INDIGESTION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20602, 28 June 1930, Page 7 (Supplement)

INDIGESTION.

(By a London Authority.)

The process of digestion of food in its broader aspects cannot fail to bo of interest to every one. On the proper digestion and assimilation of food depend not only the health but the comfort of the individual, consequently, quite apart from the desire, if such exists, to know what happens to our food from the time, it enters the mouth, ifc is of some importance that one has, at least some elementary knowledge of (the- subject. It is not my intention to enter into explanations of the complicated chemical changes which occur in food in the mouth, stomach iind intestinal tract, but rather to indicate that changes do take place in well-ordered sequence, and to point nut the significance of these changes to the body generally and to the individual in particular. . . . . Just as there are broad principles govpyning icost things,-it will -always be found that individual idiosyncrasies have to bo taken into consideration, and in no process in this better illustrated than in that of digestion. * The digestion of food commences from the moment it is placed in the mouth. Good, sound teeth are necessary for its mastication, and for tho purpose of mixing ifc thoroughly with tho saliva which is; poured out upon it. The mixed and masticated food is then swallowed and enters the stomach. Here again- certain liquids are poured out, but the time taken in the digestive process in file stomach is much longer than that :n the mouth and depends on the kind of food that is being dealt with. For white lish is easily treated and jjs; passed on after a few hours, while pork, a most difficult article of food to digest, takes about eight hours for it-! proper treatment.

Food lifter ifc leaves the stomach enters tlio small intestines. It is mixed with bile from the gall bladder and then in, or should be, properly prepared to give up its .nourishment, to the rich blood supply ( ',f thi.-s part of the intestine. This nourishment is carried to all parts ®f the body. As* the small intestine measures in length about 21ft. it wiil be seen that there is ample tiruo to extract from the food all the nourishment which can give.