Leaky gut is another name for gut permeability which occurs when there is damage to the lining of the gut wall.
Leaky gut syndrome is the name given to the potential health risks associated with a leaky gut.
The Gut wall acts as a barrier between what is in the digestive tract and the rest of the body.
For health you want a strong gut lining so what needs to be in the gut, stays in the gut.
Issues occur when there is damage to this important barrier which allows fragments of organisms and even food fragments, to pass through the barrier into the rest of the body.
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Leaky Gut Symptoms
Symptoms of Leaky Gut can mimic many other gut symptoms including
- Bloating
- Flatulence
- Diarrhea
- Constipation
There can also be other seemingly unrelated gut symptoms such as
- Headaches
- Skin rashes
- Brain fog
- Fatigue
- Joint pain
When the intestinal barrier is weak it exposes the circulating immune system to potential disease-causing triggers. These triggers can result in allergies and disease risk, particularly auto immune disease risk.
Causes of Leaky Gut
The cells of the intestinal tract lining is called the intestinal epithelium. These cells are often called column cells as they are shaped like columns next to each other joined by tight junctions.
These cells line both the walls of the small intestine and large intestine.
The role of these cells is to absorb nutrients and also act as the barrier keeping out potential harmful and damaging substances.
Leaky Gut occurs when there is damage to this mucosal layer and typically there is a weakening of the tight junctions.
Leaky gut may be caused by
- Stress
- Flora imbalance
- Insufficient fiber in the diet
Any food or substance that is likely to cause inflammation in the gut should be avoided or limited.
Insufficient fiber and a high sugar diet can deprive the healthy bacteria of their fuel and they can attack the gut lining for their food
Foods To Avoid with Leaky Gut
- Wheat and gluten products
- Dairy Products
- Processed meats
- Refined oils -canola-sunflower-safflower
- Junk food-sugars-fast food-bakery foods
- Limit alcohol
- Artificial sweeteners
Leaky Gut Supplements
Taking supplements can dramatically assist in the healing of Leaky Gut.
Glutamine has been shown in studies to support a healthy mucosal lining by supporting specific gut species and improving secretory IgA. This results in improved immunity and a stronger gut barrier.
Beneficial Supplements include
- Glutamine-promotes tight junctions
- Bosweila-reduces inflammation
- Aloe vera-reduces inflammation-reduces oxidative stress-anti Microbial
- Tumeric-anti-inflammatory-enhances the gastric barrier
- Vitamin D- Reduces inflammation -positively influences the behavior of microorganisms.
- Zinc-supports the gut lining
Probiotics For Leaky Gut
Probiotics help with Leaky gut by helping to create a healthy microbiome environment.
Specific species such as L Plantarum has been shown to
- Help reduce inflammation,
- Have anti-bacterial affects,
- Reduce the adherence of damaging microorganisms to the gut wall
- Alcohol
- Some medications – Particularly the NSAIDs
- Poor nutrition
- Some diseases-diabetes
- Infections
- High sugar diet
Leaky Gut Test
There are Functional Medicines tests available to test for Leaky Gut.
The standard test is called a Mannitol Lactulose test
Mannitol is a substance easily absorbed into the body if you have a healthy gut Lining,
Lactulose is harder to absorb as the molecule size is much bigger and won’t absorb in large amounts if the lining of the gut is strong.
The test is done by drinking a solution of both Lactulose and Mannitol and collecting the urine for approximately 6 hours depending on each individual test Kit instructions.
The test kit is then sent directly to the Functional Medicine Laboratory for analysis.
The ideal result would be a High Mannitol and Low Lactulose.
A Leaky Gut syndrome result would show high levels of both. If the test results show low levels of both then general nutrient malabsorption would be suspected.
Best Foods for Leaky Gut
The best diet for leaky gut is a varied healthy diet with includes fiber.
A healthy diet should include
- lots of vegetables including root vegetables.
- Some fruit
- Fermented foods- Kombucha-Kefir- sauerkraut
- Sprouted seeds
- Some Meat ( unprocessed)
- Eggs
- Fish
- Healthy Fats- Avocado-Olive oil
- Gluten Free grains-rice-buckwheat-quinoa
- Limited Dairy products but fermented dairy can be helpful eg Yoghurts.
- Nuts
- Increase mucous secretions form the colon mucosa
Leaky Gut Summary
Although Leaky gut is not traditionally recognized as a health condition by the medical profession it should be considered if you have ongoing gut issues that haven’t been resolved in consultation with your Medical Doctor.
If you are on long term medications such as NSAIDs (Non-steroidal anti-inflammatories) and PPIs
(Proton Pump Inhibiters) it may be worth discussing other options with your Doctor as these can be particularly damaging to the gut wall.
Useful tests include the mannitol/lactulose test, food allergy tests and microbiome mapping.