The gastrointestinal system or the gut starts in the mouth and extend all the way through the anus. This means that the process of digestion begins with a bite of food and ends when what is left is eliminated either through metabolism, defecation, urination or sweating. At Oaktree Wellness Center, the evaluation of gut health begins with the type and quality of food and substances our patients consume. The GI tract is much more than just a system that breaks down food and absorbs nutrients for the body to use. The gut is a series of active organs that participate in all of the bodily processes, including mental/emotional response, the immune health, metabolism of all macro and micronutrients, infectious processes and much more.
The gut is a complex system that contains both bacteria and yeast, known as flora. Different bacteria and yeast work together to aid in the digestion or processing of our food in a symbiotic or balanced relationship. Various conditions, especially the use of antibiotics, can upset this balance by killing the good bacteria in addition to the bad bacteria. This results in an imbalance of the flora known as dysbiosis. Dysbiosis can lead to many gastrointestinal problems including chronic or recurrent yeast infections, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), diarrhea, candida overgrowth, and malabsorption or leaky gut syndrome.
Oaktree Wellness Center addresses GI conditions with dietary protocols and uses nutrition as medicine. Intravenous vitamin and nutrient therapies have proven to be very valuable in treating malabsorption, malnutrition, inflammation and the effects that heavy metals have on gut and overall immune function.