Digestion System Disorders:

The human digestive system is one of the most abused systems second only to the respiratory system. Human evolution of the digestive system has not kept pace with our changing diet patterns and lifestyle that is becoming increasingly erratic as compared to that in past decades or centuries. The human digestive system is one that is still mainly herbivorous and that means that there is still an innate need for vegetables in our diet; however, with the current diet patterns, a diet that is rich in greens and shoots is something that is seriously lacking.


This gives rise to many disorders of stomach. Apart from diet induced disorders, there are also disorders that arise from auto-immune and genetic causes that humans have to deal with.

One of the most common disorders of digestive system that is becoming increasingly common is gastroesophageal reflux disorder or GERD.


This is a condition that is caused due to the gastric acids continuously attacking the esophageal sphincter, culminating in its complete failure to prevent food and gastric juice from coming up from the stomach into the throat. This is an irreversible condition that can prevent a person from sleeping horizontally ever again. This is caused by not eating daily meals at the right time and having very spicy,oily and acidic foods. The other disease that can be confused with GERD is Achalasia. However, this is a relatively mysterious condition and it is not yet fully understood. This condition affects just one in a hundred thousand people. Other disorders of the digestive system include inflammation of the organs - like the liver in hepatitis, pancreas with pancreatitis, and the intestines with colitis. Inflammatory disorders could be caused by infections like the hepatitis virus in the liver or by autoimmune diseases in which the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks healthy cells. Enzymatic deficiencies are also a root cause in many cases.

Enzymatic deficiencies like lactose intolerance affect quite a few people and are caused by the lack of an enzyme called lactase that breaks down the sugar lactose in dairy. This results in raw lactose going into the small intestines where it cannot be digested and diarrhea results. Cancer is also a major problem that affects many parts of the digestive system. Pancreatic cancer, while rare, has a very poor prognosis. In comparison, colonic cancers can usually be treated with surgery that removes parts of the colon altogether and the small intestines are then brought forward to play the part of the missing organ.