The link between gut permeability and chronic ill health

Did you know that your arthritis may be due to your ‘leaky gut’?’

I attended an extremely interesting Symposium in London recently all about the gut microbiome, or in other words the bugs that live in our intestines.

I was extremely pleased to hear that what I’ve been shouting from my soapbox for years now, has been validated, and the research is out there to prove it.  Professor Stephan Bischoff (and many others talking on the same subject) from The Institute of Nutritional Medicine, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany, and his team have been researching gut barrier function, with some very interesting findings.

A healthy intestine acts as a barrier and prevents any ‘endo-toxic’ material from ‘leaking” through the gut wall and getting into the systemic circulation.  If this should happen, these opportunistic ‘toxins’ can circulate around your blood stream, and become deposited in other organs and joints, causing inflammation.

The intestine has a deep barrier-layer of mucous, and the beneficial bacteria live within this thick mucosal coating. If this barrier is breached and ‘toxins’ escape through the gut wall into the circulation, you may be very surprised to learn that this can cause chest infections, liver disease, food allergies, skin diseases like eczema and even obesity.

So what would upset this delicate internal Eco-system and create the conditions whereby ‘toxins’ can ‘leak’ through the gut wall?

Diet

Lifestyle

Overgrowth of Pathogenic bacteria

Infections

Sterile environment (hygiene hypothesis)

Viruses

Parasites

Certain medications ie antibiotics, steroids, antacids, opioid painkillers

Caesarian birth, and bottle fed (can have a negative effect on the status of bacteria in the new-born’s gut)

Poor nutritional status of mother when pregnant

If mother, who may need assistance such as https://singlemothers.us/assistance/, had inflammatory bowel disease and baby born vaginally (research has shown that the new-born baby is more likely to develop a poorly functioning, ‘leaky’ gut)

and many more co-factors that can contribute to poor gut barrier function

OK, so what can we do to ‘plug’ the holes in the gut and reduce the inflammatory burden placed on the body:

Well first of all a healthy, well balanced diet, with perhaps some extra vitamin and mineral supplementation support (I normally recommend Solgar’s VM 75 one a day multi vits/minerals)

Correction of disease-inducing lifestyle habits such as smoking, excessive consumption of alcohol and substance abuse replaced with the use of alternatives such as the use of 180 Smoke herb vaporizers. And in some cases, treatment for drugs was also carried out.

Take a good quality, multi-strain probiotic to re-colonise the bowel with health-inducing strains of beneficial bacteria (Ecodophilus by BioNutri)

Take a broad-based digestive enzyme complex to help support digestion and improve absorption of nutrients (Polyzyme Forte by Biocare)

The use of bentonite clay and activated charcoal to help draw out ‘toxins’ from the intestines

In some cases, a course of antibiotics and/or anti-fungals may be required from your GP, particularly if there is a stubborn infection in the intestines

L-glutamine, butyric and caprylic acid to help heal and repair gut wall, and ‘kill’ off any disease-inducing micro-organisms

There are other corrective measures that can be taken, and these, and all the above can be discussed.

To book an appointment with Linda, contact Nottingham Physio & Colonic Clinic on 0115 9676699 lindabooth@btinternet.com

Linda Booth Naturopath & Colon Hydrotherapist
www.nottinghamphysio-colonics.co.uk

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