What is Leaky Gut Syndrome and how Functional Medicine can help?

Would you be able to strain tea using a torn tea strainer? The tea leaves would spill all over the kitchen, wouldn’t they? A leaky gut is a lot like a torn tea strainer, not able to do its job properly at all; only a leaky gut is many times larger and more dangerous than a leaky strainer.

When the strainer- or net-like intestinal barrier becomes more permeable (more porous or pores opening up) than it should be, it results in leaky gut syndrome. The walls of your intestine begin to let undigested food particles and toxins leak into your blood circulation. This further allows allergens or pathogens to enter the bloodstream.

There is a greater risk of getting leaky gut syndrome than you think. Leaky gut syndrome, or intestinal permeability, is a condition that can disrupt gut health and contribute to a whole host of medical conditions, including autoimmune diseases. An unchecked leaky gut might lead to diseases like lupus, multiple sclerosis, arthritis, fibromyalgia, type 1 diabetes, acne, chronic fatigue syndrome, numerous allergies, asthma, weight gain, and sometimes, mental health, which might also be compromised.

Functional medicine takes a more centered approach toward leaky gut syndrome.

Symptoms of Leaky Gut Syndrome

Depending on the patient and their medical history, the symptoms of a leaky gut can vary. The symptoms may include:

• Bloating
• IBS
• Gas
• Food reactivity
• Weight gain
• Acne
• Rosacea (a skin condition)
• Asthma
• Seasonal Allergies
• Migraine
• Depression 
• Brain fog 
• Headaches 
• Fatigue

However, it's also possible to have a leaky gut without showing any symptoms. Yet, the low-grade inflammation caused by a leaky gut may stand as a factor in the growth of other chronic health disorders over the long run.

Factors/Causes of Leaky Gut Syndrome

Numerous factors may affect how well the intestinal barrier and digestive system work, but some of the most important ones are as follows:

• Low stomach acid
• Chronic stress
• Gluten-containing grains
• Poor dietary choices, like processed foods, sugar, low-nutrition food 
• Gastrointestinal infections
• Mold mycotoxins (poisonous substances produced by fungi or mold) can affect the microbiome of your gut
• Anti-inflammatory medications

Can you Fix a Leaky Gut?

The good news is that there are practical methods for repairing a leaky gut. You can improve the condition of intestinal barriers and enhance general health. Functional Medicine does this by way of introducing targeted nutrients (via foods and supplements) and helping patients decline their physical and mental stress.

Functional Medicine uses the "5 R" method to improve the condition of the intestinal barrier and enhance its function, as well as better overall gastrointestinal health.

Based on indicators, symptoms, and test findings, it is possible to customize this “5 R” framework to meet the needs and circumstances of each individual.

The "5R" Treatment Protocol of Functional Medicine

The "5 R" approach to digestive health, utilized to treat leaky gut disease, identifies five essential components. Remove, Restore, Replace, Repopulate, and Repair are the five Rs of maintenance. The "5 R" approach tackles numerous potential causes of leaky gut syndrome and ways to treat it. The stomach can take six months to a year to fully recover, so finding a functional medicine expert can help you recover.

So What does it Involve?

1. Remove- Start by eliminating potentially pathogenic (disease-causing) substances, alcohol, gluten, and allergic foods (bacteria and yeast). You can start repairing the stomach by removing the causes of mucosal irritation.
2. Restore- You can restore the appropriate amount of time needed to empty the intestines of waste. That is known as bowel transit time. In simple words, bowel transit time is the time it takes for food to reach from your mouth to your anus (including all the processes of chewing, digestion, passing through small and large intestines, etc.). More fiber, water, belly massages, and easy exercises can help with this. That limits the amount of time that toxins can sit in the colon.
3. Replace- Including digestive enzymes in the diet encourages complete food digestion and boosts the body's natural production of these enzymes with time.
4. Reinoculate- Adding probiotics and prebiotics to the gastrointestinal (GI) tract under expert medical supervision will increase the diversity of beneficial bacteria. Probiotics are good bacteria, while prebiotics is a  non-digestible food ingredient that promotes the growth of good bacteria.
5. Repair- The stomach needs extra love and care at this point in the game, which is why supplemental amino acids like L-glutamine (an amino acid that helps remove excess ammonia, a common waste product in the body) and N-acetyl cysteine (a synthetic amino acid that serves as an antioxidant) are vital. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs) are fats that aren't produced by the body, and it's important to get them from food sources. Multivitamins are also introduced to the patients, thus helping their GI tract recover much faster.

Conclusion 

To determine what's going on internally, an in-depth examination of your nutritional intake, lifestyle, and gut microbiome is required. Functional medicine experts can define what you need to do to regain intestinal health. Your digestive problems and food allergies must go away with the correct assistance, enabling you to live healthily.