DO YOU HAVE A LEAKY GUT?

A leaky gut is defined as an intestinal lining which has become permeable and has lost some of its original integrity. I like to use the analogy of a screen door. The screen door has little openings that freely allow the fresh air to enter, while blocking the entrance of the pesky bugs. In the same way, the lining of our gastrointestinal walls are responsible for the absorption of all the vital nutrients that we need to keep us alive and well, while blocking the entrance of invading pathogens, whether they be viruses, bacteria, parasites, or undigested food particles.

When our intestinal screen doors allow larger particles, such as undigested food particles, to "leak through", our immune systems tag them as foreign invaders resulting in inflammation and other immune system responses. This is the underlining cause of many diseases, such as arthritis, asthma, eczema, diabetes, and all the various autoimmune diseases, etc, etc.

So what causes the our guts to become leaky? A few of the main causes are consumption of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (such as aspirin, Ibuprofen, naproxen, etc), antibiotics, H2 receptor antagonists (i.e. Zantac, Tagamet, etc), food with pesticide residue on it, refined sugar, alcohol, tobacco, etc, etc.

If you think your gut wall might be leaking or you just want to insure it doesn't, come check with us about our Nutriplenish GI (a nutrient product that helps with digestion and contains repair nutrients for the gut lining) and Enterobiotic, a good multi-strain probiotic.