Leaky Gut Syndrome
What is Leaky Gut Syndrome?
Normally the digestive lining has a nice mucosal barrier that allows optimal digestion of foods and absoprtion of nutrients. With irritants such as chemicals, additives & preservatives in foods, excess sugar, caffeine, birth control pill use and long term stress this lining can become irritated . In this state the mucosa becomes inflamed in some areas and worn away in others to the point where there may even be leaks or “holes” .
Leaky Gut Syndrome ( LGS) is when these “holes” reduce the ability of the intestinal wall to keep out large and undesirable molecules that normally would flow through and be eliminated from the body. These large molecules are considered “antigens” or “foreign substances,” that the body recognizes as allergens & foreign. This process causes the spaces between the cells of the intestinal wall to become enlarged. Inflammation of the gut mucosa can also facilitate this activity. Inflammation can be caused by a bowel ecology that is imbalanced and has greater number of potentially threatening disease-causing organisms known as pathogens. As illustrated in the diagrams below, when the gut flora is altered, inflammation and Leaky Gut can result. LGS is seldom tested for, or diagnosed by, doctors in general practice, but there is a vast amount of implicating altered permeability of the intestinal wall in a large number of illnesses such as autism and others described below.
What happens when you have a Leaky Gut?
A leaky gut results in many problems and symptoms that affect the whole body:
Gastrointestinal Symptoms – The most obvious problems resulting from a leaky gut are digestive symptoms like bloating, flatulence and abdominal discomfort.
Large food particles can pass into the bloodstream – As discussed earlier the immune system assumes these particles are dangerous foreign material, and the body creates antibodies against them. This leads to the situation where large numbers of different foods set off an immune reaction every time they are eaten. These antibodies may also attack the body’s own cells that are structurally similar to the large food molecules. This leads to autoimmune disease.
Nutritional deficiencies – Although you might expect that having a leaky gut would mean you can absorb more nutrients, this is not the case. This is because the “carrier proteins” are damaged when the gut becomes inflamed and more permeable. This means that the nutrients cannot get across the intestinal wall, and nutritional deficiencies result. Leaky Gut is not a favorable condition.
Increased absorption of toxins – This places a great strain on the liver, and as detoxification enzymes become depleted, more and more toxins are able to circulate to all parts of the body in the bloodstream. In severe cases leaky gut can lead to liver inflammation and toxic hepatitis. These toxins circulating in the blood can result in multiple symptoms, from fatigue to skin rashes, as well as inflammation of various tissues and organs.
The gut’s immune function is impaired – When the gut wall is inflamed, the antibodies (IgA) that protect the gut are adversely affected. This reduces its ability to fight off potentially pathogenic bacteria, parasites and yeast such as candida. The development of reduced mucosal immunity begins in infancy and can continue throughout life.(Rautava S, Isolauri E The development of gut immune responses and gut microbiota: effects of probiotics in prevention and treatment of allergic disease. Curr Issues Intest Microbiol (England), Mar 2002, 3(1) p15-22)
Gut microorganisms can enter the body – When the intestinal lining is inflamed, the bacteria that usually reside within the intestine are able to “translocate”. This means that they can pass across the gut wall and into the bloodstream, from where they can cause infection anywhere in the body, causing havoc for the immune system.(Microbial Ecology and Dysbiosis In Human Medicine. Alt Med Review 1997; 3 (2) p202-209)
Other Illnesses Linked To Leaky Gut Syndrome – All of this can lead to any number of seemingly unrelated symptoms affecting every organ system in the body. The best available evidence demonstrates that there may be a connection between certain illnesses and food reactivity. Some of these may include Arthritis, Celiac disease, Ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. 3 4 5 6
Treatment Considerations
Approaching the treatment for food allergy can be complex. The most obvious is to begin with reduction of antigenic burden. Elimination of the causative agents is recommended. However, this is not easy as there are some agents that cannot be completely eliminated. Here is where supportive nutrients, botanical medicines, homeopathy and other alternative options can be considered. The aim of therapy should be addressing inflammatory mediation and histamine mediated activity. This can be achieved by alternative and traditional treatment combined.
The best available evidence in alternative treatment for food allergy demonstrates the probable connection of reduced hydrochloric acid and pancreatic enzyme output. Focusing in upon the digestive tract and the possibility of Leaky Gut are parameters that bring about restoration of the gut integrity and microflora balance.
Immunotherapy and Enzyme Potentiated Desensitization are both popular methods for the treatment of food sensitivity. Keep in mind that food allergy/sensitivity treatment is a lengthy process and should be communicated to the patient clearly. The treatment plan may evolve and change based upon the progress or the lack thereof of the patient.
3 Van Den Bogaerde J, Cahill J, Emmanuel AV, et al. Gut mucosal response to food antigens in Crohn’s disease.
Aliment Pharmacol Ther (England), Nov 2002, 16(11) p1903-15
4 D’Arienzo A, Manguso F, Astarita C, et al. Allergy and mucosal eosinophil infiltrate in ulcerative colitis.
Scand J Gastroenterol (Norway), Jun 2000, 35(6) p624-31
5 D’Arienzo A, Manguso F, Scarpa R, et al. Ulcerative colitis, seronegative spondyloarthropathies and allergic diseases: the search for a link. Scand J Gastroenterol (Norway), Oct 2002, 37(10) p1156-63
6 Saito T Progress in the study of allergy and collagen disease in the last 100 years: Rheumatoid arthritis]
Nippon Naika Gakkai Zasshi (Japan), Sep 10 2002, 91(9) p2663-70
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