The most prevalent complaint heard today in doctors' offices involves digestive complaints. The biggest over-the-counter sellers for self-medication are antacids, laxatives, and pain relievers. All have a common origin in poor diet and digestion.

I believe this is an area that chiropractors should specialize in, if for no other reason than no other profession in the healing arts does! Obviously, those trained in gastroenterology are experts in diagnosing and treating diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, but no one specializes in restoring normal digestive function. The field is wide open, waiting for a profession to claim it.

In previous columns, I have:

*** listed common symptoms patients present to us every day that require dietary modification before permanent relief can be achieved;

*** explained symptoms specifically associated with protein, carbohydrate, and fats;

*** described how to differentiate somato-visceral symptoms from those having a viscero-somatic cause; and

*** detailed neurological correlation between visceral dysfunction and muscle contraction.

Last month, I wrote about the one-minute "take it to the bank" examination that can be performed easily during any routine office visit.

Now, I'm going to discuss the almost immediate effect food can have on the body and why understanding it is so important to you and your patients.

In the late 1970s, researchers discovered that the brain makes three chemicals (neurotransmitters) directly from the food we eat. Two amino acids (tyrosine and tryptophan) are used to make the neurotransmitters that control your mood.

Dopamine and norepinephrine are made specifically from the amino acid tyrosine. Production of these chemicals is increased when protein is eaten by itself, without the presence of carbohydrate or fat. This increase in the so-called alertness chemicals significantly improved reflex reaction times in geriatric patients within 30 minutes!

Serotonin is made from the amino acid tryptophan. Production of this chemical is increased when carbohydrate is eaten by itself in the absence of protein and fat. The study proved that eating a diet of carbohydrates only, without protein or fat, significantly improved memory and a sense of serenity in geriatric patients within 30 minutes!

I hasten to point out that it is imperative that the food must be digested and absorbed before the response will be noted. This begs the question, if either protein or carbohydrate is consumed by itself and the response is lacking and if there is no complaint of indigestion, what objective medical test can be employed to determine the digestive inadequacy? Where could you go to find out?

When normal digestion does not happen, no one pays attention to the consequences or to its restoration. Our society has come to rely on covering up the symptoms of poor digestion with antacids, laxatives, and products to relieve diarrhea and the discomfort of abdominal gas. However, little attention is paid to the PREVENTION of these occurrences.

Dietary selections and their digestion are critical in the prevention of disease. For example, cancer patients are placed on high protein diets in an effort to maintain their white and red blood cell counts and immune function while undergoing chemotherapy and radiation. No thought is given to whether the patient can digest such a diet. No test is given, or widely known, for determining what diet would best enhance the patient's chances of survival.

In 1988 the Surgeon General of the United States, C. Everett Koop, issued his report to the American people on health and nutrition. Dr. Koop emphasized that chronic degenerative diseases such as heart disease, strokes, cancer, and diabetes must be prevented since the search for cures was fruitless and cost of treatment and debilitation prohibitive. Another study, as reported in Introductory Nutrition by Helen Guthrie, PhD (1986), stated that improved nutrition could reduce degenerative diseases as follows:

... Heart disease by 75%

... Cancer by 78%

... Respiratory and infectious disease by 79%

... Type II diabetes by 52%

Imagine how it would impact your practice if the public knew that you were expert in determining and correcting digestive problems BEFORE disease became evident. In my previous columns, I have outlined a basic paradigm for getting started.

If you can consistently solve unresolved health care problems that have eluded other practitioners and methods, your professional success and financial independence will be assured. To do this, you need a fast, easy, safe, reliable, scientifically acceptable, and legally defensible screening procedure for evaluating the cause of a patient's symptoms. All of this is available in the basic sciences and your education places you in a unique position to offer this service to the public.