CONSTIPATION – INTRODUCTION
Posted by adminMany people are obsessed with their bowel function.
Constipation is not a disease, it is a symptom. It means delay in the passage of faeces through the bowel.
It is accepted by most people that they should empty their bowel once each day. Yet the freqency and amount will depend on many factors.
The normal transit time of food taken by mouth through the bowel is about 72 hours. The bowel motion should be soft, formed and easy to pass. If it is, then the person is not constipated, even if the bowel is only emptied every second or third day.
The highly refined diet of the western world has had most of the roughage or indigestible fibre removed.
This bulk was thought to be unnecessary. We now believe that removing this natural bulk from the diet has led to an increase in certain diseases including appendicitis, diverticulitis, haemorrhoids and cancer of the bowel.
Diets low in bulk cause an increase in the muscular movements of the bowel which are concerned with mixing the contents, but a decrease in those movements which move them on. Low residue diets lead to an increase in the pressure inside the bowel.
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