which contains oxygenated gas - is the ideal environment for aerobic-bacteria. In contrast, the anaerobic bacteria thrive deeper into the large-intestine (colon) and away from the cecum. It has been determined that most of the bacteria (approximately 99%) found within human feces is anaerobic.

Due to the difference in diameter between the small and large intestines - as the globular mass from the small-intestine flows into the cecum, its momentum slows considerably. Upon entering the cecum, various bacterial-colonies feed and thrive upon this globular mass.

Returning now to the operation of the MMC (which serves to completely empty the stomach and small intestine), I believe that whenever this function is active - the ileocecal-sphincter remains closed. This results in undigested-waste products migrating through the GI tract, and pilling them at the distal end of the small intestine and immediately in front of the ileocecal-sphincter.

Sometime later and after a period of fasting, food is swallowed and the digestive process begins. Upon the small intestine firing up the digestive process once again, the ileocecal sphincter immediately opens. A new series of peristaltic contractions within the small intestine take place which firstly deposits its previously hard-to-digest products into the cecum.

As a result of these sequential steps, at the beginning of each digestive cycle - the first globs of biological gunk that the bacterial colonies of the cecum encounter, are the hardest-to-digest products. This is a method of ensuring that bacterial colonies predominantly thrive and grow upon the hardest to digest products which are left-overs of the primary digestive process.

After the bacteria have finished gorging themselves upon the cecum's contents, they venture upstream through the now-open ileocecal-sphincter, and into the distal-ileum (of the small intestine). This not only keeps the ileocecal-sphincter clean, but any bacterial buildup within the small intestine are kept at bay, by the quickly approaching waste products. 

3.4.4 Appendix Evolutionary Link. Since the appendix basically serves to enlarge the cecum's cavity, more room is available for bacterial colonies. Essentially, the appendix aids the functionality of the cecum.

The appendix is a closed-ended vessel attached to the bottom of the cecum. It’s optimally located to collect digestive-waste that naturally falls due to gravity after emerging through the ileocecal-sphincter.

I envision numerous bacterial-strains separated by layers of biofilm which fill a good portion of the appendix's cavity and also coat the walls of the cecum. Due to the appendix' low point in the overall process, it naturally remains filled with fluids, bacteria, biofilm, and the heavier waste products. This cocktail mix is quite dynamic in nature, and is an integral part of our gut's microbiome.

Whatever (fecal) matter that the appendix can’t hold, merely gets pushed along through the colon. The heavier products which bacteria have a difficult time ingesting, have the longest hang-time within the appendix and the lower part of the cecum.

Under normal circumstances, the appendix and whatever it gets filled with - has to remain soft and pliable. Since bacteria produce lots of gas, perhaps this gas mixed within various biofilms works together and performs like a sponge-like cushion. As this cushion contracts and expands the appendix remains pliable.

Likely the serious pain of appendicitis sets in, about the time when the appendix and its contents become hardened and unrelenting. This might occur due to one or more of the following conditions.

• There’s not enough fluid inside the appendix's pocket to keep its contents pliable.
• There's an inadequate quantity and/or species of bacteria, which serve to fill the appendix's pocket via bacterial biofilms and gas production.
• The digestive-leftovers which fill the pocket, are too difficult for bacterial species to digest.

From an evolutionary point of view, I believe by monitoring the function of the appendix, it was a way for our Creator to determine how we were faring on this planet. The appendix serves as an evolutionary measuring stick.

If serious enough, one’s appendix can burst before given the chance to become a parent. Likely these intestinal appendages didn’t cause much of an issue or pain, until we entered the modern industrial-revolution and our environment changed faster than our genomes were able to selectively adapt.

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It has been quite common to find a high number of immune cells within the appendix. Likely, whatever digestive leftovers end up in the appendix, serve as a red flag for the immune system. Evolution-wise, our gut's microbiome has developed cohesively alongside our immune system in order to contend with our ever-changing environment.

A serious enemy against the intestinal bacteria of our microbiome is chlorine. From my own experience, I didn’t have a problem with my appendix until we moved off of the farm and into the city. While on the farm, we had great tasting well-water to drink, so there was no need to drink chlorinated water.

I believe I was eight years old when we moved from the country into the city, where we began to drink chlorinated water. About a year later, I had a severe attack of appendicitis and passed out from the pain. After a quick house-call from our family doctor - I was ushered into the hospital for an appendectomy.

NEXT:  4.1, The Potential of Hydrogen (pH)

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