healthy strategies

[ healthy strategies ]  healthy digestion

Leaky gut—what is it and how do you know if you have it?

Excerpted from The Microbiome Breakthrough: Harness the Power of Your Gut Bacteria to Boost Your Mood and Heal Your Body by Raphael Kellman, MD. Copyright © 2018. Available from Hachette Go, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

One of the most destructive forms of intestinal distress is the condition known as intestinal permeability—a.k.a. “leaky gut.” In this all-too-common disorder, the walls of the small intestine—which are only one cell thick—begin to lose their integrity, mostly because of a compromised microbiome.

The small intestine is where most digestion and absorption take place. The small intestine absorbs into its walls only the smallest, most essential molecules: proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, fats. These pass through the gut wall into the bloodstream to nourish the body.

However, just on the other side of the gut wall is the immune system, or at least the vast majority of it. Since most of the world’s toxins come to us through our food, most of our immune system is located adjacent to our gut wall, ready to respond to any dangerous bacteria, viruses, or toxins that we inadvertently eat or drink.

Consequently, you want your gut wall to be strong and healthy—to have good integrity—so that it can take some of the burden off your immune system. A

healthy gut wall allows only nutrients to pass through; toxins, pathogens, and excess bacteria are directed into the large intestine and, ultimately, out the anus. The immune system never has to know about these disruptive factors, and it can remain in a “calm and relaxed” state.

But what if your gut wall has lost its integrity? What if its cell walls are not tightly closed and its so-called tight junctions become loose?

In that case, some partially digested food might indeed pass through the gut wall, along with some toxins or pathogens. When these potentially dangerous invaders appear, your immune system springs into action. A burst of inflammation is the result. From being calm and relaxed, your immune system begins to be alert and perhaps even anxious, ready to react at a moment’s notice to the next possible threat.

If the breach to your gut wall happens only occasionally, not much harm is done. You might feel a bit nauseous or gassy in response to the inflammation, or you might break out in a little acne, develop a headache, or manifest some other inflammatory symptom. But the symptom will soon disappear with no long-lasting effects.

However, if your gut wall is habitually leaky and permeable—if partially digested food can easily pass through to your immune system—then you develop chronic inflammation. And that creates chronic problems—including anxiety, depression, brain fog, and a host of other brain dysfunctions.

A healthy microbiome can help keep inflammation in check. When your microbiome is out of balance, however, your body goes on the defensive. Your immune system begins producing more inflammation—and all the problems multiply. Weight gain and insulin resistance frequently result—and, in a vicious cycle, provoke still more inflammation. In an epigenetic turn for the worse, the genes that regulate lipolysis (fat breakdown) alter their expression, leading to increased fat accumulation—which provokes still more inflammation.

Another problem results from leaky gut: food sensitivities. The partially digested food that passes through your gut wall is considered a dangerous invader by your immune system. Frequently, that food is tagged with antibodies to enable your immune system to leap into action the next time it appears. As a result, you provoke an inflammatory reaction each time you consume some of that food.

Dairy, soy, and gluten are the most common reactive foods. But if your system is sufficiently inflamed, your immune system goes on hyperalert, seeing threats everywhere and responding with burst after burst of inflammatory chemicals. In such a state, you could develop food sensitivities even to otherwise healthy foods. Only after you have reduced your level of inflammation do these reactions subside.

As it happens, life stressors—a job change, a troubled relationship, a sick child—can also provoke leaky gut, triggering as well a whole cascade of problems, beginning with inflammation and frequently ending in anxiety, depression, and brain fog. As by now you know quite well, we have the makings of several interrelated vicious cycles, each of which exacerbates the others.

Remember, inflammation also alters the diversity in your microbiome, so we want to keep it down at all costs.

What’s the solution? • Probiotics to rebalance the microbiome and support the gut, as well as fermented foods, which are natural probiotics • A diet rich in high-fiber prebiotics to support your microbiome, including artichokes, carrots, garlic,

Jerusalem artichokes, leeks, onions, radishes, and tomatoes • • Supplements to heal the gut walls A diet rich in healthy fats, which supports cell integrity in both brain and gut • A diet free of inflammatory foods such as soy, gluten, cow’s milk dairy, sugar, processed foods, additives and preservatives, and unhealthy fats • Reduced exposure to toxins through eating organic food, drinking filtered water, monitoring air quality, and using “clean and green” products • Support for your thyroid, which helps your stress hormones function more efficiently and thereby helps to reduce stress. ●