The Pancreas – How Digestion Works

The pancreas is essential for blood sugar regulation. It also plays an big role in digestion, particularly in the stomach. The pancreas is both an exocrine and an endocrine organ. That means it releases hormones into your bloodstream (endocrine function) and it releases chemicals like enzymes through ducts into the stomach and small intestine (exocrine function).

The endocrine function of the pancreas is mostly for blood sugar regulation. Blood sugar regulation deserves its own post, but we’ll get into it a little bit here. Blood sugar levels are very closely monitored by the central nervous system. The hormones that the pancreas secretes are glucagon and insulin. Glucagon and insulin are the two main hormones that tightly control blood sugar levels.

• Glucagon: When blood sugar levels get too low, your pancreas secretes this hormone to raise them back up to a healthy level. It does this by triggering gluconeogenesis (converting amino acids into glucose). It also triggers your liver to break down glycogen into glucose and release it into the bloodstream. Finally, it triggers stored fat to breakdown into fatty acids to be used for energy.
• Insulin: Insulin stores excess glucose in our liver, fat tissue, and muscles. When blood sugar levels are too high, your pancreas secretes insulin.

In digestion, we focus on the pancreas’ exocrine function. Your pancreas releases pancreatic juices that contain digestive enzymes like lipase, amylase, and proteases. These enzymes break down fats, carbs, and proteins, respectively. Pancreatic juices also contain bicarbonate that neutralizes the pH of the chyme (food as it leaves the stomach and enters the small intestine). This is important so the acidity doesn’t burn the small intestine.

How Northern Digestion Affects The Pancreas

Your brain triggers both the digestive system and hormone secretion. A healthy brain stem is very important to a correctly functioning pancreas. While you chew your food, your brain is sensing if there is fat, protein, and/or carbohydrates present. The presence of each of these macronutrients will trigger different enzymes, peptides, hormones, etc. Chewing for an adequate amount of time gives your brain time to take in the information and relay it to your digestive and endocrine system.

Check out the previous How Digestion Works posts to learn more about the upper digestive system:

The Brain And Mouth – How Digestion Works

The Stomach – How Digestion Works

The Liver – How Digestion Works

The pancreas is triggered to release pancreatic juices by two hormones: Cholecystokinin (CCK) and secretin. These are both produced by your small intestine. However, your small intestine will not be triggered to make these if

• chyme isn’t acidic enough,
• your not getting enough bitter flavors, protein, or fat,
• the cells of your duodenum (upper part of your small intestine) are inflamed, and/or
• you have poor vagus nerve communication.

How The Pancreas Affects Southern Digestion

Without digestive enzymes from the pancreas, you lose key players in the chemical digestive process. That means you will likely not be able to breakdown food particles as well as you need to. This can cause inflammation in your intestines, nutrient deficiency, and other complications. If your chyme is acidic, and your pancreas doesn’t produce pancreatic juices, it can burn your small intestine.

Practical Diet And Lifestyle Changes

• Eat a wide variety of properly prepared, nutrient dense foods
• Focus on brain health
• Eat bitter foods
• Eat enough protein and healthy fat

For those of you who have read the previous posts in the How Digestion Works series, you might be noticing a pattern. Eat a wide variety of properly prepared, nutrient dense foods is always near the top of these lists. That’s because your diet is one of the main determining factors as to how healthy every cell in your body is. Getting enough nutrients is always the number 1 priority. You can ensure that you are by eating a lot of different, whole foods. Don’t stick with the same thing everyday. Switch it up and always add more color.

As we went over earlier, your brain is highly involved in processing information about your food and directs the digestive and endocrine system accordingly. Your brain stem is kept healthy by the basics: A nutrient dense diet and regular exercise. If your eyes just glazed over…mine too. A healthy diet and regular exercise is everybody’s go to advice. So, let’s make this more fun and practical!

I have a challenge for you. There are two things I want you to do today for your brain health (and therefore pancreas health). The only way to create positive change in your life is to take action. It is imperative to this challenge that you do both of these things in the next 24 hours:

1. Do a guided yoga practice (you can find short, 20-30 minute videos on youtube).
2. Make and eat salmon with a side of veggies for a meal.

Yoga is great for stress relief, getting your lymphatic system moving, stretching your muscles to help prevent injury, improving memory, building strength, learning positive self talk, and gently massaging the digestive organs. You can do yoga anywhere and anytime. It doesn’t even require a mat if your don’t have one (although, I would not recommend that you do yoga on a hard, rough surface). You can do it in a chair, on the couch, on the carpet, in bed, or even outside in the grass (as long as you don’t mind bugs).

Salmon has healthy fats that are essential to brain health. Veggies are high in flavonoids and nutrients that support and protect your brain and your pancreas. This meal does not have to be complicated. Try crispy skin salmon seasoned with salt and pepper or baked salmon with dill, parsley, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and capers. Your veggie could be a simple salad, an air fried veggie medley, steamed broccoli with salt and butter, or (my personal favorite) roasted brussels sprouts with salt, pepper, avocado oil, and fresh garlic. Whatever you choose, have fun with it!

For my busy professionals: I know you are short on time. If ordering takeout is the only way you are getting salmon and veggies today then by all means, order in. Do your best to stay away from glazes or super oily veggies. Most times, restaurants use processed sugar and unhealthy oils like vegetable oil. You could also consider meal prepping.

Some foods that activate our bitter taste receptors include

• Arugula
• Dill
• Coffee
• Jerusalem artichoke
• Peppermint
• Kale
• Dandelion greens
• Turmeric
• Ginger
• 100% pure cocoa
• eggplant
• Brussels sprouts
• Green tea
• Broccoli rabe
• Cranberries

Bitter foods are slowly disappearing as America continues to favor sweet, highly palatable foods. Unfortunately, not only do we lose the health benefits of bitter foods if we aren’t consuming them, but it can lead to dysfunction in the digestive tract. Not eating enough bitter foods can hinder your duodenum from secreting CCK and secretin.

Summary

Your pancreas begins its exocrine function at roughly the same time as the gallbladder starts secreting bile. CCK is produced by the small intestine and triggers the pancreas to release pancreatic juices into the duodenum (The first section of your small intestine).

Pancreatic juices consist of bicarbonate (which is essentially baking soda) and digestive enzymes (lipase, amylase, and proteases). Bicarbonate raises the pH of your chyme so the acidity doesn’t burn the inside of your small intestine. Digestive enzymes continue the chemical breakdown of fats, carbohydrates, and proteins.

Things can start going wrong when CCK and secretin aren’t secreted by the duodenum. Low fat, bitter foods, and protein, watered down chyme, poor vagus nerve communication, and a damaged duodenum can all be culprits.

Let me know in the comments what type of salmon and veggies you ended up making! Don’t be afraid to drop the recipe either. We are a community of food lovers!

Have a wonderful week and look out for our next post on the small intestine!!