Is it time to assess your digestive
health?
- Are you 50 years of age or
older?
- Do you often have a bloated or full
feeling in your stomach, especially after eating?
- Do you often have intestinal
gas?
- Do you have a spastic colon, irritable
bowel syndrome, nervous stomach, loose stools or
constipation?
- Do you avoid eating certain foods
because they make you feel uncomfortable?
- Are you allergic to any
foods?
- Have you had any of the following:
asthma, allergies, high blood pressure, heart disease, history of
strokes, arthritis, pernicious anemia, an autoimmune disease or yeast
infection?
- Have you ever taken an antibiotic for
more than one month at a time–or have you taken antibiotics more than
four times in your life?
- Have you ever noticed dark, tar-like
stools, bloodstained stools, bright-red rectal bleeding or signs of
intestinal bleeding?
- Have you ever taken oral contraceptives
or steroids (cortisone, prednisone, etc.) for extended
periods?
- Do you prefer nutritional approaches
whenever possible to restore health and enhance well-being?
If you answered yes to at least two
of the questions, taking a Comprehensive Digestive Stool Analysis is
recommended.
What can digestion tell you about your
health?
A simple stool test can uncover valuable
information about your health
What can a Comprehensive Digestive Stool
Analysis tell my clinician?
Think of your body as a finely tuned
engine, and food is its fuel. If you aren't completely digesting foods
and absorbing nutrients, you're not adequately fueling your body. The
lack of adequate fuel–or the inability to use it properly–can lead to a
variety of health problems. Poor digestion or imbalances in your
intestinal flora can result in many illnesses, from annoying
gastrointestinal complaints such as chronic constipation and abdominal
pain to more serious illnesses which may appear to be unrelated to
digestion, such as asthma or migraines. Your clinician knows the
importance of evaluating your gastrointestinal health. One important
tool to aid in this diagnosis is the Comprehensive Digestive Stool
Analysis.
The CDSA is a group of 25 tests performed
on a stool sample, revealing valuable information about your
gastrointestinal health. The CDSA evaluates:
- Digestion of food molecules and absorption
of nutrients.
- The presence of hidden yeast or bacterial
infections.
- Intestinal flora balance.
- Intestinal immune function.
- Dietary fiber intake.
Think of the time and money you spend
planning menus, shopping for food, preparing meals and buying vitamin
supplements. But are you sure you're getting the most from your food? Or
is your diet causing other problems in your body? Your clinician can
answer these questions with a CDSA.
How healthy is your gastrointestinal
tract? Digestion starts with the stomach.
Do you chew your food thoroughly? That's
the first step in good digestion. The mechanical breakdown of your meal
begins when your teeth grind food. Saliva triggers the start of the
chemical breakdown.
Once food travels to your stomach, you need
adequate amounts of hydrochloric acid to break up dietary pro-teins. You
may be among the millions of Americans who do not produce enough
hydrochloric acid. This can cause vitamin and mineral deficiencies,
osteoporosis, hardening of the arteries, arthritis, colon cancer, food
allergies and autoimmune diseases.
Enzymes take over
Hydrochloric acid and other factors trigger
your pancreas to release enzymes once food moves to the small intestine.
Pancreatic enzymes play an important role in the digestion of proteins,
fats and carbohydrates. An insufficient amount of pancreatic enzymes can
contribute to many of the same problems as inadequate stomach
acid.
Nutrients in your food are absorbed into
your bloodstream from both the small and large intestine. Food that
isn't digested completely will not be absorbed. Partially digested
proteins can cause significant gastrointestinal irritation (such as
colitis, gas or nervous stomach) and can lead to food
allergies.
Digestion of carbohydrates continues in the
small intestine. Certain enzymes are released only by the intestinal
villi and friendly bacteria, and damage to these can inhibit
digestion.
Bacteria–some good, some
bad
Many different microbes live in your
intestinal tract, and it's normal to have trillions. Ideally, you have
"friendly" bacteria to aid with digestion, vitamin production and immune
defense. Unfortunately, many common activities can destroy the delicate
balance of bacteria. Using antibiotics, steroids or hormone pills, or a
diet high in fat and sugar wreaks havoc on bacterial levels, leading to
imbalances in bacteria and yeast, which can lead to
illness.
Immune function protects
Chronic infection, food allergies or
inadequate nutrition can result in poor immune defenses in your
intestine. With lowered resistance, less friendly bacteria are able to
colonize, and infection or allergies are more likely to
develop.
Gastrointestinal health is the
goal
For proper gastrointestinal health, your
body must carefully coordinate the breakdown, absorption and elimination
of food. Bacteria must be in proper balance, and immune function must be
adequate. The CDSA provides an easy, effective evaluation of how well
your gastrointestinal tract performs these essential
functions.
GREAT SMOKIES TESTS ARE
AVAILABLE AT OUR OFFICE. PLEASE CONTACT US FOR AN APPOINTMENT TOLL FREE AT
866 551 8487
| 
