All plants are defined digestive - and the preparations that include them - capable of assisting the chemical-physical transformations undergone by food in the various tracts of the digestive system. Popular medicine is rich in useful remedies in the presence of poor digestion, but from the moment that dyspepsia can have different origins, it is necessary to classify the various sources according to rigorous scientific criteria.
Many digestive plants contain bitter principles and are therefore sources of so-called bitter or eupeptic drugs, as they promote salivary and gastric secretion, facilitating digestion. They are therefore useful as an aperitif - to prepare the digestive system to transform the food introduced - for gastric pain caused by a prolonged stay of food in the stomach, in the presence of hypochlorhydria (deficiency of hydrochloric acid in the gastric juice) and poor appetite. bitter drugs also boast a stimulatory effect on biliary secretion and intestinal gas expulsion. They are generally found in the form of tinctures or fluid extracts, often alcohol-based; famous are, for example, some digestive liqueurs based on cinchona or artichoke leaves. This category also includes gentian, centaurea, quassio, holy thistle, cinchona, cascarilla, hops, ginger, wormwood, bitter orange and the peel of other citrus fruits. In the latter case, the digestive action is due to the sensitive and modulated irritative capacity that the terpenic mixture exerts on the mucous membranes of the stomach, which are urged to produce a greater quantity of gastric juice; there is also a reflex stimulation mainly due to the olfactory perception and the organoleptic properties of the essential oil drug. Perfumes, in fact, increase salivation: this is received at the gastric level as a foretaste of the arrival of the bolus; consequently, the secretion of gastric juices increases.
In addition to bitter drugs, plants with cholagogue / choleretic properties are also used as digestives. The distinction with the previous category is not clear-cut, as many drugs belong to both categories; however, in general, one "action prevails" over the other. The terms cholagogue and choleretic refer, respectively, to the ability to stimulate the bile flow towards the intestine and the secretion of bile by the liver cells; many drugs share both peculiarities; among these we remember turmeric, chelisonia, artichoke , milk thistle, boldo, wormwood and dandelion.
A last category of natural remedies used in the presence of digestive disorders is that of carminatives, capable of limiting the formation and above all the stagnation of gas in the gastrointestinal tract, favoring its expulsion from the stomach and intestines. These include cumin, anise and fennel.
As anticipated, many "digestive" drugs perform an "action on all three fronts, with a prevalence of one characteristic over the others; antimicrobial activities are also common. Chilli pepper deserves a particular mention, which does not fall into the three categories mentioned but is widely used in the presence of dyspepsia, thanks to its ability to stimulate gastric secretion and induce secondary analgesia. Finally, the pineapple stem and papaya deserve a mention, used as digestive supplements for their marked proteolytic action (they favor the digestion of proteins and are therefore used in gastric and duodenal insufficiencies).
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