The stomach is the digestive organ of the human body and has a powerful digestive function. The gastric juice used to digest food in the stomach contains hydrochloric acid and pepsin. The stomach contains a high concentration of hydrochloric acid. Hydrochloric acid is a very corrosive acid that can even dissolve metal zinc. If the hydrochloric acid, pepsin and mucus in the stomach work together, basically any food can be digested. So many people have doubts, the digestive function of the stomach is so powerful, why didn’t they digest themselves?
The truth is that the corrosive gastric juice is indeed constantly breaking down our stomach. Our stomach is still there because of its tenacious self-repair ability and several self-defense functions.
Let me talk about the self-repairing ability of the stomach first. The stomach’s self-repairing ability is amazing. It regenerates all the time to replenish the cells it has digested. The human body’s gastric mucosal cells shed about 500,000 cells per minute, and it only takes three days for the stomach to renew all of these cells. It means that a complete stomach can be born in three days! Only this amazing regenerative ability can repair the damage caused by the digestive juice to the stomach wall.
However, the erosive ability of gastric juice is still too strong. Generally, gastric juice can digest the entire stomach in a few hours, so the stomach cannot make up for it by relying solely on its own powerful regeneration. In order to protect itself, the stomach has its own special equipment, that is, the stomach wall is covered with a thick barrier called epithelial cells called gastric mucosa. The gastric mucosa has the function of protecting the stomach wall. It separates the more corrosive gastric mucus from the stomach wall so that it cannot penetrate into the inner layer of the stomach wall.
Even if the stomach has the protection of the gastric mucosa and its own regeneration ability, it is not safe enough. There is also a thin layer of sugar on the surface of the epithelial cells of the stomach wall. The sugar layer is a kind of carbohydrate. The sugar molecules have better acid resistance, which can reduce the damage of corrosive gastric juice to the stomach.
In addition to the above methods, there is another way for the stomach to protect itself. The inner layer of the stomach wall is covered with a fatty substance composed of fatty substances. The fatty substances have a strong hindrance to the hydrogen and chloride ions of hydrochloric acid. effect.
Based on this kind of farming protection, our stomach will not be broken down by itself. For an average person, the stomach can secrete 500ml of gastric juice to digest food. However, when overeating or mental stress is high, the blood circulation is affected and the protective mechanism is destroyed, then the phenomenon of gastric juice over-digesting the stomach will appear. In more serious cases, gastric ulcers and gastric perforation will occur.
It can be seen that, due to the excessively strong corrosive ability of stomach acid, our stomach is constantly digesting itself, and only by relying on its super regenerative ability and several effective protection mechanisms can it protect itself. But it is precisely because of this that our stomach is in danger of fighting gastric acid at all times, and every unreasonable diet will become its safety hazard. Therefore, we must eat healthy and reasonable and stay positive and optimistic. Attitude towards life.
