Have you ever heard of leaky gut syndrome? What is this health issue? What are the causes and how can it be treated?
How can you tell if you are affected by leaky gut syndrome? Have you ever experienced sensitivity to various foods? Is excessive fatigue a daily occurrence for you, or perhaps headaches, digestive issues, joint problems, and insomnia? If so, you are likely suffering from intestinal permeability.
What is this health concern? Why is it important to talk about it? It's important to understand that the cells of the intestinal wall are literally glued together by "tight junctions." In a healthy body, these tight junctions maintain the impermeability of the intestines. However, this is true only to a certain extent. While it still allows nutrients to pass through, it stops various elements such as toxins, undigested food particles, and harmful microbes from crossing the intestinal barrier and thus entering the bloodstream.
However, damage to the intestinal membrane caused by inflammation or an imbalance in the gut flora can simply break these tight junctions. This creates spaces or holes of abnormal width between the different cells of the intestinal wall. As a result, the intestine becomes hyper-permeable, allowing what is present in it to flow into the bloodstream. Hence the name "leaky gut syndrome."
This is why the liver works harder than usual to remove these toxins. However, it turns out to be incapable of meeting the high demand for detoxification. Furthermore, it's worth noting that all these toxins can accumulate in various tissues and provide a breeding ground for diseases, allergies, or other infections in the body. When the liver becomes overloaded with toxicity, the immune system starts treating undigested food particles and metabolic waste (which, as a reminder, were not supposed to pass through the barrier and float freely in the bloodstream) as foreign invaders.
Subsequently, a series of inflammatory and immune reactions are triggered in the body, gradually leading to inflammation. Then, your hyperactive immune system even attacks healthy cells. Thus, inflammation becomes even worse. Finally, it even remembers these different harmless triggers, thereby creating new allergies, as well as various food intolerances.
Various health professionals believe that intestinal permeability is the root of various health problems. Indeed, current studies explore the role of intestinal permeability in the development of autoimmune problems. This could include rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, inflammatory bowel diseases, Crohn's disease, multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, or Hashimoto's thyroiditis.
Intestinal permeability: what are the causes? The causes of intestinal permeability can be manifold. Firstly, this can be caused by inappropriate dietary choices. If you regularly consume highly processed foods, saturated with sugar, refined flour, artificial colors, and preservatives, all of this can degrade the intestine and thus increase intestinal permeability. Chronic infections such as intestinal parasites, Candida overgrowth, digestive issues, and bacterial overgrowth in the small intestine also contribute to inflammation and intestinal permeability.
Another well-known cause is medications. Indeed, overconsumption of antibiotics and NSAIDs directly affects the intestinal wall. Thus, it becomes much more exposed to yeast, inflammation, and irritation caused by the passage of food in the intestine. Exposure to chemicals and environmental toxins also increases the risk of intestinal permeability. This risk is much greater if you are exposed to toxins in the form of heavy metals, alcohol, pesticides, or various chemicals.
The penultimate cause is chronic stress. This activates the immune system at full capacity. Consequently, the intestines become much more permeable, leading to inflammation. Finally, a zinc deficiency also causes this unfortunate phenomenon. Indeed, this trace element is essential for optimal maintenance of the membrane barrier. Moreover, you should know that a zinc deficiency can compromise the organization of tight junctions. Thus, the intestine becomes more permeable. Studies have shown that zinc supplementation can improve the integrity of the gastrointestinal mucosa and increase intestinal permeability in cases of Crohn's disease.
Signs indicating that you suffer from leaky gut syndrome: There are numerous signs indicating that you are affected by leaky gut syndrome. These include allergies, food intolerances, or digestive issues such as gas, bloating, or diarrhea. Other signs include being diagnosed with an autoimmune disease such as rheumatoid arthritis, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, psoriasis, lupus, or inflammatory bowel problems such as celiac disease and Crohn's disease.
In addition to this, nutritional deficiencies due to poor absorption, skin inflammation issues such as acne, rosacea, and psoriasis, extreme fatigue, fibromyalgia, depression, anxiety, or ADHD are all signs that you may suffer from intestinal permeability.
Here is a list of signs of this condition: getting sick often, recurrent headaches, seasonal allergies, muscle aches, skin issues, joint pain, or Candida overgrowth.
Is it possible to reverse this intestinal permeability? There are no therapies to completely cure intestinal permeability. However, making lifestyle changes and relevant dietary changes is an excellent solution. This helps to restore intestinal integrity, which can therefore help reverse intestinal permeability.
To minimize this permeability as much as possible, first, eliminate foods that increase inflammation in the body. Then, treat all intestinal infections that may affect you. Third advice: Opt for probiotics, which are perfect for a relevant daily diet aimed at restoring beneficial bacteria in the intestine. You should know that a healthy gut flora helps control bad microbes, benefits the intestinal barrier, and optimizes flawless nutrient absorption.
Still, in the context of healing from intestinal permeability, we strongly recommend incorporating a variety of raw foods into your diet to introduce the famous digestive enzymes. These enzymes significantly break down food into small particles and optimize their digestion and the proper absorption of nutrients. Finally, the last important point to consider is that intestinal permeability leads to poor quality digestion and poor nutrient absorption. Thus, it creates numerous nutritional deficiencies, especially in terms of vitamin B12 and magnesium. This is why we recommend supplementing a specific diet of whole and healthy foods with multivitamins, vitamin D, omega-3 fatty acids, and high-quality zinc. This can really help people affected by leaky gut syndrome.