Whether you experience indigestion, acid reflux, bloating, cramps, constipation, or nausea — digestive symptoms are downright debilitating!
If you are dealing with the unrelenting symptoms of poor digestion, you’re not alone. Diets high in processed foods and low in fiber, antibiotic use, and chronic stress are increasingly prevalent in Western society and put a burden on the digestive system.
Why is Digestive Health Important?
There is truth to the saying “health begins in the gut.”
The digestive system is a collection of organs that work in synergy to ensure the breakdown and assimilation of nutrients from food, while encouraging efficient detoxification and waste elimination. When the stomach, liver, gallbladder, pancreas, small intestine, and colon work efficiently together, your cells can access nutrients needed for growth and repair, hormone synthesis, energy production, and other metabolic processes.
If your digestive system isn’t firing on all cylinders, nothing else in your body will function well!
Natural Ingredients to Improve Digestion
Thanks to the wisdom of traditional Korean medicine, we have several natural ingredients that may ease your digestive discomfort.
- Artichoke Leaf Extract You’re familiar with delicious artichoke hearts, but what about artichoke leaves? Artichoke leaf is an antioxidant-rich plant extract that may stimulate the liver’s production of bile (1). Bile allows you to emulsify and absorb fat effectively, which is good news considering that without proper fat absorption you would miss out on fat-soluble nutrients like vitamin E and D!
Milk Thistle With over 2,000 years of use behind it, milk thistle is a staple in K-Health for supporting a very important digestive organ: the liver. This organ works 24/7 to produce bile and filter everything you consume — it never gets a break! Luckily, milk thistle helps when your digestive system has taken a hit from overindulging. It contains a group of flavonoid compounds, known as silymarin, which may protect the liver (2).
- Fructooligosaccharides Fructooligosaccharides (FOS) refer to a type of indigestible fiber important for digestive health. It acts as a food source for the bacterial ecosystem in your gut, allowing these healthy microbes to proliferate and improve your gut health.
- Hawthorn Berry Extract Science has finally caught up to what traditional Korean medicine has known all along – that hawthorn berry extract has digestive benefits! The tiny, edible berries of the hawthorn bush are a rich source of antioxidant polyphenols and prebiotic fiber that encourage healthy digestion and elimination.
- Cāng Zhú The dried root of the Cāng Zhú herb – also known as black atractylodes rhizome – contains over 200 active compounds and is a popular digestive remedy in Eastern medicine (3).
- Poria Cocos Poria cocos — or more commonly poria — is a medicinal mushroom often used in traditional Eastern medicine for sluggish digestion and bloating. It’s also a source of compounds called polysaccharides that promote immunity (4).
- Sacred Lotus Seed The beautiful, aquatic lotus plant is a sacred symbol of spirituality in Buddhism, but did you know it’s packed with health benefits? Fiber-rich lotus seeds have been used across Asia for thousands of years for their medicinal properties, particularly when it comes to the digestive system.
- Licorice Root The sweet, anise-flavored licorice herb is native to Western Asia and makes a popular herbal remedy in K-Health for soothing the stomach and easing digestive discomfort. The Journal of the Australian Traditional-Medicine Society looked at the impact of licorice extract on people with gastric discomfort and acid reflux. The results found it improved gastric irritation — in some cases it was better than antacid medication (5).
- Cabbage Powder Cabbage is a cruciferous vegetable related to broccoli that supports a happy tummy thanks to its content of insoluble and soluble fiber. It’s a big part of the traditional Korean diet and is commonly used to make a delicious fermented vegetable dish known as kimchi!
Looking for a convenient supplement that contains the herbal ingredients mentioned in this article? KFDA-certified SJ Gut Health Forte (SJ Sokpyeon Hwan Forte) incorporates traditional Korean medicine principles to soothe heartburn, indigestion, and gastric upset. Try it today and see for yourself!
Resources
1. Kirchhoff et al. (1994). Increase in choleresis by means of artichoke extract. Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23195882/
2. Abenavoli et al. (2010). Milk thistle in liver diseases: past, present, future. Available at: https:// pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20564545/
3. Zhang et al. (2020). Atractylodis Rhizoma: A review of its traditional uses, phytochemistry, pharmacology, toxicology and quality control. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/ articles/PMC7521906/
4. Sun Y. (2014). Biological activities and potential health benefits of polysaccharides from Poria cocos and their derivatives. Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24751506/
5. Setright R. (2017). Prevention of symptoms of gastric irritation (GERD) using two herbal formulas: An observational study. Available at: https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/ INFORMIT.950298610899394
