Leaky Gut Syndrome

Heal Your Gut. Feel Rejuvenated.

Everything that we eat travels through the digestive tract. The digestive tract is a long tube that begins at the mouth, travels down to the stomach, small intestine, large intestine, and ends at the rectum. The digestive tract not only breaks down food into usable parts but also filters out microbes, toxins, and bacteria that can be found in the foods we eat. The digestive tract also houses the majority of our immune system and our microbiome.

What Is Leaky Gut Syndrome?

The lining of the digestive tracts acts like a filtering system. This lining allows vitamins, minerals, and other vital nutrients to enter the bloodstream while preventing toxins and microbes from entering the bloodstream.

Leaky gut syndrome or intestinal hyper permeability occurs when the walls of your small intestine begins allowing undigested food particles, bacteria and toxins to leak and enter your bloodstream. When these items enter the blood stream, your immune system reacts and begins attacking not only the food particles, but also healthy cells in the body. This immunity response often leads to food allergies.

Symptoms of Leaky Gut Syndrome

Common symptoms of leaky gut include –
Digestive problems – Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), bloating, abdominal cramps, gas, constipation, and diarrhea
Skin problems – itchy, dry skin, acne, eczema, psoriasis, rosacea, and dermatitis
Hormone Imbalances – PMS, menopause or polycystic ovarian syndrome
Food Allergies – dairy, wheat, gluten, and other grains
Neurological Problems – migraine headaches, brain fog, cluster headaches, memory issues, and forgetfulness
Mood Disorders – anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety, depression, ADD, mood swings, or irritability
Autoimmune Disorders – rheumatoid arthritis, celiac disease, lupus or psoriasis
Nutritional Deficiencies – malabsorption, deficiencies including vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin B12, and magnesium

Causes of Leaky Gut

Leaky gut happens when the lining of the small intestine becomes inflamed or permeable. There are various causes of leaky gut, including stress, diet, lifestyle choices, and environment.

Food Allergies and Food Sensitivities

The link between food allergies and gut health is circular. Leaky gut can be caused by food sensitivities and food sensitivities can be caused by leaky gut. When we eat foods that we are sensitive to, the body’s immune response is triggered leading to an inflammatory response. If we continue eating the same foods, the gut lining becomes chronically inflamed leading to leaky gut.

Immune Reaction

When food particles leak out of the digestive tract and into the bloodstream, they can trigger a reaction. The immune system becomes confused, thinking that harmless foods are foreign invaders. Inflammation levels in the body increase and food allergies and food sensitivities can occur. As your food allergies and food sensitivities continue, inflammation levels continue to climb, further exacerbating leaky gut.

Inflammatory Foods

There are numerous foods that can cause inflammation in the digestive tract. One of the largest culprits is gluten. Gluten is a protein found in wheat and other grains. Gluten triggers the production of a protein called zonulin. Zonulin has been shown to widen the spaces (tight junctions) between the cells in the lining of your small intestine. Other inflammatory foods include sugar, soy, and dairy products.

Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth

SIBO causes an increased number of bacteria in the small intestines. These bacteria damage the lining of the small intestine and further exacerbates leaky gut.

Stress

When you are under chronic stress, your body remains in the fight or flight mode, causing the adrenal glands to release cortisol. Cortisol has been shown to mutate the bacteria in the digestive tract, leading to systemic inflammation and altered digestive health.

Functional Medicine Approach To Heal Leaky Gut

A leaky gut may result in various medical problems. The key is to take a holistic approach to heal your digestive issues. This includes-

Determining if you have any food intolerances and remove them from your diet.
Cleansing the intestinal tract
Building the gut health and immune system by taking probiotics and other key nutrients.

Food Intolerances and Sensitivities

A food sensitivity test can help determine which foods may be causing your symptoms. Some of the common foods related to leaky gut syndrome are dairy products, eggs, soy, sugar and gluten. After determining which foods may be causing your problems, you will need to complete an elimination diet.

Begin the elimination diet by removing the inflammatory foods determined by the food sensitivity test. During this phase of the process, you will need to be extra careful that you are not consuming any hidden forms of the substance. For instance, many of today’s canned goods contain gluten. To ensure you have removed all traces of the inflammatory food, eat whole foods that you prepare yourself.

Cleansing the Intestinal Tract

A comprehensive stool analysis can help you determine whether you have parasites, bacteria or yeast overgrowth in your intestines. If the analysis reports any such findings, there is a variety of herbs and medications that can help cleanse the intestinal tract, including antifungal medications, antibiotics and anti-parasite medications.

Replenish Key Nutrients and Probiotics

An important step to repair leaky gut involves replacing key nutrients to your body. Because the digestive tract has been unable to properly absorb essential nutrients, it is essential that you replace digestive enzymes, vitamins and minerals. It is advisable to choose supplements that contains the purest ingredients to help protect your healing gut.

It is also essential to rebalance the bacteria in the digestive system. Fermented foods like yogurt (unless you have a dairy allergy or intolerance), pickles, kimchi along with probiotic supplements containing lactobacillus will increase the good bacteria in the digestive tract, calm the immune system, and reduce systemic inflammation. Multivitamin supplements containing zinc, L-glutamine and Vitamin C also help to rejuvenate the intestinal lining.

Ready To Heal Leaky Gut Syndrome?

At Rose Wellness, we take great pride in being a warm and friendly place where patients feel comfortable and look forward to their treatment. Our integrative practitioners have been helping thousands of patients manage Leaky Gut Syndrome and associated digestive issues for the past 10 years.

For further details, refer to our comprehensive Digestive Health Program.

Feeling fatigued, having food allergies, or experiencing gas and bloating?

Our functional medicine practitioners specialize in treatment of Leaky Gut and other digestive disorders.

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