How does the digestive system help in homeostasis?

Answer 1

I remember briefly studying the concept of homeostasis in college. It was a pretty simple straight forward explanation of how the body maintained equilibrium between its various systems and organs. I was quite content to regard homeostasis as a state of constancy that the body maintained all the time. It was something I could depend on and take for granted. Certainly, as a chiropractor I would not be called upon to adjust patients who were in the process of losing control of their homeostatic functions. I know now that I missed one of the most important concepts in healing. Unfortunately, it was not until about 15 years later that I gave the subject anymore serious thought. While collecting clinical data on digestive complaints and correlating them to laboratory results, I came face-to-face with the ability of the body to maintain homeostasis. How was this accomplished since the blood must provide both the acidity for HCI production in the stomach, and alkalinity to the duodenum for the pancreatic enzymes to work? It sent me scurrying to my medical library for an exact definition, and even back to Claude Bernard's original concept of the "Internal Milieu" in 1859. The environment in which each cell lives is called the internal environment. This environment is the extracellular fluid, which surrounds the cell. 20% of this fluid is found in the blood stream, and 80% in connective tissue. It is from this fluid that the cells receive oxygen and nutrients and into which they excrete waste. Yet, it must constantly be maintained within the very narrow limits of body temperature, pH, volume or water content, and concentration of dissolved substances such as sugar, cholesterol, and many more. Guyton's "Medical Physiology," 7th edition states, "The term homeostasis is used by physiologists to mean maintenance of static or constant conditions in the internal environment." It is a tendency to uniformity or stability in the internal environment or fluid matrix of the organism. This is the material that I skimmed over in school, taking for granted that the body would do this regardless of what I did. I did not completely appreciate that the body will do whatever it must to maintain homeostasis! In other words, I should be able to somehow measure the early warning signs of exhaustion in the struggle to maintain normalcy. By definition, blood chemistry studies are not the answer since the body has already lost the struggle by the time the blood test is beyond normal limits. As an example, recall that blood calcium and phosphorus levels remain normal in osteoporosis. This is accomplished by removing the minerals from storage in order to maintain homeostasis -- at all cost. There are many other such examples of the body's willingness to stress specific organs in order to meet the requirements of the extracellular fluid. Obviously, the stressed tissues have increased nutritional requirements during these periods. I believe that chiropractors are in the best position to recognize these increased nutritional demands by virtue of their knowledge of the autonomic nervous system and its relationships of the organs and spinal innervation. At first glance, it would seem that a discussion of how the body maintains homeostasis goes beyond the possibilities of this short monthly column. And, if I did delve into it, I'd probably lose readers. But, I implore you to stick it out. I offer no lengthy physiological and biochemical dissertations. Rather, a simple explanation of why the sciences of chiropractic and nutrition are inseparable, and regardless of your scope of practice why you should be interested in the maintenance of homeostasis and recognizing specifically the increased nutritional demands of stressed organs required to assist in the healing of your patient, regardless of chief complaint. Homeostasis is maintained primarily by the efforts of the hypothalamus gland. It is interesting to note that the hypothalamus is the only part of the brain that is not protected by the blood-brain barrier. That barrier exists to protect the delicate tissues of the brain from changes in the extracellular fluids. It still remains largely a mystery as medicine continues to attempt to unravel its complexities. Most drugs cannot penetrate this barrier. But, the hypothalamus is exposed to the extracellular fluid or internal environment. The hypothalamus contains centers for monitoring and regulating the pH, temperature, volume of fluids, and concentration of solutes of the extracellular fluids. Further, it is linked by nerve circuits to almost all parts of the brain. Utilizing input from other parts of the brain and information received from the blood passing through it, the hypothalamus continuously regulates almost the entire endocrine system and the autonomic nervous system in an effort to maintain homeostasis. Additionally, the hypothalamus controls both appetite and satiety. It is linked directly to your sense of smell and taste. It motivates you to eat what the extracellular fluid requires, and to reject what it does not need by making certain foods and drinks taste or smell good. In short, it is responsible for your cravings. As an aside, we generally crave what we cannot adequately digest and deliver to the hypothalamus via the blood stream. But, we will deal with that another time. Let me close by saying that a few questions concerning dietary habits, digestion, and elimination coupled with your case history and chiropractic examination can reveal valuable information regarding the homeostatic challenge that is exhausting your patient all day, every day.

Answer 2

Based on the anatomy classes I have taken, I would say the digestive system helps maintain homeostasis in the body by breaking down the food we eat and providing the blood which provides the rest of our body with the minerals and nutrients we need. In some ways more importantly, it is the only way we have of taking in fluids. Fluid balance is more delicate as we lose water all the time in insensible ways: sweating, breathing, etc

Answer 3

The digestive system helps to get rid of wastes, which could become toxic unless "taken care of" in time.Once the food has gone through the stomach, it will go through the small intestinewhich have villi in them and the nutrients will be obsorbed into the bloodstream, giving you the nutrients you need to maintain being healthy and to maintain homeostasis. :)
The digestive system does assit with homeostasis. It however can not accommplish it alone. All organ systems work together to maintain homeostasi. By the way homeostasis is more than just maintaining our blood temp. It is many other things as well. Like maintaining right water levels or right oxegen to Carbon dioxide ratios. I hope the following will help you. The digestive system provides the nutrients needed for the circulatory system. As your food moves through the stages of digestion (mechanical, peristalisis, chemical) it is broken down into simple, water-soluble molecules that can cross a cell membranes. The circulatory system is the transportation system of the body. It transports wastes, gases, hormones, electrolytes, and nutrients to and from the body cells. It also transports water to and from the tissues. So as these molecular-sized, water-soluble particles pass through the cell membranes of cells in the digestive tract and pass through the walls of capillaries the nutrients are picked up by the blood (circulatory system) for transport. Blood in the capillaries carries the nutrients to all the cells in the body. Red blood cells, White blood cells and Platelets and plasma all help to maintain homeostasis. RBC's transport oxygen and hydrogen ions throughout the body. WBC's fights infections in our body so we won't die from disease and platelets assist in blood clotting so if we get cut we will not bleed to death. The plasma transports the blood cells so without that the RBC's, WBC's and platelets wouldn't even matter as they could not be moved throughout the body. None of these things could function without the nutrients supplied by the digestive system. Blood also maintains homeostasis of water, electrolytes and body temperature all by getting the nutrients necessary to function from the digestive system. YES, the digestive system has homeostasis! Just think about it..all the acid from the gastric juice and the mucus in the in the intesinal lining. I'm looking up information on this question now, but trust me it does have homeostasis. a good website that clearly states this but has some technical terms is: http://greenfield.fortunecity.com/rattler/46/digestive.htm

Answer 4

When humans eat, the internal environment is disrupted and is out of homeostatic balance. Glucose levels rise in the blood after food is digested which stimulates the pancreas to release insulin. Insulin normally causes blood glucose levels to decrease as the intake of energy into cells is influenced. When blood glucose levels are returned to normal, signals are sent to the pancreas to stop producing insulin. When internal levels are in balance, homeostasis is complete.

Answer 5

Goes through the trachea and into the cappilaries and is finished with the journey Goes through the trachea and into the cappilaries and is finished with the journey Goes through the trachea and into the cappilaries and is finished with the journey

Answer 6

When an organism is difficient in a particular element, molecule, or polymer, food can provide the necessary nutrients to reach homeostasis. Also, what it does not need, it can get rid of through excrecion.