Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1913-05-13

Insuffl cient mastication and hasty
eating are two reasons given why
there is so much constipation at the
present day in the following article
prepared by the Y. M. c. A. health
league. The drinking Of plenty OF
water and eating regularly are ways
by which the disease may be cured,
The article in full follows:
In describing the food canal we re-
mark upon the exceedingly intricate
nature Of the digestive process ana
of the elaborate attempts Of nature to
safeguard their integrity. These pro-
tective measures are all the more re-
markable when We consider that man
is practically immune to onstipat1on
when living a natural life; that there
is really but one cause of constipation:
namely, civilization. Savages, as
also some Of the more primitive Of So
called civilized nations, very rarely
suffer from constipation. 1t Is no.
table fact, too, that intestinal inactivity
Is much less frequent among country
people than among jewellers IN cities.
Constipation is manifestely a morbid
condition peculiar to a state or h1gn
civilization, and modern medical re-
searchers tend to show that 1t may
Justly be looked upon as among the
most important causes Of the race
degeneracy that each year is coming
to be more and more IN evidence
among highly civilized communities.
Hasty Eating.
Among the habits peculiar to our mod
ern life none is more conductive to con-
stipation than insufficient masucatioh.
The savage, as we'll as the monkey
and other animals provided with teetn
for grinding food, masticates his 1000
with great thoroughness, whereas man
is content to bolt his meals and ex-
pect the stomach to perform digestive
functions for which nature never
equipped 1t. J.,
Hasty eating leads to constipation IN
variety OF ways, but chiefly by IN
Producing into the intestines large
amount of imperfectly mast1cated
food material which, because OF It's
indigestibility, moves SLOWLY through
the digestive tract, and as result un-
dergoes putrifaction and other changes
which disturb the functions OF every
part of the alimentary canal.
Under normal conditions the con-
tents of the intestines are held back
at the ileo-cecal valve three or four
hours to permit the completion OF the
intestinal digestion and absorption.
When the food has been imperfectly
chewed, however. it is too long de-
layed at this point; the ileo-cecal valve
or gate No. 5 closes too tightly and Tor
a long time will not permit passage
of the improperly chewed material.
The putrefactive microbes, which are
especially numerous at this point, set
up putrefactive changes that infect the
contents, with the result that ca"
tarrhal condition is produced. Gate
No. 5 may become more or. less per-
manently thickened and thus increase
the obstruction. Often too, the heavily
loaded intestine falls down into the
pelvis, and dragging upon the point
Of junction between the duodenum
and small intestines, produce partial
obstruction also at this point; the
mischief works backward and affects
the stomach, which becomes dilated
and gives rise to numerous mischiefs
which depreciate the health OF the IN
and predispose him to a
number of related disturbances.
Again, as the result Of the long de.
lay in the small intestines the food
mass when it finally passes into the
colon contains too little water, and,
becoming still drier as it moves with
diff culty through the lower part of the