Dry Mouth Digestive Problems
It stands to reason that people with dry mouth
symptoms would potentially suffer from poor digestion. After all, if you
don't have any saliva to help break down your food during the chewing
process, and you are diluting what little saliva you do have with water
to wash down the food, your digestive process already has two strikes
against it.
Surprisingly, it's very difficult to find any
discussion of the problem, let alone a possible solution. This is
probably due in part to the fact that most commercial products merely
moisten or coat the mouth, thus not producing any natural saliva to aid
in digestion. This should shift the focus to natural, herbal
alternatives, but since there's little profit and/or exclusivity to
these herbal treatments, they go largely ignored.
One commercial product we do use fairly
frequently is Angostura Aromatic Bitters. Since a key ingredient is
gentian, which is known for its ability to stimulate saliva, we
typically take a teaspoon or so before meals. It's a stimulant for the
appetite, and since the bottle claims that it will also reduce
flatulence, that must say something for its digestive properties. While
bitters are usually thought of as an ingredient in mixed drinks, the
bottle claims you can add the bitters to an extremely wide variety of
food. Thus, it may have the capability of stimulating your saliva while
you eat. It may be worth a try.
Not surprisingly, most of the herbs mentioned
in our herbal treatment section are said to be good for digestion. This
is quite logical considering the fact that they all have the capability
of stimulating saliva. You may want to experiment with some of these
herbs to see if they can stimulate enough saliva to get you through
eating without using as much water. Or, if you enjoy hot foods, try a
little hot pepper sauce made with cayenne pepper directly on your food.
As usual, if you have any ideas to share, we'd
love to hear from you.
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