從免疫學觀點看腸道與人體健康的關係

近三十年來國人飲食習慣逐漸西化，腸胃道相關疾病也一直居高不下，尤其是大陽癌已躍居臺灣癌症死亡率的第三位。腸道中充滿細菌，細菌種類超過五百種，細菌的數量甚至比全身細胞總數還多。腸道細菌處於動態平衡，益生菌除了提供重要的身體營養素外，還可以抑制腐敗菌增生；而腐敗菌會分解動物性脂肪及蛋白質，產生毒素，危害身體免疫系統，導致各種疾病的發生。腸道沒有像皮膚般的保護層，爲了與細菌爭奪食物，確保營養來源無虞，腸道黏膜下方佈滿約佔全身淋巴系統百分之七十的淋巴細胞。腸道的健康對於身體的免疫能力，不容忽視。腸胃道的自我健康照料包括：戒菸酒，攝取高纖食物，減少動物性蛋白質與脂肪的攝取量，攝取足夠水分，補充乳酸菌，養成良好排便習慣，減少生活壓力，適量的運動，穴位按摩，定時健康檢查。

關鍵字

大腸癌；免疫；淋巴系統；益生菌

並列摘要

In the past three decades, the citizens in our country were gradually accustomed to western style diet. From then on, the gastrointestinal related illness persisted on the top position. Colon cancer, especially, leaped forward to the third highest death rate of cancers in Taiwan. As we know, the gut fills with more than 500 kinds of bacteria which even outnumber total body cells. There are no protective layers like skin for intestinal mucosa. To compete with bacteria for food and assure the nutrition without interruption, the sub-mucosa of intestine is covered with numerous lymphocytes which amount to around 70% of total lymph system. We couldn」t neglect the relation between intestine health and human immunity. The bacteria in gut are in dynamic balance status. The ”benefit bacteria” could offer important nutrition for our body. On the contrary, they also could suppress the growth of so called ”bad bacteria”. Bad bacteria could dissolve animal fat and protein into toxin components which endanger our immunity system, then resulted in happening of various diseases. Self care of gastrointestinal heath includes : to abstain from smoking and alcohol, to ingest high fiber diet, to reduce the ingestible amount of animal protein and fat, to drink adequate water, to supply lactic acid bacteria, to cultivate good defecation habit and regular exercise, to message meridian points related with intestine, to relieve tension, and to receive periodic health examination.