Do you suffer from intestinal permeability and don't know it?

 

A leaky colon has different repercussions.

If you notice that your body is not functioning optimally or not as it used to, several symptoms, some general, others more specific, can indicate whether there are alterations in the digestive system, particularly in the large intestine.

How Your Gut Becomes Leaky

To find out if you have it, you can undergo some tests that are currently not very accurate and can be expensive. The truth is that, if you suspect that you have this condition, it is very likely that you do.

You should know that the intestinal flora is made up of “good” and “bad” bacteria and the idea is to have a balanced proportion of both. The problem arises when the bad bacteria proliferate and there is no space for the good ones to fulfill their function.

Our intestine contains a mucous layer that protects the walls of the intestine. It surrounds the lumen of the tract, and is in direct contact with digested food (chyme). The mucosa is made up of three layers: ¹

• The epithelium is the innermost layer. It is where most of the digestive, absorptive and secretory processes occur.
• Lamina propria : This is a layer of connective tissue within the mucosa. This layer is unusually cellular compared to most connective tissue and lies beneath the epithelium. These sheets normally stick together tightly, making the wall impermeable. However, they can become loose due to malnutrition, inflammation or an autoimmune crisis, which weakens them and can make them porous.
• Muscularis mucosae is a thin layer of smooth muscle .

The particular function of the colon

The colon acts practically like an external organ. If digestion, absorption and secretion processes did not take place in the colon, the food we consume would simply continue to be evacuated in the feces, but as a puree.

In the colon we have molecules that transport nutrients to the bloodstream where they are distributed and captured by the cells that need them. It is in the bloodstream where particles from a porous colon can sneak in and when the body identifies them in the blood, it brings out its immune system to neutralize them and not let them enter the cells .

Img. OpenClipart-Vectors

An increase in permeability occurs when the function of the intestinal protective barrier is altered due to intestinal infections , consumption of allergenic foods, alcohol, antibiotics , chemotherapy , radiotherapy or alterations in the intestinal flora, among others. The alteration of the intestinal barrier function means an increase in the passage of unwanted substances that can cause chronic inflammatory and immune disorders.

These are the main signs that you have a leaky gut,

1. Digestive problems:

- Chronic diarrhea

- Constipation

- Gas or stomach inflammation

- Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) = alternating diarrhea and constipation.

- Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) = gas and stomach inflammation are its main symptoms.

2. Nutritional deficiencies

Image by Jim Coote

One of the consequences of leaky gut and inflammation in the colon is nutritional deficiencies. The intestine has microvilli that contain the “good” bacteria and enzymes we need to break down food. If there is no healthy environment in the colon, the microvilli are damaged and we will not have the appropriate bacteria or sufficient enzyme production to achieve normal digestion.

If digestion cannot be carried out efficiently, there will be inadequacies in the absorption of essential fatty acids, essential amino acids and, although carbohydrates are not essential, they must also be broken down so as not to end up being food for pathogenic bacteria or “bad” bacteria.

3. Allergies and intolerances

Both food intolerance and what is called the universal reactor manifest in a leaky colon. If you suffer from leaky colon syndrome, it is possible that some of the proteins and antigens present in the foods you eat cross the intestinal membrane, causing a number of allergies to the point where you respond with an allergic reaction to everything you eat!

4. Skin rashes

When conditions such as acne, rosacea or eczema occur, it is because we have inflammation and we have many immune reactions due to an excessive accumulation of waste and debris in our body.

We have several important organs in our body that are responsible for removing waste and residue: the liver, the kidneys, but also the lungs and the skin. The skin is very important in helping us eliminate waste and if you have an over accumulation of waste, this will cause some problems when it comes to leaving the body.

5. Weak immune system

A leaky colon results from a defective immune system and this happens because the body is literally overwhelmed solving other problems.

The immune system has two basic functions, among others: one is to fight pathogens and the other is to eliminate toxins. When food particles sneak through the pores of the colon into the bloodstream, the immune system detects them as toxins, brings out its arsenal of antigens and this whole process causes a lot of inflammation. This means that your immune system is wearing itself out trying to eliminate food particles that sneak into the bloodstream instead of eliminating toxins, pathogens and other particles that are truly foreign to the body.

6. Autoimmune diseases

An overloaded immune system becomes confused and ends up attacking its own body. At this point, it can no longer differentiate between its own cells or tissue and foreign bodies that enter it, so it ends up attacking its own body by mistake.

Some examples of this condition are,

Systemic lupus erythematosus: An autoimmune disease that begins by attacking many of the organs and systems in your body.

Celiac disease. When gluten begins to damage the small intestine.

Crohn's disease. A type of inflammatory bowel disease.

Hashimoto's thyroiditis is the main cause of hypothyroidism. These diseases have recently become widespread and popular. Hashimoto's disease is perhaps the most common of them and is often not correctly diagnosed because when a person has thyroid problems, they are simply given a synthetic hormone and the origin of the disease is rarely investigated. Hashimoto's is an autoimmune attack of the thyroid.

Rheumatoid arthritis is a devastating disease that attacks the joints at the synovial membranes affecting the joint linings and causing painful inflammation that weakens the joints.

Multiple sclerosis when the autoimmune attack occurs in the nervous system. Imagine that your brain is trying to send messages through electrical wiring and suddenly it receives an attack on the protective covering of those cables, which would be the myelin, this causes short circuits in different places of the wiring and most likely, in the wrong places.

Psoriatic arthritis affects some people with psoriasis. Many people think of psoriasis as a skin disease, but it is actually a form of arthritis that can be just as debilitating as rheumatoid arthritis.

Vitiligo is when pigment is lost because the autoimmune attack is directed at the cells that produce melanin.

7. Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis and is characterized by joint pain. It is very common in people over 60 years of age and begins by affecting the major joints of the body such as the spine, knees, hips and shoulders, as well as the joints of the fingers.

Unlike autoimmune arthritis, osteoarthritis is considered a mechanical deficiency. Once people reach their 50s or 60s, arthritis is detected through an x-ray, where the diagnosis is that the joint has “worn out.”

According to Dr. Sten Eckberg, this is the wrong way to diagnose it because our body is constantly wearing down during the day and if it works efficiently, it recovers and rebuilds itself during rest. So it should not be thought of as deterioration but rather as a lack of proper recovery. The proof of this is that when your left knee hurts, for example, you walked the same number of steps with your right knee as well, so why didn't your right knee wear down like your left?

The answer is that both knees were worn out, but one recovered better than the other. This is due to several reasons, such as the mechanical stability that we obtain from the control of the nervous system, but the other reason is the inflammation, which, unlike arthritis with autoimmunity, is not of the erosive autoimmune type but of a more generalized form.

8. Cravings

Another consequence of leaky gut is dysbiosis (unbalanced gut flora). Our microbiome is made up of about 40 trillion bacteria, and there is only one bacteria for every cell in your body. It turns out that these bacteria have a say. It may sound strange, but even though they are housed in the gut, there is a deep connection with the brain and the rest of the body.

Bacteria in the colon send signals to the body and can influence the mechanisms by which you feel gratification and satiety when eating. Bacteria can also produce toxins that alter your emotional state and sabotage the function of the vagus nerve.

The brain has cranial nerve branches and the tenth cranial nerve is called the vagus nerve which is responsible for your parasympathetic nervous system and that has to do with digestion, among other things. So the vagus nerve communicates between the brain and the gut and the bacteria in the gut. If you have an imbalance in your gut flora and these bacteria are making you crave sugar, they make you crave sugar as well.

9. Cognitive problems

There are two important barriers in the body, one is the one that covers the intestine as we saw above and the other is the so-called blood-brain barrier. The same factors that compromise the integrity of the intestine also do so in the brain.

When the brain starts to become damaged and inflamed, the frontal lobe is also unable to produce the energy needed to properly control reasoning, problem solving, emotions, and speech. But 90% of the frontal lobe's work is spent shutting out distractions, which can include depressive thoughts, anxiety, and worry. When the brain is functioning properly, it is able to focus the mind, stabilize the mood, and let go of those "distractions."

Some symptoms include headaches, brain fog, and memory loss. This condition may also be associated with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

10. Chronic fatigue

It is often associated with fibromyalgia, which is musculoskeletal pain spread throughout the body, decreased brain function, poor nutrition, inflammation. When all this is happening, the body is worn out trying to digest food while the immune system attacks everything it sees so that the person suffering from chronic fatigue no longer has energy for anything.

Treatment for intestinal permeability disorders

Treatment for intestinal permeability pathologies is based on following a series of guidelines in different aspects:

• In the diet , avoiding irritating products, such as refined and processed products like sugar (present in different preparations).
• Through a psychological approach to improve mood and stress.
• Study of food intolerances or allergies if necessary. In this regard, you may need to go on an elimination diet to see if it is gluten, dairy or other allergens.
• Replenish intestinal flora by taking probiotics and prebiotics based on the person's medical history, as well as digestive enzymes and fiber such as freshly ground flaxseed and psyllium husks.
• Improve the immune status to respond to substances that have penetrated
• Intake of supplements such as amino acids, minerals and vitamins that help repair the intestinal wall.

Disclaimer

The diseases caused by a leaky gut mentioned in the article are supported by studies that have been carried out on people with a leaky gut and who also have at least one of these conditions. However, some medical institutions reject the idea that these conditions are associated with a leaky colon. If you suspect that you suffer from this disease, consult your doctor before following any treatment.