Leaky gut occurs when an increase in harmful bacteria and yeast (candida) within the intestine reaches a tipping point and the intestinal wall ruptures. These bacteria can literally burrow between the cells of the intestinal lining. Most of the time, we have a symbiotic relationship with gut bacteria from birth and they help reduce the harmful effects of toxins, break down food, and aid in immune function. In fact, they outnumber our own cells in our body 10:1.
But harmful bacteria can do the opposite, and often this is exactly what happens after a round of antibiotics. It can also occur after a severe cold or, more typically, Americans get it from their diets over longer periods of time. If you eat a consistently poor diet with excess sugar like most of the 300 million people in the United States, you may be on your way to leaky gut, too.
Leaky gut is commonly caused by:
1. Years of eating high sugar diets, which increase candida populations.
2. Poor diet also increases the colonies of bacteria that are detrimental to good intestinal health.
3. Use of antibiotics without immediate reintroduction of good bacteria.
4. Pesticides, GMOs and other harmful toxins that devastate the lining of the intestine and beneficial bacteria.
When our intestinal wall breaks down, this allows food particles to pass through, and over time, the immune system becomes overwhelmed by invaders. As if this wasn’t bad enough, your immune system can also attack your own cells near the openings in your intestinal wall as a kind of collateral damage. This elevated immune status is often associated with chronic inflammation in other parts of the body such as the back.
Over time, the increasing input of food particles that are loaded is too much and must be processed in another way. The liver, which receives 70% of its blood flow from the intestine, is responsible for capturing and detoxifying the blood at this point.
If the necessary chemicals (ie glutathione, NAC, tocotrienols) are in short supply, the liver simply transports the toxins to the fat cells to prevent them from invading the rest of the body. These fat cells are stored in the liver and in other parts of the body. This leads to obesity; it cripples liver function and can be seen in higher than normal blood sugar levels, as the liver is critical in regulating insulin.
This is really the only option available to the liver at this time, as it would be more dangerous for these toxins to float around in the blood and disrupt other processes in the body.
The best way to counteract this cycle is to find ways to relieve stress, change your diet, and supplement with liver-strong probiotics and antioxidants.
Supplements to consider
Milk thistle is often used, but many people are unaware that the bioavailability is 10 times higher when taking the active isolate in milk thistle (slybin). People who have fatty liver should also take NAC, SAMe, and glutathione at a minimum. Recently, there has also been a lot of research surrounding red palm oil.
All of these seem to act in a way that initiates phase II detoxification in the liver, which changes fat-soluble toxins to water-soluble ones to allow them to be removed from the body.
A good way to test for Leaky Gut is if you detect ongoing digestive issues like gas, bloating, constipation, and other food allergies. It is this sensitivity to intake that is the sign of a problem.
