You may be thinking ‘how can my gut leak?’ or ‘I’ve never heard of this before’. When the gut leaks this is called leaky gut syndrome or hyper-intestinal permeability. This occurs when the small intestines, which are meant to be a tight junction, open up more regularly than they should. This is due to the inflammation in the area and this results in substances being able to leak into the bloodstream, which over time leads to a range of issues for our body.
A few things such as over consumption of alcohol, sugar, and other causes such as intestinal parasites or bacteria overgrowth can all cause leaky gut syndrome. But the number 1 cause of leaky gut syndrome is gluten. Gluten is a product we consume almost daily as it is found in breads, pastas, sauces and almost all processed foods.
5 Common Signs of Leaky Gut Syndrome
Sign #1: Regularly Become Sick
This is due to the particles being released into the bloodstream. The body can often not keep with the amount being released. This can lead to inflammation throughout the body. This also leads to little jobs being overlooked such as fighting smaller pathogens and reducing inflammation.
Sign #2: High Levels of Fatigue
This also relates to high levels of fatigue. Due to the body being under a large amount of stress because of the high inflammation, fatigue is inevitable. The stress of the food particles leaking, the immune system attempting to tackle the problem and with the possible nutritional defiance’s, it’s the perfect trifecta for high levels of fatigue.
Sign #3: Mood Issues
Leaky gut syndrome has the ability to affect our mood which some of you may be thinking ‘how does the food I eat affect my mood?’ Well, the small intestine becomes inflamed it can cause the release of chemicals into our body that lead to feelings of depression and anxiety.
Sign #4: Nutritional Deficiencies Due to Malabsorption
Due to substances leaky into the bloodstream this means that nutrients are less likely to be absorbed by the body, leading to a nutritional deficiency. This can lead to deficiencies in common vitamins such as vitamin B12 and especially magnesium, which is vitally important for our body.
Sign #5: Digestive Issues such as bloating and gas
Digestive issues such as these often occur due to the disruptions in the digestive tract. The imbalance of bacteria often leads to feelings of bloating and gassiness.
How to go about alleviating the feelings or signs of leaky gut syndrome?
This is as simple as cutting out foods that contain gluten, lowering sugar and alcohol intake and improving your eating as a whole. Eating whole foods rich in nutrients that will nourish our body. Supplementing can also assist such as with a probiotic, to help introduce good bacteria into our gut, and with magnesium. Glutamine is also a fantastic supplement as it is a healing amino acid and therefore will help to repair the small intestines. The small intestine can take time to heal, even up to a few months so patience is key when trying to heal your leaky gut.
