ABSTRACT
Nutrition is an integral part of the management of gastrointestinal illness. The following two sections will elucidate the basic mechanisms of how the hollow organs of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract handle and digest food, how illnesses of these organs affect nutritional status, and the role of nutrition in the management of these illnesses. The readers are referred to a GI textbook for further details on diseases mentioned in these sections. Neoplasms of the GI tract are not included (see Section 50).
