About 10 years ago, after spending endless hours with different doctors to try and resolve my health complaints, I found my way to a naturopatic doctor in Singapore who took all of 10 minutes to identify the root cause of my problems: a leaky gut. We ran a test via a lab in Australia, which confirmed this diagnosis, and soon I was on my way to better health with a targeted approach to heal my digestion.
At that time the diagnosis “leaky gut” was not really recognized by the mainstream medical community. Nowadays you hear it everywhere. Even if your regular physician fails to recognize it, functional and alternative health practitioners all over the world know that it is a real problem for many people and at the root of many different health complaints. Every single health book I read, whether it is on digestion, brain health or autoimmune disease points out leaky gut as an underlying contributing factor.
So let’s have a closer look at what a Leaky Gut really is, what causes it and what you can do about it.
The wondrous world of your digestive system:
Your gut has a surface area, which is 200 times larger than the total surface area of your skin. To put this in perspective: the lining of the small intestine only has a total surface area roughly the size of a tennis court!
This makes your gut the biggest interface between what is inside your body and the outside world.
What you put in your mouth passes, via the esophagus and stomach, into the 6-meter long small intestine and roughly 1 ½ meter long large intestine and technically what comes out the other end has never “entered” your body. It just passed through.
And while it was passing through, this amazing digestive system of ours absorbs what our body needs in the form of nutrients and tries to keep out what is of no use or potentially harmful. And even if the occasional offender in the form of microbes, toxins, etc. somehow manages to cross the barrier, there is a sophisticated immune system in place to tackle it head-on.
And this is what goes on inside your body, day in – day out, hour after hour, without you having to give it a single thought.
Unless things go wrong.
We seem to only notice our digestion when it starts to trouble us. Gas, bloating, cramps, constipation, diarrhea happen to be some of the most common health complaints and they can really make you miserable.
Plus, if left unchecked, your digestive issues can become the underlying cause for many different health complaints that are no longer limited to digestion but can involve any symptom in the body from allergies, to brain fog, skin issues, joint- and muscle pain, weight problems, auto-immune conditions and so on.
A healthy intestinal barrier is therefore critical for digestion, immunity and overall health.
The implications of a compromised intestinal barrier:
The lining of the intestinal barrier has a single outer layer of cells (the epithelial cells), which are tightly packed together. Covering these cells are thousands of tiny finger-like protrusions called microvilli, which absorb nutrients through the cells and into the bloodstream. The spaces in between the cells are called tight junctions and in a healthy gut they are regulated so that only properly digested and “screened” molecules can pass through.
If for some reason (and I will discuss these reasons later) the tight junctions become open or “permeable” unscreened particles and partly digested molecules can pass through.
This is also known as a “leaky gut” or gut hyper permeability.
The moment an unwanted particle enters the bloodstream our immune system springs into action, with a set of chain reactions, which include inflammation. So if there is a continuous influx of unwanted material, there is a continuous “fire” in the belly. The immune system is working overtime and all these foreign particles are adding to our toxic burden, which affects the liver and detoxification system.
The body’s efforts to control inflammation, support detoxification and cell repair uses different hormones and nutrients and over time this may result in nutrient deficiencies and hormonal imbalances.
At the same time the immune system deals with foreign particles by creating antibodies against them. This leads to food intolerances.
To sum it up: if a leaky gut is not addressed there can be a cascade of health issues that include the risk of developing chronic disease.
How do you know if you have a leaky gut:
When I was tested for leaky gut, I was dealing with fatigue and low energy, skin rashes, inability to gain weight, mood swings and digestive complaints. And these happen to be some of the most common complaints that are associated with a leaky gut:
Fatigue and low energy- Food intolerances, sensitivities or allergies
- Skin issues such as rashes, itchy skin, acne, eczema, hives, psoriasis, rosacea
- Seasonal allergies, pet allergies, environmental allergies
- Being overweight or underweight
- Joint pain, muscle pain or arthritis
- Digestive issues such as bloating, gas, diarrhea, constipation, burping, acid reflux, GERD, IBS
- Brain related symptoms such as brain fog, anxiety, chronic headaches, depression, ADHD
- Having an inflammatory bowel disease diagnosis such as Crohn’s, Ulcerative Colitis, Diverticulitis
- Having an auto-immune condition such as type 1 Diabetes, Hashimotos, Lupus, Celiac Disease, Multiple Sclerosis.
If you are dealing with any of these issues, you would want to get tested for intestinal permeability and/or assume you have it and work to address it through diet and supplementation. More on this later.
What causes a leaky gut:
1. Diet:
There are several known gut irritants that contribute to intestinal permeability: sugar, refined carbohydrates, processed foods, Genetically Modified Foods (GMOs), gluten, grains and conventional dairy. *
Sugar and other refined carbohydrates feed yeast and bad bacteria in our gut and this can lead to overgrowth of these organisms. As we will see later this can affect gut permeability.
GMO foods and grains, especially the gluten containing grains contain lectins, a sugar-binding protein that damages the lining of the digestive tract. And similarly, conventional dairy, which has been pasteurized, homogenized making it difficult to digest has been shown to play a role in the development of leaky gut.
2. Stress:
Chris Kresser describes in more detail the mechanisms by which stress affects gut permeability in his article: http://chriskresser.com/how-stress-wreaks-havoc-on-your-gut/
In a nutshell, stress affects our microbiome: the 100 trillion bacteria that make up our intestinal flora and that aid in digestion, nutrient absorption, protection against invaders, detoxification, immune system response etc. Stress can alter the microbiome and cause the overgrowth of “bad” bacteria and this in turns increases the likelihood of intestinal permeability.
3. Toxin Overload:
Medicines such as antibiotics and NSAIDS (Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory drugs) such as Advil, aspirin, birth control pills, pesticides, exotoxins produced by yeast overgrowth etc. have all been shown to affect the permeability of our gut lining. **
4. Bacterial imbalances:
As mentioned before, the intestinal flora that reside in our digestive tract are vital to our health. Dr. David Perlmutter calls it “a veritable ecosystem living inside our digestive tract that pretty much commands the whole bodily system.” In his book “Brain Maker” he points out that “it is the gut bacteria’s DNA that may have a greater impact on your health than your own DNA.”
This “ecosystem” as he calls it is a delicate balance between various bacterial species. A change in the proportion of the various bacteria can compromise the health of your intestinal barrier. ***
As we saw, stress contributes to bacterial imbalances, as do certain foods such as refined carbohydrates, sugar, medications, chlorinated water, infections, parasites, low stomach acid, coming into this world through C-section, not having been breast-fed as a baby, etc.
What can help heal a leaky gut:
In order to heal and repair the lining of your gut it is important to follow a multi pronged protocol which removes all known irritants, adds wholesome, healing foods, re-inoculates the gut with good bacteria and repairs the damage with targeted supplements.
1. Remove all irritants
Remove all known digestive irritants from your diet by eating a clean, whole food diet that eliminates sugar, processed foods, refined carbohydrates, GMO foods, gluten, grains and conventional dairy. A Paleo type diet is a great plan to follow as it does not contain any of these known irritants and is anti-inflammatory in nature. You can read more on Paleo in this article.
2. Drink bone stock
Home made bone stock has been used as a traditional healing food in most cultures around the globe. Allowing bones to simmer for extended periods of time causes them to release easy-to-absorb minerals and healing compounds such as collagen, glucamine, proline, glycine. Apart from many other health benefits bone stock is an extremely soothing and healing elixir for the digestive tract and has been shown to help heal leaky gut and other digestive issues.
3. Eat pro- and pre-biotic rich foods to support the growth of good bacteria in the gut
Fermented foods such as sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir, beet kvass, provide the body with pro-biotics in the form of different strains of good bacteria.
Foods such as onions, leeks, garlic, avocados, green banana, asparagus are rich in prebiotics, which feed these good bacteria.
4. Eat coconut oil
Coconut oil is rich in healthy fats and has anti-bacterial, anti-viral and anti-fungal properties. You can read more on the health benefits of coconut here.
5. Use gut healing supplements
There are some wonderful natural remedies that can be used to help speed up the healing process: L-Glutamine, Slippery Elm Powder, Deglycyrrhizinated licorice, or DGL and Marshmallow root all contain compounds that help rebuild and maintain the protective lining of the digestive tract.
6. Take digestive enzymes
Dealing with leaky gut can affect the body’s enzyme production and therefore its ability to effectively break down food and absorb nutrients. Taking digestive enzymes with your meals helps support the digestive process and intestinal repair mechanisms.
If you are careful to follow these recommendations you are well on your way to re-establishing a healthy gut lining and reversing your related health issues. However, as always, everyone is unique and fine-tuning your diet and health building protocol to your own unique requirements is what is really going to make the difference.
Related studies and articles:
* http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3705319/
** http://leakygutresearch.com/nsaid/?ckattempt=1
*** http://www.drperlmutter.com/depression-microbiome-leaky-gut/
