Leaky Gut
Leaky Gut has shown to be implicated in multiple conditions inside and outside the gut.
ABOUT LEAKY GUT
Leaky gut or gut hyperpermeability is a dysfunction of the filtering system in the small intestine. The small intestine spans the digestive tract from the stomach to the large intestine and includes the duodenum, jejunum and ileum. As the name would suggest, the mechanism of action is that the gut “leaks” undigested particles into the bloodstream.
In a normal functioning gut, there are a small number of particles allowed to pass through the gut wall. However, when the gut wall becomes inflamed through a number of different mechanisms, this filtering barrier becomes compromised, and the “leaks” become larger. The resulting action is that foreign particles such as bacteria, viruses, fungi and undigested proteins penetrate the now leaky gut barrier into the bloodstream. This leads to inflammation as the immune system mounts a response as they are seen as “foreign” and not meant to be in the bloodstream.
This can lead to a host of systematic symptoms in different body systems that seem somewhat unrelated to the digestive tract where the original issues began. In other words, you may or may not experience digestive symptoms with the leaky gut syndrome.
SYMPTOMS
Hormone Imbalace/ Coeliac/ Season Allergies /Candida FoodSensitivities / Constipation / GERD / IBD / Fatigue /Joint Pain/ Parasites/ Diarrohea/SIBO
LEAKY GUT CAUSES
In clinical practice, I see 5 main reasons for leaky gut syndrome:
- Dysbiosis: Dybiosis which is essentially bacterial/fungal/virus imbalance, is one of the leading causes of leaky gut syndrome. It means an imbalance between helpful and harmful bacteria, fungi (Candida) species, or parasites in your gastrointestinal tract.
- Poor diet: A comprised diet high in unprocessed and inflammatory foods including sugar, seed oils, processed foods, gluten and dairy.
- Prolonged exposure to stress: Continous exposure to stress can weaken your immune system through prolonged cortisol levels that can affect your microbiome and your body’s ability to eliminate harmful bacteria, fungal and viruses, resulting in inflammation and leaky gut
- Toxin overload: Toxin overload can lead to leaky gut syndrome. We are increasingly living in a toxic world exposing ourselves to chemicals and toxic substances on a daily basis, such as BPA’s, pesticides, contaminated tap water, toxic heavy metals and antibiotics. Overexposing ourselves to these chemicals and toxins can lead to leaky gut
- Antibiotics: Antibiotics have their place in medicine and save literally millions of lives every year. However, the issue is that antibiotics when they are needed and are taken without consideration of gut health. Most people can withstand a course of antibiotics but continued use without strengthening the gut through diet and lifestyle can lead to a leaky gut.
HOW LEAKY GUT CAN LEAD TO AUTOIMMUNE
When the intestinal barrier is compromised, food particles, pathogens and toxins enter the bloodstream and cause an immune reaction which is categorised by an inflammatory response.
This is because because the immune system recognizes them as foreign and as they should not be in the blood stream. This immune response can eventually cause the body to dysregulate. Some proteins in food resemble proteins from our own tissues. For example, gluten proteins is similar to that of the thyroid gland. When an undigested food protein like gluten passes through the intestinal barrier, the immune system attacks it, but in doing so, also attacks the thyroid gland because of the similarity between their structures. This process, repeatedly occurring over time, can cause organ and tissue damage in various parts of the body such as the thyroid (Hashimoto’s), joints (rheumatoid arthritis), brain (multiple sclerosis), and many others.
LEAKY GUT TREATMENT
Treatment of a leaky gut will involve a detailed case history and symptoms to look at the root cause of what is causing the distress. In some clients, we might see there is an underlying yeast infection, and with other clients, we will see high-stress levels in conjunction with an inflammatory diet.
At Integrative Nutrition Clinic, the approach I take to fix any issue relating to the gut will have a “repair” mechanism which will include diet to reduce foods that are causing the inflammation, some lifestyle changes and targeted supplements to heal the gut, Often we find that eliminating certain foods for 1-2 months can be reintroduced once the gut has healed. Once the gut is healed, I see a vast improvement with many of my clients. Symptoms such as food intolerances that were a problem for them for a long period of time dissipate and no longer cause any issues.
We can help you optimize your health so you can feel your best again
APPROACH
Our team of Iintegrative nutritionists will look at the root cause and tailor an integrative approach and look incorporating nutrient-dense foods taking into account your personal needs, health challenges and biochemistry.
To heal a leaky gut, we need to look at what is causing it in the first place. Once we establish this we will use very specific nutrients to restore the integrity to the gut wall
There is specific leaky gut tests that can establish the permability of the gut and along with your symtpoms we can do in depth testing to look at what is causing digestive issues such as SIBO breath testing, comprehensive stool testing and food senstivties/allergy testing.
Continued stress triggers has a negative impact on the permability of the gut. In addition to diet and supplements, we will look to recommend lifestyle changes and advise on stratgies to manage stress management.
