The gastro-intestinal system, comprising of the stomach and intestines, like other parts of the body is subjected to a modern day barrage of toxins and microbes that can be directly attributable or work in tandem with other dysfunctions. These have been shown to cause auto immune diseases such as Celiac, Chrohn’s disease ulcerative colitis and many more.
A leaky gut is when the finger like projections of the intestines called the villi start to atrophy or become damaged, inhibiting the secretions of some enzymes that break food down and leaving the tight junctions where food is ultimately absorbed into the blood stream open to further damage and further malabsorption. The list below highlights the many factors that can cause a leaky gut.
* Antibiotics
* Degradation off the mucosal barrier through stress and factors below
* Dysbiosis- imbalance of beneficial bacteria
* Contraceptive pill
* Fungus, bacterial or parasitic infection often all 3 are involved
* Poor food choices
* Gluten consumption
* Environmental toxins
* Estrogen dominance
* Adrenal stress
When people often go for trendy food allergy/intolerance tests such as the 1gG4 test many people often come back with a list of multiple food reactions and are told to cut these foods out of their diet. Whilst there are many modern ‘new world’ foods that we are now exposed to, the multiple allergies that people come back with is a sign that the gut is dysfunctional and 5 or more intolerances should be considered as a sign of a leaky gut. What many people are not told is that if you have a leaky gut, these food intolerances can disappear once the gut has been healed which can take some months and in some cases to regain full digestive health a year or so.
To find out more about food allergies, leaky gut and getting you back to your old self get in touch!
