Does Your Digestive System Change With Age? (2024)

FAQs

Does Your Digestive System Change With Age? ›

As you age, your digestive system can slow down and become less efficient, leading to constipation, heartburn, and other digestive problems. It is estimated that approximately 40% of adults over 45 suffer from at least one age-related digestive disorder.

Our digestive system moves food through our bodies through a series of muscle contractions. As we age, this process can slow down. When that happens, more water from the food is absorbed into the body, which can lead to constipation. Staying hydrated is very important to help prevent constipation.

Excessive growth of certain bacteria (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth) becomes more common with age and can lead to pain, bloating, and weight loss. Bacterial overgrowth may also lead to decreased absorption of certain nutrients, such as vitamin B12, iron, and calcium.

The walls of the small intestines atrophy with age. This alters the shape of the villi and reduces the surface area across which absorption occurs. Along with the atrophy these is a decrease in the production of digestive enzymes.

As stated at the outset, as we age things change, and this includes bowel habits. The most common thing to happen with age is that constipation is more frequent.

The composition of the gut microbiota changes with the increasing of the age. The changes are various in different people. The gut microbiota of some people turns into a combination of fewer beneficial bacteria and more pro‐inflammatory bacteria, which affects immune system and causes a low‐grade inflammatory state.

However, the reduced gastric acid secretion in older adults greatly decreases the action of pepsin. This, combined with the deterioration of intestinal muscles, reduces the rate of protein digestion and absorption [40]. Additionally, abdominal pain may increase, and various gastrointestinal diseases may flare up.

After the child is 7 years old or older, the child's digestive system has completed and is almost similar to adults in both anatomy and physiology, especially the intestinal microflora.

Once you are an adult, your stomach pretty much remains the same size -- unless you have surgery to intentionally make it smaller. Eating less won't shrink your stomach, says Moyad, but it can help to reset your "appetite thermostat" so you won't feel as hungry, and it may be easier to stick with your eating plan.

Gastrointestinal (GI) changes in the elderly are common, and despite some GI disorders being more prevalent in the elderly, there is no GI disease that is limited to this age group.

Do you lose digestive enzymes as you age? ›

During digestion, the body breaks down food, extracting the energy and nutrients it needs. An important part of this process is accomplished by the deconstructive activities performed by specialized enzymes. But, as we age, our body produces fewer of the enzymes necessary to properly break down food.

The digestive or gastrointestinal system slows down with age. Seniors may report having trouble swallowing, irritation in their gut, and may have prolonged constipation.

If the answer's more than three, the wiper might have a condition called “fecal smearing.” The excremental expert explains that this revolting symptom occurs “when too much fecal matter stays at the entrance of the anus after you finish the poo” — think the human version of an ungulate's dirty derriere.

You may have trouble digesting milk or dairy products as you age. But you may not have to give up all dairy products and the calcium and protein they provide. Many people can have small amounts of dairy with no stomach upset. And some dairy products are better tolerated than others.

Summary: Alterations in gut function with ageing have particular implications for oesophageal, gastric, and colonic motility. Older individuals are particularly susceptible to malnutrition, postprandial hypotension, dysphagia, constipation, and faecal incontinence.