There was a saying in medieval Europe to the effect that “death dwells in the bowels” — a belief that good health, or the lack of it, was closely linked to good digestion. In Ayurvedic medicine, digestion plays a similar central role with the agni, or digestive fire, responsible for preserving health and numerous remedies used to improve and strengthen this vital energy force.

Modern herbalism, too, puts great emphasis on good digestion with a wide range of herbs to stimulate, relax, normalise and generally improve function. As well as those which have a relaxing and antispasmodic action on the gut, herbal digestive remedies are generally classified as:

  • bitters — which stimulate the taste receptors leading to increased gastric acid and enzyme production;
  • carminatives — which help to relieve flatulence, digestive colic and gastric discomfort by toning the mucous membranes and improving peristalsis;
  • astringents — which are usually rich in tannins and help to protect mucous membranes while constricting tissues (they will thus help to reduce large bowel overactivity in diarrhoea, for example); and
  • laxatives — to combat constipation by encouraging bowel motion; these range from the most gentle aperients to violent cathartics which are rarely used these days. Carminatives are often added to combat the griping pains which strong purgatives can cause.

Where digestive remedies are concerned, too, the boundary between food and herbs as medicine grows notably thin. Many culinary herbs are also carminative (such as dill — Anethum graveolens, parsley and fennel), warming, bitter stimulants (such as fenugreek — Trigonella foenumgraecum) or antispasmodics like the mints and rosemary; the French, who seem to have a national preoccupation with the state of their livers, will regularly eat dandelion leaves, which have liver-toning properties, as salad.

Herbal BeautyAccording to the Chinese, the liver governs the smooth flow of vital energy or Qi through the body, it also stores blood, governs the tendons and is linked with the eyes and poor vision: itching or dry eyes are often associated with liver disharmonies.The Chinese say that the liver “stores the soul” — governing spirit and mental activity: weak liver energy can thus lead to emotional disorders, depression or mental sluggishness. A wide range of apparently disparate symptoms can therefore be linked to basic liver imbalances, so eating herbs (or foods) which help to stimulate the liver — such as artichoke, asparagus and cabbage — can often improve general health as well.

Constipation

If concern over their livers is a national preoccupation for the French, then the bowels fulfil the same role for the British: we spend millions of pounds each year on over-the-counter laxatives in an effort to keep “regular”. Many of these laxatives work by irritating the bowel to encourage peristalsis: long-term misuse damages the bowel mucosa and weakens the gut, leading to problems like diverticulosis.

There is no “standard pattern” or “normal” bowel movements. Some people go every day, others every other day or twice a day. Diet is, obviously, significant, with vegetarians and those eating a high- fibre diet likely to have a more frequent pattern of bowel motions than those eating mainly meat and refined carbohydrates.The food we eat also influences how long it can take to be excreted: for traditional people in the Third World it may take about 12 hours or less for food to pass through, whereas for those eating a conventional Western diet it can be as long as 72 hours.

Low-fibre diet combined with a lack of exercise — and often coupled with a sluggish lifestyle or personality — leads to what is sometimes called “flaccid” or “atonic” constipation. Constipation can also be associated with nervous tension and a hectic lifestyle with little time to respond to the normal urge to defecate. The sufferer is often so stressed that the digestive system is unable to relax and allow normal function to progress. In such cases stools are sometimes described as resembling rabbit droppings. This type of constipation can alternate with bouts of diarrhoea and may lead to the catch-all label of “irritable bowel syndrome” (see below).

Atonic constipation can be helped by exercise, a high-fibre diet (or the use of a bulking laxative such as isphaghula) and abdominal massage. Stronger herbal laxatives — such as the well known senna pods (Senna alexandrine) — contain chemicals called anthraquinones and work by irritating the bowel. Bilberries, carrots, figs, grapes, liquorice, olives, pears and walnuts are all rather gentler in action, but can still be helpful at combating constipation.

For constipation associated with nervous tension, bowel relaxants such as chamomile and lemon balm can be worth adding to the mixture. Gentle sources of fibre are preferable in this type of constipation, so conventional “roughage” — such as bran — should often be avoided, as should the anthraquinone herbs. Relaxation and a general reduction in stress levels are also important.

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