When asked which organ is the most important organ in the body? Most people would definitely say the heart or the brain, completely overlooking the gut. (Chen, 2017). Though they definitely aren’t classified as “attractive”, they are certainly among the most important. The gut, is the body’s largest sensory organ, this clever structure not only has a huge surface area but a remarkable system of nerves to gather information about our body, it’s 30-foot long tube that goes from the mouth to the anus is responsible for the many different body functions including one of the few most important: digestion and excretion. The gut, also known as the gastrointestinal tract (GI tract), is imperative for our wellbeing and our lifelong health. A non-functioning or poorly functioning GI tract can be the source of many chronic health problems that can interfere with your quality of life. (Ernst.E, 2000). This essay will evaluate the importance of the gut to our body.
The gut is often mistaken for one whole organ when in fact it consists of a series of organs that work together to allow the body to carry out its daily necessities, such as excretion and digestion. This group of organs each have specific roles to play in the digestion of food, from the mechanical disrupting by the teeth to the creation of bile by the liver, they all work collectively towards the same goal which is to convert food into energy and basic nutrients to feed the entire body, this is known as the digestive system. The digestive system is responsible for the breakdown and absorption of various foods and liquids needed to sustain life. (Kenney, 2014). Two main processes happen at the same time during digestion: mechanical and chemical digestion. When food is first ingested into our mouth, it is mechanically digested with the help of accessory organs such as the salivary gland. Chemical digestion mainly occurs in the stomach and small intestine where proteins, fats and carbohydrates are chemically broken down into their basic building blocks. (Cotran, 2006).
Of all the organs in the gastrointestinal system, the small intestine is by far the most important piece to the puzzle, it has many special features that allows it to maximise the absorption of nutrients from ingested food particles, these nutrients enter the bloodstream and makes it way to parts of the body as energy. 90% of these nutrients are absorbed in three different sections of our small intestine, the duodenum, jejunum and ileum. (Taylor, 2017) The wall lining of the small intestine is also designed to have special adaptations in each layer to allow nutrients intake to happen more efficiently. The wall linings of the small intestine are made up of 4 layers, the mucosa, submucosa, muscularis layer and serosa. The innermost layer: the mucosa contains a layer of epithelium, made of epithelial cells, which have billions of finger-like projections called villi with even smaller folded structures called microvilli. (Cloe, 2015). These tiny but important structures increase the internal surface of the intestinal wall providing a greater surface area for absorption, at the same time also increasing the amount of contact between the cells of the mucosa and the chime. The villi have a rich blood supply which allows nutrients to quickly diffuse into the low-solute concentration blood stream found in the submucosa layer to be taken to the rest of the body.
Besides that, the small intestine is also filled with hundreds and thousands of bacteria that protect the lining of the intestines to provide a strong barrier against toxins and “bad” bacteria that causes inflammation and disrupts the process of digestion. (Selhub MD, 2015). Anything that causes an inflammation reaction in the small bowel can cause major problems to the body, coeliac disease being one of the known causes. This autoimmune disorder affects one in every hundred UK citizens, it is caused by an adverse reaction to gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley or rye that causes the small intestine to become inflamed and unable to absorb nutrients. In this case, the immune system of people with this condition mistakenly attacks the body’s healthy tissues for gliadin, a substance found in gluten. Gliadin proteins have the ability to provoke an autoimmune enteropathy caused by an abnormal immune response. This abnormality of the immune system attracts several different antibodies that can affect a number of different organs. The antibodies that are produced cause the surface of the intestine to become inflamed, which causes the flattening of the villi, reducing their ability to help with digestion and thus inhibiting the digestive functions of the intestines.
To ensure that our digestive tract is well and fully functional, it is important to maintain a healthy gut. This is because the gut is usually described as the engine of our body, by filling our ‘engines’ with premium fuel such as high-quality foods that contain lots of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, we can perform our daily routines efficiently. (Selhub MD, 2015). Besides providing fuel to our bodies to keep us in tip-top shape, our gastrointestinal tract is lined with a hundred million nerve cells, or neurons that produce a type of neurotransmitter called serotonin that helps provoke sleep and appetite, mediate moods, and inhibit pain. It makes sense that the inner workings of your digestive system don’t just help you digest food, but also guide your emotions such as our anxiety levels, perception of stress, and mental outlook. "Most digestive problems are to do with lifestyle, the foods we've eaten, or stress. Which means that taking steps to change your lifestyle can help, and often prevent, many of these problems," said Dr Emmanuel, a consultant gastroenterologist at University College Hospital in London.
In addition, the food that we consume plays an essential role in maintaining the diversity and proper functioning of the gut microbiota. Our gut microbiota, also known as gut flora, consists of trillions of microorganisms that reside in our guts. Each individual contains about 1000 different species of known bacteria and one-third of these are commonly found in everyone else while the other two-thirds are specific to each one of us, basically the gut flora acts like a fingerprint to each one of us, they are all different. While we all have unique microbiota, they all fulfil similar physiological functions that directly impacts our health, this includes digesting certain types of food that are ingestible by the stomach or intestine, helping with the synthesis of vitamins and also, combatting aggressive microorganisms to maintain a homeostatic environment of the intestinal mucosa. In a nutshell, the gut microbiota plays a key role in the immune system and the digestive system, conserving it for the right purposes is absolutely important in our daily life likewise choosing the right diet for our lifestyle. When talking about gut microbiota, there’s an old saying that “we are what we eat", as what we consume also feeds off the hundreds of trillions of bacteria living in our digestive system. (Jarvis, 2010). For this reason, a varied and balanced diet is essential. People with little gut microbiota can also take in supplements nowadays to replenish and restore the gut flora, prebiotics and probiotics are considered beneficial for the gut microbiota which impacts various functions of the body such as the digestive condition.
Knowing the harm that can be caused to our bodies if we don’t take good care of our gut, we have to take immediate actions to protect our gut to maintain its optimal condition.
“We humans have known since time immemorial something that science is only now discovering: our gut feeling is responsible in no small measure for how we feel.” (Enders, 2016, p.116) Upon gaining a superficial understanding of the gut, doctors have step upon ways to treat fix inflammation and disease by nourishing the gut. We have to embrace the gut-brain connection and use a holistic approach to find the cause instead of treating the symptoms of a disease and masking it with pain medication. Needlessly, our gut serves as an important aspect in our lives that enables us to carry out day-to-day functions with ease.