The digestive tract is protected by a thick mucous layer and tight muscular junctions in the digestive walls.

Think of the mucous/protective lining as a security checkpoint. When you eat, the good parts of the food (nutrients) are absorbed readily through the lining, but the bad things i.e. infections, chemicals, fake fats and sugars, etc. are analyzed, attacked and/or taken away by our immune system at the checkpoint.

One test that is often used to test for Leaky Gut is a Zonulin panel. Zonulin is a protein that creates tight junctions in our digestive lining. If you don’t have much Zonulin in the blood then Leaky Gut is highly suspected.

Chronic inflammation to the lining can cause damage and “cracks” within both protective layers. These injuries/cracks within the lining can allow partially undigesrefood particles to jump from the digestive tract directly into the blood without any immune check. The inflammation can basically injure and destroy our immune checkpoints in our digestive tract.

This is where the term LEAKY GUT comes from, our gut leaks out into our blood stream. If partially undigested foods or infections pass into the blood it can create a universal inflammatory response…. and this is where food sensitivities come in.

There has been research that is coming out that shows some major influences on our digestive track:

1. Excessive sugar intake
2. Chronic antibiotic use
3. Chronic birth control use
4. GMO/Pesticides

We are going to go over these influences this week! Let’s stop the leakage!