You’ve probably heard of leaky gut syndrome before, or you may have even experienced symptoms yourself. But how much do you know about how leaky gut comes about?
This term is now increasingly popular to describe a certain dysfunction of the intestinal membrane. This gut lining is responsible for moderating the absorption of nutrients form the food you eat, as well as the flushing of toxins and waste products out of the body.
This makes your intestinal lining a little like a computer’s firewall. This firewall protects the rest of your body from malware and viruses (literal ones!) so that your body can function optimally without falling ill. While immunity can be a very complex topic, this is the gist of the role your intestinal lining plays.
A lot of people today believe that probiotic supplements are the way to heal a compromised gut membrane. But in truth, this is unlikely to help – and will waste your money, too. When you have a leaky gut, it’s true that the good bacteria living there can be negatively impacted. But simply flooding your system with more of these good probiotics doesn’t take into account the fact that a leaky gut is also usually dominated by bad bacteria. Taking probiotics is like fighting a losing battle, since the harmful bacteria will be constantly producing harmful toxins and by-products, meaning your good bacteria never get a chance to thrive.
Probiotics may help in the very short term, but a leaky gut means you will be constantly leaching good bacteria out while allowing some very hazardous pathogens in. Probiotics don’t fix this underlying issue, only mask it. This is simply not a sustainable way of treating the problem.
Instead, the gut must be healed first. Only then can your efforts to replenish healthy bacteria have the proper effect. This can be done using the organic, plant-based acids, humic and fulvic acid. When taken together, they have the effect of both healing a compromised gut membrane and then restoring the optimal bacterial balance. Treating leaky gut this way is the single best approach to sustainable gut health over the long term.
What other effects does a leaky gut have on the body?
If a foreign body like a virus, bacteria or other particle finds its way into your blood stream, trouble is usually on the cards. This can cause an autoimmune response in your body, as well as allergic symptoms and things like migraines, food intolerances, IBS, skin trouble such as eczema and conditions like rheumatoid arthritis.
It gets worse – in the long term, intestinal cells can incur so much damage that they stop producing the digestive enzymes needed to process food. This only exacerbates the problem, putting you at risk of nutritional deficiencies. What’s more, your overall immune function will take a knock, leaving you exposed to all kinds of viral or bacterial infections.
Symptoms of a leaky gut
When your intestinal permeability is dysregulated, you can be at increased risk for developing autoimmune conditions, chronic fatigue, allergies and even mood disorders like depression. Signs of a leaky gut are not always directly related to digestion, however, so it’s worth knowing what to look for. This way, you can start getting the treatment you need, as soon as possible – the earlier you catch a leaky gut, the better your chance of avoiding long term damage, health risks and complications.
Here are some of the clear signs you may be dealing with compromised gut integrity:
Digestive Issues
Disrupted digestion is a clear and obvious symptom of dysregulated intestinal permeability. Poor digestion means poor absorption, which could lead to nutritional deficiencies, even if your diet is good. Deficiencies commonly associated with a leaky gut are magnesium, calcium and B12.
A leaky gut may also mean the intestinal cells are not producing the necessary enzymes, with obvious effects on your digestive processes. Unfortunately, treating these issues with a multivitamin doesn’t really solve the issue – these usually contain synthetic, inorganic vitamins and minerals that have been made in a lab.
Natural, organic fulvic acid, however, can actually transmutate (i.e. convert one substance into a different substance) inorganic minerals into more bioavailable forms that are far easier for your body to absorb and use. This also indirectly supports the healthy production of enzymes by your digestive system.
Food Sensitivities and Allergies
Multiple food intolerances, sensitivities or outright allergies could indicate gut issues. When a foreign body leaks into your bloodstream, it triggers and immune response which also release histamines and antibodies – which are responsible for the symptoms of an allergic reaction.
With a leaky gut, your immune system may behave as though it’s under constant attack, making your immune system overreact – and this overreaction often spirals more and more out of control. Antigens in certain foods (commonly dairy and gluten) can inadvertently trigger this response in the body – and many studies have discovered this connection between a leaky gut and food allergies. Not all allergies are a result of a gut issue, but if you have severe and seemingly unexplained food allergies, as well as other telling symptoms, a leaky gut may be the culprit.
Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) and Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
Inflammatory bowel disease covers conditions such as Crohn’s and Ulcerative Colitis (UC) which largely affects the colon. If you are currently known to have inflammatory bowel disease, the chances are high that you also have a leaky gut – and a leaky gut may well predispose you to inflammatory bowel disease in the long term.
On h other hand irritable bowel syndrome is an umbrella term referring to the cluster of symptoms that can be caused by these conditions. However, people without IBD can experience symptoms of IBS, too. Sadly, today’s modern diets and lifestyles seem to have meant greater numbers of people suffering from IBS. Diets rich in processed foods with low nutrient density can lead to symptoms of constipation, diarrhea, bloating, gas and pain. Thankfully, AEON contains fulvic acid that has been clinically shown to reduce the body’s inflammatory response and remedy a whole range of digestive symptoms.
Autoimmune Conditions
There is a direct link between autoimmune issues and system-wide inflammation. Whenever any part of your body experiences ongoing inflammation, your immune system naturally responds by sending help. This normal response, however, can go into overdrive, and an overreacting immune response can turn on itself, attacking organs or even joints.
The system originally designed to protect you ends up malfunctioning and attacking you instead. Your body becomes unable to accurately distinguish between its own cells and genuinely harmful pathogens. It can be a vicious cycle that’s hard to break. The result can be a rage of different autoimmune conditions including vitiligo, rheumatoid arthritis, alopecia, multiple sclerosis, lupus ulcerative colitis, thyroiditis, vitiligo, chronic fatigue syndrome, Sjogren’s syndrome, and Raynaud’s syndrome.
If you have any of these conditions it’s vital to work closely with your doctor to make sure you’re not treating just the symptoms, but the root of the problem that may lie in your gut.
The University of British Columbia has published a groundbreaking paper identifying Canadian-sourced fulvic acid (such as AEON) as having great therapeutic potential in treating a range of autoimmune conditions.
INVIKTVS Scientific Innovations is the parent company of AEON, and they’ve engaged multiple universities (including the UBC) to establish partnerships to further investigate these exciting findings, so that their findings can then be shared.
Skin Problems
Researchers have now coined the terms “gut-skin-axis” or “gut-skin-microbiome” to describe how closely gut health and skin health are connected. Many studies have shown how a leaky gut can cause a range of different skin conditions. Skin troubles from eczema to acne, psoriasis to rashes could all arise when hazardous material makes its ways through a compromised gut membrane and into the bloodstream, where it can wreak havoc.
But the overall balance of gut bacterial flora plays a role, too, and can greatly impact your skin. While probiotic supplements can help somewhat, it can be a minefield to try and determine exactly what kind would benefit you most, given the thousands of different strains to choose from. To complicate things, some strains may well make matters worse, and several commonly available probiotic strains have actually been found to increase inflammation in the body – naturally not the result you want.
People turning to prescribed drugs or topical remedies for these skin woes typically find that they are not effective in the long term. The reason is obvious: the underlying cause is never properly addressed. Drugs, lotions and topical treatments can only offer temporarily relief and a masking of symptoms, not a true solution.
Fulvic acid, however, has the potential to heal skin conditions at the root. Acting as both a dietary supplement and a topical application, fulvic acid is now being shown in clinical studies to be a safe, natural and effective means to fixing the skin from the inside out. What’s impressive is that fulvic acid can also be applied topically to treat more acute wounds, rashes or flare ups as well as taken internally to address overall skin health.
Metabolic Issues
Many of us find that we’re gradually putting on weight, and wonder if our slowing metabolism or our advancing age is to blame. In fact, it may be that an unhealthy thyroid is behind your symptoms, which itself could happen due to persistent leaky gut. Chronic thyroiditis (also known as Hashimoto’s disease) can be linked directly to the gut, manifesting as symptoms of dysregulated metabolism, depression, exhaustion, impaired thyroid function and weight gain, to list a few.
Mood Disorders
People are now more familiar than ever with the “gut-brain-axis” and how our moods and general wellbeing are connected to our digestive health. The gut and brain are in constant communication and relationship with one another. It follows that those with a leaky gut will experience neurocognitive issues or disruptions to mood, too.
A leaky gut can instigate an inflammatory response in the body, which triggers the production of a flood of pro-inflammatory chemicals called cytokines. These molecules can actually elevate your risk for developing mood disorders such a depression. Talk to your doctor if you’re experiencing symptoms of a leaky gut as well as signs of depression – you may need some guidance on how to treat both together.
Neurocognitive Conditions
With autism being diagnosed at record numbers, some experts have wondered whether leaky gut syndrome may be to blame. There is now some evidence that disruptions to the gut microbiome in early life can actually predispose a person to developing autism.
Research is also showing that there may be connection between compromised gut permeability and autism – toxins that are leaked into the bloodstream can instigate an inflammatory response that in turn increases the production of certain brain chemicals. These neurochemicals have been identified as interfering with neurocognitive development in the first year of life, affecting the structure and function of the brain in the long term.
Again, probiotic supplementation is unlikely to be the answer. Unless the gut lining itself is healed and a healthy microbiome restored, taking additional healthy bacteria cannot have any sustainable effects. True digestive health is always going to require two steps: first, you need to heal the intestinal membrane, and second, you need to replenish healthy bacterial populations, either through diet or supplementation.
AEON natural health product (NHP) with a patented blend of Canadian-sourced humic and fulvic acid. These organic acids are the very same substances that have been scientifically researched for their therapeutic potential to heal the gut and support ideal microbial balance.
