Written by Dr. Juan Carlos Cassano
Linkedin Profile: Juan Carlos Cassano
Nutrition is an important key to our health. Nutrition is 85% of fitness! We have heard these statements throughout the years, and now, more than ever, people are paying more attention to what they eat.
But what if I told you that what you put in your body is not enough? I am here to tell you that it isn’t. What is even more important, crucial in fact, is what your body assimilates.
In this article, we are going to discuss the importance of digestion in muscle hypertrophy and recovery and its importance to overall health. We will also discuss how to enhance your digestive powers with powerful supplements such as ox bile to ensure that you assimilate the nutrition that your body so badly craves.
Key Takeaways
- Ox bile supplements mimic human bile and aid in fat digestion, promoting nutrient absorption and preventing digestive issues.
- These supplements support gallbladder health, enhance liver detoxification, and help regulate blood sugar levels.
- Ox bile supplements can be beneficial for people who have had their gallbladder removed (a condition known as cholecystectomy).
- Ox bile contributes to the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins and promotes a balanced gut microbiome for improved overall digestive health.
Let’s begin by taking a look at how the digestive system functions.
The Importance of Digestion
We all know that it is important to follow a diet that will help you achieve your health and fitness goals.
We see these videos on social media all the time: guides on what to eat and what foods not to eat, how to calculate your macros for muscle gain and fat loss, and people posting what they eat, which helps us choose our foods carefully to optimize our health and reach our goals.
There are apps galore that help us calculate how much protein, carbs and fats we need, and sure, all this new tech helps us out with our nutritional goals, but at the end of the day, this is not the be all and end all of nutrition.
As great as our diet may be, if we cannot digest the food we eat, then our body will not be able to assimilate the nutrition we are feeding it, and we may not be achieving the health and fitness results we are after.
Insight into the Digestive Process
The digestive system is complex, and one of the most ancient organ systems of our bodies. It contains organs whose mechanical actions and chemical secretions help with the breakdown of the proteins, carbs and fats that we eat.
Many people eat a great diet but have no idea how well their digestive system is working. If you follow a good diet, then you want your digestive system to work optimally.
The breakdown of food begins in your mouth with the mechanical action of the teeth and tongue, and the chemical breakdown of carbs via the enzyme called amylase that is contained in your salivary secretions, and this breakdown of food continues when your food reaches your stomach.
Here, the pulsating and grinding action of the stomach mechanically breaks down food from a paste to a liquid, and the main secretions such as HCl and pepsinogen allow the breakdown of proteins into peptides.
Once your food reaches the intestines, this digested liquid from the stomach mixes with bile and pancreatic juices to complete breakdown proteins into amino acids, carbohydrates into simple sugars and fats into fatty acids. I’m absolutely sure that most people don’t think of all these factors that are important in digestion when it comes to nutrition.
The Problem with GI issues
Now the reason I am bringing all this up is that many seemingly healthy people, although following a wonderful nutritional program, can have a dysfunctional digestive process, and most people do not know what to do about it.
Many people complain about gastrointestinal (GI) issues such as bloatedness, allergies to foods, IBS, reflux or even more serious symptoms like diarrhoea and vomiting, or even hemarrhoids, and they worry about developing 6-pack abs or large biceps which is of concern, as looking good on the outside is not as important as your internal organ health.
You can’t possibly achieve a good level of health and fitness if your digestive system is not working well. It is important to address the health of your organs first, and then you can worry about your 6-pack abs.
When GI issues come up, it is a sure sign that there is something wrong with the function of the organs associated with the digestive system, and I don’t want to bore you with an in depth lecture on biology, but I hope you get the picture…
The digestive system consists of the the stomach, intestines, liver and pancreas, oh, and let’s not forget that all important gall bladder. An issue with your gut health is usually because any or some of these organs are not working properly.
Further, an issue with your gut health can be a lead to issues with your immune system, and this can make you more susceptible to infectious diseases. So, what can you do about it?
Going to the doctor and providing faecal samples would be my recommendation. I worked in a clinical setting in the local hospital for the last 5 years, and as a medical professional, I can tell you that providing a faecal sample will provide doctors with an inside look as to how well your digestive system is working, and what could be wrong.
From my many years of medical experience, I can tell you that there are certain things you can do to help your digestive system do its job, and this can help alleviate or even get rid of the symptoms you might be feeling. Please be aware that these recommendations I am making will in no way replace the professional advice you will get by personally visiting your GP and is purely for educational purposes. If you do have any GI issues, please see your doctor.
Help For Your Digestive System
Depending on your individual situation, taking digestive aids such as apple cider vinegar or in some more extreme cases, HCL pills, can also help.
Eating papaya and pineapple is very helpful and aids in the digestion of proteins due to these fruits containing papain and bromelain. These fruits or their extracts are excellent for most benign symptoms like IBS, bloatedness and indigestion. Acids and enzymes can be very helpful in the digestion of proteins, and there are many suggestions I could make, and I have made several recommendations here that you should consider.
Ox-Bile: The Forgotten Digestive Supplement
Other than acids and protein enzymes, Ox-Bile is another supplement, a rather forgotten supplement that can help, specifically with the breakdown of fats. This is especially useful for people who have had their gall bladder removed, and this particularly is the case for women in their middle years, especially mothers. The reason?
If you didn’t know, the liver creates bile which is stored in the gall bladder for the breakdown and metabolism of fat in our diets. If you have difficulty digesting foods that are high in fats, then ox-bile is probably a supplement you want to try.
What is Ox bile?
Ox bile is derived from the bile of oxen collected from their gallbladders during meat processing. Chemically, it is nearly identical to the bile produced by our own bodies, being synthesized from cholesterol and primarily consisting of bile acids and salts. This similarity ensures that ox bile supplements can effectively mimic the natural bile’s role in our digestive systems
Do I have a bile salt deficiency?
A bile salt deficiency can lead to digestive issues like bloating, gas, diarrhea, or fatty stools, especially after eating fatty foods. It may also cause nutrient deficiencies in fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, and K), leading to problems like poor immune function, night blindness, and skin issues.
If you frequently experience indigestion, unexplained weight changes, or have had your gallbladder removed, you might have a bile acid deficiency. Consulting a healthcare professional for testing and considering ox bile supplements, which mimic naturally occurring bile acid, can help restore healthy bile salt levels.
Key Benefits of Ox Bile
Ox-bile has been used in Chinese medicine for thousands of years and medical reviews on the use of this supplement have shown that it has positive effects on the function of the gastrointestinal tract and liver, as well as in the regulation of fat and cholesterol in the body, and their uses as energy sources.
In the West, they are recognized as a therapeutic nutraceutical that is actually used to treat many diseases, including bile synthesis and liver disorders, gall stones, fatty liver disease, and even some types of cancer!
Enhances Fat Digestion
Bile primarily breaks down dietary fats, which are essential for proper digestion and absorption. Ox bile supplements assist by emulsifying lipids, facilitating easier breakdown by digestive enzymes. This process ensures fats are properly digested and absorbed, preventing issues like fatty stools and nutrient deficiencies.
Bile salts bind to fats and oils, emulsifying them into very small, microscopic droplets that can be effectively digested. This action not only enhances the digestive process but also prevents the crystallization of fats, which could otherwise lead to digestive issues.
Bile salts mix fats with water, preventing digestive discomforts and promoting overall digestive health, making ox bile supplements invaluable for those struggling with fat digestion.
Improves Absorption of Fat-Soluble Vitamins
Fat-soluble vitamins—A, D, E, and K—are crucial for immune response, vision, and skin health. Bile salt supplements enhance the absorption of these nutrients, ensuring effective utilization. Without sufficient bile salts, these vitamins may not be adequately absorbed, leading to potential deficiencies.
Bile salts are vital for absorbing healthy fats and fat-soluble nutrients and minerals like magnesium, iron, and calcium. A bile salt deficiency can result in impaired immunity, night blindness, and skin conditions.
Supports Gallbladder Function
Ox bile supplements support gallbladder function and prevent gallstones. Regular intake prevents bile from becoming overly thick, reducing the risk of gallstone formation. This is especially beneficial for those with impaired bile production, as the supplements can mimic the natural bile’s role in digestion.
Ox bile can also lower inflammation in the bile ducts, benefiting overall gallbladder health. By reducing inflammation and improving bile flow, these supplements relieve digestive issues like gas and bloating caused by gallbladder dysfunction.
Bile acids bind waste products and assist in their transport and excretion from the liver, further supporting digestive health.
If you are looking at purchasing a high-quality Ox-Bile supplement, Nutriest from Europe provides the highest quality Ox-Bile, as it is sourced from grass-fed organic beef, free from chemicals, pesticides and hormones.
Additional Health Benefits of Ox Bile
Bile acids may also be important in the regulation of mammalian hormones, such as testosterone.
So it appears that bile has further implications to our health, specifically the endocrine system, and if you think about it, it kind of makes sense. Ox-bile helps regulate cholesterol levels in our body, and cholesterol being the building block of steroids such as testosterone then lends to this theory.
Now you might also be asking, “Have athletes ever use Ox-Bile?” Yes actually, but it wasn’t for testosterone enhancing reasons.
Vince Gironda, The Iron Guru, nutritionist to Hollywood stars and bodybuilding guru was one of several bodybuilders that recommended its use in the golden era to enhance digestion and assimilation of food. He mainly used it along with other digestive aids to help his clients assimilate their nutrition better which helped increase recovery from workouts and enhance muscle hypertrophy.
Taking ox bile is also beneficial for people with the following conditions:
- Alcoholic fatty liver disease
- Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
- Cystic fibrosis
- Primary biliary cirrhosis
- Liver inflammation
- Hypothyroidism
- Psoriasis
Conclusion
So, I hope you have enjoyed this discussion on the importance of digestion and how lesser-known digestive aids such as ox-bile help regulate gastrointestinal processes and improve liver function, both of which are important in keeping an anabolic environment for maximizing muscle hypertrophy.
Something I didn’t talk about in this article is the lipotropic effect of ox-bile, and what I mean by that is the fat-loss effect that it can have, which is excellent for those that want to lose fat. The lipotropic effect of Ox-bile has been demonstrated scientifically and it will be subject of a future article.
Written by Dr. Juan Carlos Cassano
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