{"id":18,"date":"2017-10-12T13:47:41","date_gmt":"2017-10-12T13:47:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.4ahealthygut.com\/?p=18"},"modified":"2018-09-15T17:26:56","modified_gmt":"2018-09-15T17:26:56","slug":"the-benefits-of-probiotics-for-leaky-gut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.4ahealthygut.com\/the-benefits-of-probiotics-for-leaky-gut\/","title":{"rendered":"The Benefits of Probiotics For Leaky Gut"},"content":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0Leaky gut syndrome is becoming an increasingly common problem in the western world. The condition often goes undiagnosed by medical doctors, causing long-term gut discomfort and fatigue, as well as a myriad of other negative health conditions.<\/p>\n

The problem with seeking help for leaky gut syndrome lies in its diagnosis. It\u2019s hard to differentiate leaky gut syndrome from other conditions like irritable bowel syndrome, chronic fatigue syndrome, Celiac disease, and food intolerances.<\/p>\n

Patients often spend thousands of dollars on expensive testing and medications before they\u2019re able to reach a conclusive diagnosis. Even still, many doctors refuse to diagnose leaky gut syndrome because of our poor scientific understanding about the condition.<\/p>\n

The medications available for treating leaky gut syndrome are hard to prescribe correctly\u00a0and are often ineffective.<\/p>\n

The reason for this has to do with the mechanisms behind the condition itself, which are highly variable and often complicated by other symptoms created by the condition.<\/p>\n

This is why many people suffering from leaky gut syndrome seek out alternative ways to protect the crucially important epithelial lining of their gut and treat the\u00a0leaky gut syndrome.<\/p>\n

One of the most promising methods for treating this complex condition is through the use of probiotics.<\/p>\n

What Is Leaky Gut Syndrome?<\/span><\/h2>\n

The\u00a0Leaky gut syndrome is the combination of symptoms including inflammation, pain, fatigue, and an intestinal hyperpermeability. The key symptom here is intestinal hyperpermeability.<\/p>\n

In order to understand what leaky gut syndrome is, and how it might be fixed, it\u2019s important to understand what this intestinal hyper-permeability is, and how it develops.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start by breaking the term down first. In medical terminology, the word hyper- <\/em>\u00a0means \u201ctoo much\u201d and the word permeability<\/em> refers to the movement of molecules across a membrane.<\/p>\n

In effect, the term intestinal hyper-permeability<\/em> means that too many molecules are able to permeate\u00a0or move across the intestinal lining into the bloodstream.<\/p>\n

In a healthy gut, food is broken down into the smallest particles possible by enzymes secreted by our liver, pancreas, and stomach, as well as through the support of a healthy gut microbiome [20].<\/p>\n

Proteins become amino acids, fats become fatty acids, and carbohydrates are broken down into individual sugars. These tiny particles are then absorbed through the gut lining through special spaces between the cells known as \u201cgap junctions\u201d.<\/p>\n

The gap junctions help to ensure that water-soluble components are delivered to the bloodstream, and the fat-soluble components are packaged up and sent to the fatty lymph fluid instead.<\/p>\n

While all of this is happening, the healthy intestinal lining remains impermeable to larger molecules, bacterial endotoxins, and other damaging pro-inflammatory molecules.<\/p>\n

The epithelial tissues forming the intestinal tract cooperates with and a thin layer of healthy bacteria known as the microbiome. This is a highly complex cooperation between the epithelial cells of the intestinal tract, the microbiome, and the gap junctions [5].<\/p>\n

When the gut becomes damaged by a loss of the protective microbiome, inflammation, and widening of the gap junctions between the intestinal cells will result.<\/p>\n

Once compromised, a weak and inflamed intestinal barrier will allow much larger molecules to find their way across the gut lining. These molecules may include intact proteins, bacterial and fungal endotoxins, and lipids [7].<\/p>\n

Some of these unwanted molecules can mimic our hormones, oxidize our blood vessel walls, or trigger inflammatory immune responses throughout the body. Any of these side effects can lead to serious consequences if allowed to persist. [20].<\/p>\n

Without a protective layer of beneficial bacteria, tight gap junctions, and healthy epithelial tissue, fatty substances are able to enter the bloodstream directly, leading to hypertriglyceridemia and increasing the chances of cardiovascular damage and metabolic disease.<\/p>\n

Additionally, it allows the passage of large, pro-inflammatory molecules to find their way into systemic circulation and gives malicious bacteria, viruses, and parasites the opportunity to enter the bloodstream to invade distant areas of the body with minimal effort.<\/p>\n

The wide range of negative effects that follows a poor gut membrane is what makes this condition have so many different symptoms, and is the reason it\u2019s so hard to diagnose.<\/p>\n

It depends on what you eat, and what stage the intestinal damage has reached that determines the side effects. In many, molecules leaking through the gut trigger systemic immune response, resulting in inflammation, fatigue, and lowered immunity.<\/p>\n

In some foods like milk, large proteins leak through the gut membrane and mimic neurotransmitters in the brain. This can cause our cognitive capacities to decline, producing what we know commonly as \u201cbrain fog\u201d.<\/p>\n

What Are The Dangers Of Leaky Gut Syndrome?<\/span><\/h2>\n

Increased gut permeability has been shown to lead to endotoxemia as toxic waste products and infectious molecules circulate the bloodstream which eventually leads to organ failure in the form of kidney failure, or cirrhosis of the liver [1-3,6].<\/p>\n

Additionally, conditions including, circulatory dysfunctions [4], metabolic syndrome, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, Parkinson\u2019s disease and alcoholic liver disease have all been shown to have a correlation with leaky gut syndrome [8-14].<\/p>\n

This is why the diagnosis and treatment of leaky gut syndrome are of utmost importance before these long-term, harmful implications begin to present.<\/p>\n

\"What<\/p>\n

What Causes Leaky Gut Syndrome?<\/span><\/h2>\n

The causes of the\u00a0leaky gut syndrome can vary and are highly debated within the scientific community. Studies have shown correlations with a series of health conditions ranging from liver disease to autoimmunity. Whether these conditions themselves are the cause of a leaky gut\u00a0or are the result is not well understood.<\/p>\n

One of the most agreed-upon theories regarding the pathophysiology of leaky gut syndrome begins with gut dysbiosis (loss of, or imbalance of the healthy gut microbiome), which can be the result of poor dietary choices, frequent antibiotic usage, or chronic alcoholism.<\/p>\n

From here, the intestinal cells become exposed and unprotected while at the same time digestion becomes decreased due to lowered microbiome activity.<\/p>\n

This is further worsened when the spaces once filled with beneficial microbes become\u00a0colonized by malicious bacteria or fungi.<\/p>\n

These microbes are often considered malicious because they secrete destructive, pro-inflammatory endotoxins into their surrounding environment. This creates a state of inflammation among exposed intestinal tissues and causes the gap junctions to weaken.<\/p>\n

If this condition isn\u2019t corrected, the gap junctions can degrade to the point of failure, allowing these bacterial endotoxins among other molecules to transfer freely from the intestinal tract into the bloodstream [16].<\/p>\n

As this process begins, it tends to worsen itself. As irritating compounds leak from the gut, the immune system attacks them, resulting in more inflammation, and further damaging the intestinal lining. Stress responses increase, which itself has been shown to damage the microbiome [21].<\/p>\n

Health conditions like metabolic syndrome, liver cirrhosis, diabetes, Parkinson\u2019s disease, Multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and other correlating illnesses are likely the result of systemic insult by pro-inflammatory endotoxin interaction and\/or bacterial or viral infection from a leaky gut.<\/p>\n

To Summarise:<\/h3>\n