Handbook for successful ageing - 9.3.12 - 9.3.12.4

9.3.12 Stomach trouble and bowel complaint
   

9.3.12.1 Nervous stomach, irritable colon, stomach or intestinal ulcers
   

If you frequently suffer from it, you could have a "irritable stomach syndrome" or "irritable bowel syndrome", but also stomach or bowel ulcers. In any case, consult a gastroenterologist and eat meals which are cooked and therefore easier to digest instead of raw fruit and vegetables. Try to find out which produce you agree with less to avoid them.
    

9.3.12.2 Heartburn (reflux disease)
 

This can be triggered by Nicotine, alcohol, citrus fruits, chocolate and tomatos, fat, spicy or fried dishes and fast foods, overweight and stress. Also, exercising with a full stomach can also result in heartburn.
   

In case of heartburn the muscles that seal the stomach against the esophagus slacken, so that sour bile juice flows into the esophagus. This can result in the cancer of the esophagus. Do not help yourself with sodium carbonate, but rather, try to increase your magnesium intake. As far as possible sleep on your left side, maybe with a slightly higher headboard, since by sleeping on the right side, more bile juice flows into the esophagus. Also, as far as possible, consume food that is easily digestable, not too sweet, not too sour and not too hot and pay attention to which food causes you personally heartburn, chew thoroughly, avoid greasy meat and also reduce your meat consumption. If the heartburn occurs only occasionally, it is supposed to help to eat a try slice of white bread or a wholemeal rusk/ zwieback to stop the acid.
  

If these tips do not help, consult your family doctor first and if he does not help you soon, then consult a gastroenterologist.

9.3.12.3 Lactose intolerance
 

Those suffering from this ailment cannot digest lactose, since the enzyme Lactose is missing or is defective. Thus, the lactose remains undigested in the caecum, causing fermentation and other difficulties.
 

Gases which stretch the bowels and cause a bloated stomach as well as spasmic stomach pains build up. In addition, lactose binds water in the colon and causes diarrhoea. Many patients also moan about feeling tired, depressions, headaches or feeling restless but may not think about the fact that these problems could be caused by lactose intolerance for years. However, the dysfunction can be diagnosed easily, for example with the hydrogen breath test.
  

Milk products and certain sweeteners as well as all the products that are prepared with this contain lactose. Finished products in which no milk components are expected often contain small quantities of lactose. Pay particular attention to bakery products, bread spreads, tinned foods such as preserved cucumber, Pesto (sauce for nudles), mixture of spices, Mayonnaise, Dressings, sausages and sweetmeats. Medications also often contain lactose products.
  

On the contrary, rice, almonds and oat milk are free from lactose. raw milk cheese, other lactose-free types of cheese, recently also lactose-free cow milk, and some kinds of bitter chocolates and soya products are also available. Soya milk can however result in flatulence as well as constipation or diarrhoea.
  

Other than that, products made from curdled milk like quark, yoghurt, soured milk and kefir are suitable for people who are lactose intolerant, as in these products at least parts of the lactose are converted into lactic acid by bacteria, which has a positive effect on the intestinal flora and helps to excrete toxic substance from the bowels faster.
 

Lactose intolerance cannot be healed. Consumption of Lactase, the enzyme which decomposes lactose however helps. If this is not effective, you presumably suffer not only from lactose-intolerance, but also from some other ailment. Consult your family doctor. You could perhaps go on a lactose-free diet for four weeks and thereafter test with a food with lactose contents, until you discover what you are intolerant to.
   

9.3.12.4 Fructose intolerance
 

A lot of people suffer from fructose indigestability (malabsorption of fructose), not to be confused with fructose intolerance which is very similar, but occurs very infrequently. In case of fructose indigestability, fructose is not reabsorbed in adequate quantities into the small intestine, but rather is converted into carbon dioxide in the large intestine by intestine bacteria among other things. The main symptoms are flatulence, diarrhea and stomach ache. If this occurs, consult your family doctor, so that it does not aggravate.
  

No causal therapy is available at the moment. Those who suffer from fructose indigestability should consume foods that are low in fructose and Saccharin. Luckily, not all fruits contain fructose. It is however used widely in the industry as a sweetener. Ensure not to buy drinks and food, even those which do not appear to contain sugar, but have fructose.
   

However, we should not take in fructose in great quantities, even if we can handle it. It makes one feel hungrier and thereby supports overweight; moreover, it promotes diabetes and gout.

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