Hygienic-Dietary to Prevention and Control Chronic Constipation
To understand the pathophysiology of constipation and can implement a rational treatment, we must first understand the normal process of digestion of food, how they form the stool and what are the factors that regulate their expulsion.
What is Digestion?
Digestion is defined as a set of mechanical processes (chewing, mixing of food and intestinal motility or peristalsis), chemical (enzymatic hydrolysis) and physical (emulsification of fats by bile salts), by which substances are extracted nutritious food and degrade to smaller particles, can be absorbed easily.
At the mouth, ingested food is crushed and mixed with saliva, then passed to the stomach, where it acquired a consistency softer by the joint action of mechanical contractions of the body and gastric juice. In the stomach, proteins are extracted from food and undergo partial hydrolysis.
The peristaltic wave form that has the digestive tract, allows the movement of the bolus along the small intestine where digestion occurs true. The secretions of the intestine, pancreatic juice and bile play a fundamental role because, in addition to liquefy foods contain digestive enzymes responsible for degrading proteins, fats and carbohydrates in the diet into smaller particle size: amino acids , fatty acids and simple sugars, respectively. Besides releasing the vitamins, minerals and water from food.
Finally, all small molecules cross the walls of the small intestine (absorption) and through blood, reach the various organs and tissues to perform specific life functions.
How are the feces and defecation how it happens?
The food remains have not been absorbed continue their transit through the intestine, where they acquire a solid or pasty consistency. Thus, stool form, consisting of waste animal foods (dairy and meat fibers), plants, bacteria and colon cells that are derived from the intestinal mucosa. The food takes about 6-8 hours after ingestion to reach the colon, where food residues can remain in 18-72 hours.
The volume of the stool depends on the content of dietary fiber. It is well known that the fibers, their ability to absorb water, cause increased fecal volume, which in turn stretches the walls of the large intestine thus facilitating intestinal peristalsis into the rectum. When the stool reaches the rectal ampulla, it issues a warning that can be reflected defecation.
If the colonic content moves too slowly, or does not (for lack of fiber, for example) is drained because it is absorbed more water. This causes hard stools, scanty and difficult to pass (constipation). By contrast, people who eat the recommended amounts of dietary fiber in fruit, vegetables, legumes, breads and cereals, have softer stools, larger and easier to expel.
The content of nutrients in the diet also contributes to the increase in fecal mass in the following increasing order: protein, fat, digestible carbohydrates and indigestible carbohydrates. In Western countries, the stool weight varied from 45-250 grams, but about half the population excretes less than 100 grams per day.
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