The Digestive System Part 4: The Role of a Registered Dietitian
We made it! We made it to part 4 of our The Digestive System series. I hope you have enjoyed learning about everything involved in digesting the food we eat everyday. This final post is going to answer the question: how does the digestive system relate to the job of the registered dietitian? Well, a dietitian plays a strong role in managing the functionality of the digestive system. Below i will share some examples of what i have seen in the field.
Let's take a look at the image above to reacquaint ourselves with how the digestive system works. Let's first focus on the
Esophagus: If food can't get past the esophagus to the stomach, the rest of the digestive process can't occur. One factor that will prevent food from reaching the stomach is swallowing difficulty. This is when a person's ability to swallow is effected and food can't move safely through the esophagus. Now let's look at the stomach
Stomach: With certain illnesses, nerves within the stomach are damaged. This prevents food from moving to the small intestine in a timely manner. If this occurs, the small intestine can't complete its' functions. When food moves slowly like this, an individual may experience abdominal discomfort. Now lets look at the pancreas.
Pancreas: Sometimes the pancreas is not able to send the help (the enzymes) to the small intestine to break down carbohydrate, fat, and protein.
The role of a registered dietitian:
The registered dietitian plays an integral role with individuals that may present with any of the concerns listed above. We work with physicians, nurses, and speech therapists to provide the best care to a patient. This may involve providing altered texture foods that an individual can safely swallow. Sometimes medicines may be prescribed by the doctor to help increase the rate at which food moves from the stomach to the intestine. Lastly, sometimes the pancreas can't send over the help (the enzymes) needed to break down fat, carbohydrate, and protein in the small intestine. However,there are therapies that provide these enzymes to a person so normal breakdown can occurs. The registered dietitian monitors all of this while treating a patient.
Well, there you have it folks. i hope you enjoyed this series and learned a lot. The body is a wondrous and complex system. As a registered dietitian and nutrition professional, I am glad that I am able to work with other disciplines to help others maintain their best health.
Thanks for reading!