By John H. Keefe III, D.C., P.C.

We usually think of the digestive system as the body's food-processing system. We eat food, the stomach and intestines break it down, nutrients are absorbed, and waste is eliminated.

But digestion has another important function that is sometimes overlooked:

Your digestive tract is also part of your body's first line of defense against microorganisms that enter through food.

This becomes particularly relevant when we hear about outbreaks involving Salmonella, pathogenic E. coli, and other organisms in produce and other foods.

Your Stomach Is More Than a Digestion Chamber

One of the stomach's most important secretions is hydrochloric acid (HCl).

Technically, hydrochloric acid isn't a digestive enzyme. It creates the highly acidic environment in which digestion begins, helps activate the enzyme pepsin, and assists in breaking down food.

But stomach acid has another important function: it provides an antimicrobial barrier.

Many microorganisms entering the body with food must survive the acidic environment of the stomach before reaching the intestines. Research has demonstrated substantial bactericidal activity from normal gastric acidity.

This doesn't mean stomach acid sterilizes everything we eat. Some organisms possess considerable acid resistance, and a sufficiently large exposure can overwhelm normal defenses. Nevertheless, gastric acidity represents an important barrier between contaminated food and the intestinal tract.

What Happens When Stomach Acid Is Low?

When hydrochloric acid production becomes inadequate—a condition known as hypochlorhydria—that antimicrobial barrier may become less effective.

This isn't merely theoretical. Research has found associations between medications that substantially suppress stomach acid, particularly proton-pump inhibitors, and increased susceptibility to certain gastrointestinal infections.

That makes physiological sense.

Imagine two people consuming food containing the same number of potentially harmful bacteria. If one person's stomach destroys a large proportion of those organisms while considerably more survive passage through the other person's stomach, the intestinal exposure may be very different.

It isn't simply what goes into the mouth that matters. What survives the digestive tract's defenses matters too.

What About Digestive Enzymes?

Hydrochloric acid should be distinguished from digestive enzymes such as pepsin, trypsin, amylase and lipase.

These substances have different functions. Their primary responsibility is digestion rather than killing microorganisms. Nevertheless, adequate digestive secretions are part of a properly functioning gastrointestinal system.

Nutritional status can also influence digestive physiology. Research in severely undernourished individuals, for example, has demonstrated reductions in gastric and pancreatic secretory function, with improvement in some measurements following nutritional rehabilitation.

This raises an interesting question concerning the modern American diet.

Could years of poor nutrition and impaired gastrointestinal function leave some individuals with less effective digestive defenses?

There is enough physiology behind the question to take it seriously, but we should not go beyond the evidence. Research has not established that poor American diets are the primary cause of today's reported foodborne-disease outbreaks.

Food contamination remains a separate problem involving agriculture, water, processing, handling, storage and distribution.

The health of the person eating that food is another part of the equation.

Think About the Pathogen, the Dose—and the Host

When discussing foodborne disease, attention naturally goes to the pathogen:

What organism contaminated the food?

But two additional questions deserve consideration:

How much of the organism was consumed?

and

How capable was that person's gastrointestinal and immune system of defending against it?

Age, underlying disease, medications, immune function, nutritional status and gastrointestinal physiology can all influence susceptibility or severity.

Therefore, improving the health of the host doesn't replace good food-safety practices. Both matter.

Can Digestive Function Be Evaluated?

At Keefe Clinic, digestive complaints and nutritional status can be evaluated to look for signs suggesting impaired digestion or inadequate digestive support.

When clinically appropriate, John H. Keefe III, D.C., P.C. can assess whether a patient may benefit from nutritional or digestive support, including consideration of hydrochloric-acid or digestive-enzyme support.

To visit our nutritional dispensary click here: https://us.fullscript.com/welcome/jkeefe-dc

It is important, however, not to claim that a test can prove that someone “needs hydrochloric acid to prevent foodborne illness.” No office digestive test can guarantee protection against Salmonella, E. coli, or another foodborne pathogen.

Rather, the purpose of evaluation is to identify possible digestive dysfunction and determine whether appropriate digestive or nutritional support should be considered as part of the patient's overall health program.

Hydrochloric-acid supplements are also not appropriate for everyone. They can be unsuitable for people with certain gastrointestinal disorders and may interact with medications or aggravate existing irritation. They should therefore be considered individually rather than routinely taken as protection against contaminated food.

Don't Forget the Body's Natural Defenses

Food safety remains essential: proper refrigeration, clean preparation surfaces, adequate cooking, handwashing, washing produce appropriately, and following FDA or CDC recalls when contaminated foods are identified.

But there is another side of the equation that deserves attention.

The human digestive system isn't merely designed to extract calories and nutrients from food. It is also part of the body's protective interface with the outside world.

Maintaining good nutrition and healthy gastrointestinal function cannot make contaminated food safe. But maintaining the body's normal digestive defenses—including appropriate gastric acidity—is one component of the remarkably sophisticated system that stands between the outside environment and the rest of the body.

Keefe Clinic — John H. Keefe III, D.C., P.C.
5640 South Memorial Drive, Suite A
Tulsa, Oklahoma 74145-9001
At 57th & Memorial

Phone: (918) 663-1111
Fax: (918) 663-2129

For high-quality nutrition visit our dispensary:
Keefe Clinic Fullscript Dispensary