Have you ever considered the fact that the contents of the gut are technically outside the body? The gut is a hollow tube passes from the mouth to the anus. Anything thatgoes in the mouth and isn't digested will pass right out the other end. This is, in fact, one of the most important functions of the gut: to prevent foreign substances from entering the body.
When the intestinal barrier becomes permeable(i,e. leaky gut syndrome), large protein molecules escape into the bloodstream. Since these proteins don't belong outside of the gut, the body mounts an immune response and attacks them. Studies show that these attacks play a role in the development of autoimmune diseases like Hashimto's and type 1 diabetes, among others.
There is growing evidence that increased intestinal permeability plays a pathogenic role in various autoimmune diseases including ( celiac disease) and (type 1 diabetes).
You don't have to have gut symptoms to have a leaky gut. Leaky gut can manifest as skin problems like eczema or psoriasis, heart failure, autoimmune conditions affecting the tyroid (Hasimoto's) or joints (rheumatoid arthritis), mental illness, autism spectrum disorder, depression, and more.
A protein called zoulin that increases intestinal permeability ( leaky gut) in humans and animals. reasearchers found that many, autoimmune diseases-including celiac disease, type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, rheumatioid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease-are characterized by abnormally high levels of zonulin and a leaky gut infact, researchers have found that they can induce type 1 diabetes almost immediately in animals by exposing them to zonulin. they develop a leaky gut and begin producing antibodies, to islet cells, which is responsible for making insulin.
One of the main reasons to avoid wheat and other gluten-containing grains is that they contain a protein called gliadin, which has been shown to increase zonulin production and thus directly contribute to leaky gut in susceptible people.
But what else can cause leaky gut? In short, the same things I listed above that destroy our gut flora: poor diet, medications (antibiotics,NSAID's, steroids, antacids, etc.) infections, stress, hormon imbalance, and neurological conditions (brain trauma, stroke and neurodegeneration).
R Parlak
next blog is Leaky Gut