Oils

Olive oil and cod-liver oil, if taken at bedtime into an empty stomach, are laxatives for some persons, particularly children.

Adults may take a dessertspoonful of best Lucca oil with each meal, eating it with fresh vegetables, such as beets or lettuce, or mixing it with potatoes.

Fruit

Fruits are laxative, either because they contain indigestible seeds, which act mechanically in the intestine (e. g., figs, berries), or because the vegetable acids and salts which they furnish upon being absorbed stimulate the digestive secretions and peristalsis.

Fruits with seeds are laxative, such as figs, blackberries, strawberries, huckleberries, blueberries, and also grapes in large amount without the seeds.

Fruits having special laxative properties through chemical action are apples, pears, peaches, oranges, shaddock, cherries, prunes, plums. Many fruits act in both the above ways, and raisins, figs, prunes, and apples leave considerable bulk of waste matter after digestion.

Fruit is always more laxative when eaten between meals or some time - say, half an hour - before breakfast. It then enters the intestine more promptly, and it is not retarded in its effect by the presence of other articles of diet. Its action is furthered by drinking a tumblerful or two of water.

With many persons constipation may be prevented by eating one or two oranges or the juice of half a grape-fruit before breakfast. The latter is very sour, and considerable sugar is required to make it palatable. This is a decided disadvantage for those who have flatulent dyspepsia or gout. Instead of sugar, the bitterness may be disguised by a little sherry or rum poured upon the cut fruit. A half dozen dried figs or a dozen or so of French prunes eaten at intervals during the day, when the stomach is empty, produce a laxative effect. These fruits in smaller quantities are very good for children. In some cases the breakfast may be confined exclusively to fruits for two or three months.

Cooked Fruits

With many persons having imperfect digestion raw fruits disagree, and since their laxative properties are not much weakened by being cooked, it is better to eat them in that form. Stewed prunes, or apples either stewed or baked, are very easy of digestion, and the latter may often be eaten by invalids in whom the digestive organs are very weak. Cooking berries or other suitable fruits by stewing renders them much more digestible, and does not impair their nutritive qualities. The principal objection to cooked fruits is that they usually require so much sugar to make them palatable that they may cause flatulency. A little bicarbonate of sodium will neutralise the acidity, and saccharin may be added instead of sugar. 39

Canned or dried fruits and fruits preserved in sirups are of little value for constipation.

A few fruits, like the banana, are apt to cause constipation.

Owing to the prevalent idea that fresh fruit relieves constipation, patients occasionally eat too much of it, with the result of producing dyspepsia and increasing their original trouble.

Nuts

Nuts, especially English walnuts and almonds, are excellent laxatives, partly from their bulky residue and in part from the oils which they contain.

Water

Copious draughts of either very hot or cold water, two or three tumblerfuls, should be taken before retiring and on rising. Many persons, from a belief that water drunk with meals is injurious, abstain from it and forget to take fluid between meals, and become constipated in consequence. If they happen to lose water by free perspiration also, the difficulty is enhanced. Such patients should be advised to drink water freely, as above indicated. It also aids digestion to take a tumblerful of hot water about an hour after a meal unless the gastric juice is feeble in strength of acidity. The stomach contents becoming somewhat thickened by loss of fluid through the pyloric orifice or by direct absorption through its own wall, are better digested by being diluted again. The temperature of the water drunk makes but little difference as far as constipation is concerned. Cold water is warmed and hot water is cooled by the oesophagus, so that upon reaching the stomach it is nearly of the normal body temperature, no matter how much it differed from this when swallowed, provided it has been taken slowly.

If swallowed in large draughts it does affect the stomach temperature for a few moments, but it is soon brought to the normal body temperature again (p. 339).

When patients will not drink enough plain water, they can be induced to take lemonade or water flavoured with some aromatic. A few cloves put in a tumbler of boiling water and allowed to steep overnight impart their flavour to the fluid, which may be drunk on rising in the morning.

Summary Of The Most Useful Articles For Chronic Constipation

Abundant water, coarse brown or bran bread, oatmeal, butter, fresh green vegetables (lettuce, spinach, sprouts, rhubarb, etc.), prunes, figs, apples (cooked or raw), peaches, berries, buttermilk, apple cider, koumiss, honey, English walnuts.

Foods To Be Avoided

Persons suffering from habitual constipation do well to give up the following articles: Eggs, milk, sweets, pastry, puddings made of simple amylaceous substances - such as rice, sago, etc. - fried foods, rich gravies, sauces, curry, strong condiments, pickles, cheese, tea, sour or red wines.