International Stomach Protection Day | Receive the stomach care guide to keep your stomach healthy

International Stomach Protection Day is also known as International Stomach Health Day. April 9th ​​of each year is designated as "International Stomach Health Day" by the International Natural Medicine and Health Engineering Research Association and the World Health Management Alliance. The selection of April 9th ​​as International Stomach Health Day is intended to remind people to pay attention to stomach health when everything comes back to life in spring, laying a solid foundation for health throughout the year.

1. Which group of people are at high risk of stomach problems?

1. Workers who stay up late at night: They like or are forced to stay up late, have irregular lifestyles and eat irregularly, with only one meal being full and one meal not being full.

2. The group that eats and drinks as much as they want: They love dining together and ordering takeout, they like strong flavors and spicy food, and they are not afraid of smoking and drinking.

3. Extremely frugal people: they are reluctant to throw away leftovers.

4. The group that tolerates serious illnesses without seeking medical treatment for minor illnesses: they let minor illnesses turn into serious ones, are unwilling to undergo physical examinations, and are afraid of gastroscopy.

5. Nervous and nervous people: easily angry, easily excited or always suspicious.

6. Overeaters: Overeating will disrupt the normal digestion and absorption rhythm of the gastrointestinal tract. The pancreas will secrete a large amount of digestive fluid in a short period of time, leading to stomach bloating and discomfort, or even acute gastric dilatation and acute pancreatitis. In severe cases, it can lead to pancreatic cancer.

2. Several common misunderstandings about stomach care

Myth 1: Eating soft food can nourish the stomach

Rice porridge and noodles have always been considered good for nourishing the stomach. Eating them when the stomach is uncomfortable will indeed make the stomach feel more comfortable. This type of food has a low protein content, almost no fat, and is in a liquid state, so it is digested very quickly. Eating it when the digestive function is poor will not burden the stomach; occasionally eating it after eating a lot of fish and meat will also have certain benefits. However, the stomach function has the characteristic of "use it or lose it". If you are in good condition on a daily basis, but always eat porridge and soft rice that are particularly easy to digest, or finely ground flour, and soft noodles for a long time, the stomach's ability to digest food will degenerate and deteriorate.

Myth 2: Superstition about so-called stomach-nourishing foods

For many people, eating is an important means of nourishing the stomach. Having said that, you can't eat randomly, for example: Like cures like? No reason! Drinking coffee hurts the stomach? Don't worry. According to surveys, the occurrence of gastric ulcers or duodenal ulcers has nothing to do with whether you drink coffee, but is mainly related to whether you are infected with Helicobacter pylori, whether you smoke, etc. The legendary stomach-nourishing biscuits? Just a legend. Soda crackers are often recommended to patients with stomach problems. The fat content they contain is not necessarily low, ranging from 10%-30%, which is not so healthy. It's okay to eat a little as a snack, but eating too much is a burden and has no effect on nourishing the stomach.

Misconception 3: If you have a stomach problem, you can only rely on nursing care to cure it.

Many stomach problems are chronic, and everyone experiences them differently. For example, some patients with gastritis may have obvious stomach pain even though the inflammation is not severe. Some patients with gastric ulcers or even gastric cancer never have any stomach pain or bloating from beginning to end. In the end, they may find the problem only after they go to the hospital for a checkup because of rapid weight loss or black stools. The difference in symptoms can easily lead patients with stomach problems to ignore early treatment and rely on so-called stomach care to solve the problem. It's not that a healthy diet is not important, but at this time, targeted treatment is more important.

3. How to protect our stomach and intestines?

1. Reasonable and healthy diet: If you want to have a healthy stomach, you must pay attention to a healthy diet, mainly eat a light diet, eat more fresh fruits and vegetables, eat less greasy, sweet and sour, spicy, rough, overheated, cold and stimulating foods, and stay away from fried, grilled, and pickled foods.

2. Maintain a regular life: Good living habits are also very important for gastric health. Adequate rest and sleep, and reasonable exercise are all conducive to gastrointestinal health. Especially for patients with gastric health risks, reasonable living habits are also crucial to the recovery of gastrointestinal physiological functions.

3. Pay attention to the screening of Helicobacter pylori: Due to the habit of communal dining in my country, public chopsticks and spoons are rarely used, and the infection rate of Helicobacter pylori remains high, reaching 50-60% in the population. Almost all infected people have chronic active gastritis, and may also have complications such as peptic ulcer, indigestion, and even gastric malignant tumors. Improving eating habits, avoiding bacteria from entering the body through the mouth, and regularly screening for Helicobacter pylori are important measures to protect stomach health.

4. Pay attention to gastroscopy screening: Conventional examination methods such as CT, B-ultrasound, blood drawing, etc. cannot detect gastric lesions in a timely and accurate manner. Although gastroscopy is an invasive examination method, it is the most important examination method for the diagnosis of gastric diseases and the detection of early lesions. Do not blindly refuse gastroscopy due to fear and rejection.

5. Quit smoking and drinking. Tobacco and alcohol are harmful and have no benefits. They are the most irritating to the stomach and intestines. Alcohol directly stimulates the gastric mucosa, causing widespread congestion and erosion of the gastric mucosa, and even ulcers. Smoke not only directly damages the gastric mucosa, but also damages the microvessels of the stomach, causing the gastric mucosa to be in a state of "hypoxia" for a long time, leading to the occurrence of chronic gastritis.

[News at a Glance ] If you feel stomach discomfort, what tests should you do?

Currently, the main gastric examination items include: Helicobacter pylori (Hp) testing, pepsinogen testing, gastrin, magnetically controlled capsule gastroscopy and electronic gastroscopy, etc.

How to choose gastric examination items? In summary, most adults need to be screened for Helicobacter pylori.

1. For people at high risk of gastric cancer (people infected with Hp, people with atrophic gastritis, gastric ulcer, gastric polyps, hypertrophic gastritis, pernicious anemia, people who have undergone partial gastrectomy, first-degree relatives of gastric cancer patients, people with high-risk behaviors for gastric cancer, including long-term smoking, eating pickled foods, high salt intake, alcoholism, etc.), electronic gastroscopy is the first choice. If they cannot tolerate electronic gastroscopy, magnetically controlled capsule endoscopy can be selected.

2. The general population can choose to have a pepsinogen combined with a gastrin test. If the results indicate a high risk of gastric cancer, further gastroscopy can be performed. Paying attention to gastric disease screening in daily life is helpful for detecting early gastric diseases.