The Key Causes Of Leaky Gut – And How To Treat It

In our last two articles you have learned about “What is leaky gut and how do you know if you have it?” and “Why fixing your leaky gut is the key to healing your chronic disease“.  Leaky gut occurs when the gut lining gets damaged day after day, week after week, and it becomes more and more permeable, which allows partially digested food particles and bacteria to get through into the bloodstream. This has been identified as a universal mechanism that contributes to many chronic disease and imbalance.

Now let’s dive into the possible causes of leaky gut. It’s never one thing; it’s always different factors that contribute to an increased permeability of the gut lining. Our modern, Western lives can create a perfect storm for many health conditions, including leaky gut. But knowledge is power and when you’re aware of the contributing factors, you can start making improvements.

Mainstream medicine won’t tell you this, but if you truly want to heal, you have to know what caused your imbalance.

The 6 Main Factors That can Cause Intestinal Permeability

Here’s a quick look at the 6 leading causes of leaky gut so that you know exactly what to avoid in step 1 of our protocol.

1. Chronic Stress

Excess stress will trigger leaky gut all by itself. You have an on-off switch in your body. Your nervous system is either in “fight or flight” mode, or “rest and digest” mode. The body is designed to stay in the “rest and digest” mode where it functions best. However, in response to an acute stressor, paracellular permeability is increased to increase sodium, water, and glucose uptake to meet the high energy demands of a fight-flight reaction. When the stressor remains it turns chronic and the permeability will remain high. Lipopolysaccharides can breach the bariers and when excessive amounts of LPS leak into the bloodstream it triggers systemic inflammation in the body. You begin a never-ending cycle.

2. Dysbiosis

The dynamic interactions between the gut microbiota and the immune system is well known by now. With good microbial diversity and abundance, and a healthy balanced intestinal tract, we see good short chain fatty acid production (fuels the gut lining), barrier integrity (normal tight junctions), balanced immune signaling (Secretory IgA, the immunoglobulin secreted by the cells that line your intestinal tract), good neuropeptides and neurotransmitters are  produced and vagus nerve signaling. Dysbiosis in your microbiome means that you have an imbalance in the different types of microbes there, which will have broad effects on your health. The inflammatory cascade can get activated (leukocytes, cytokines, and TNF-α) which establishes a chronic inflammation process and, consequently, tissue damage. The composition of the microbiota changes continuously throughout life, and many factors influence its composition. Thus, it mainly varies according to factors such as diet, age, genes, drugs ingested, and other environmental, physical, and psychological input / stressors.

3. Infections

Infections can also play a big role in disrupting the intestinal barrier. Small intestinal bowel overgrowth of harmful bacteria (SIBO), Candida and mold toxins, Helicobacter pylori infect in the stomach, parasites, etc. You will need to address this first.

4. Antibiotics and Drugs

Antibiotics will have a lasting negative effect on the balance of the gut microbiota. Other drugs such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), aspirin, or paracetamol damage the gastric and intestinal mucosa directly and increase bowel permeability.

5. Alcohol

Alcohol can cause increased intestinal permeability, depending on the dose and time of administration of alcohol, and decreases in the hydrophobicity of the mucosal surface (a critical component of intestinal mucosal barrier function). Studies show inhibition of beneficial bacteria after high consumption of alcohol (see below).

Alcohol causes direct cytotoxicity in the gut epithelium. Alcohol downregulates the assembly of TJs and upregulates their degradation, leading to a disruption in cellular junctions between adjacent cells.

Figure 5                Alcohol dampens the gut chemical barrier. Red arrows indicate the effect of alcohol -the more alcohol (to the right) – the worse the effects.

Alcohol disrupts healthy commensal bacteria and causes an overgrowth of gut pathobionts. Antimicrobial peptide (AMP) production in Paneth cells is downregulated. Although sIgA production is not affected by alcohol exposure, transport of secreted IgA to lumen is interfered, resulting in dampened immune regulation.

Sorry people. Enjoy responsibly..

6. Diet

Diet and digestion strongly influences the microbial composition and functions of the gut. Pay special attention to these:

Gluten. Gluten is the term that refers to the elastic network of a certain grain’s proteins: gliadin and glutenin. The infamous protein that exists in wheat, spelt, rye, and barley. Gluten makes up 75–85% of the total protein in common bread wheat. No human alive has the enzymes needed to completely digest the protein. As seen in the video clip, every time you eat food containing gluten, it triggers the production of zonulin and causes the tight junctions in your gut to open up. If you eat it regularly throughout the day it fuels inflammation throughout your body.

Dairy. There are two processes to prolong the shelf life of milk. Pasteurization and homogenization. Pasteurization kills off bacteria while destroying vitamins and milk enzymes. Homogenization aims for consistency. This alters the size and shape of the milk fat. This process ends up making it easier for it to enter your bloodstream. This causes inflammation. Then, small molecules bind to arterial walls prompting your body to protect you. How does it do that? By producing a layer of cholesterol.

Sugar. How much processed sugar should a person have in their diet? None. In fact, sugar is one of the 10 most inflammatory foods you could eat. While your body uses sugar for energy, refined sugar is lacking in nutritional value. Your body can get all the energy it needs from sugars found in whole foods like fruits. The ultra processed high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is the worst kind and increases intestinal permeability and dysfunction of TJs.

Toxins. Pesticides (glyphosate), food additives, emulsifiers, heavy metals, and nanoparticles have the ability to increase intestinal permeability by interfering with TJs. Removing all processed foods from your diet is highly recommended. So is eating organic.

Chronic high fat diet (HFD). Not many health experts will tell you about this one, but studies have shown that chronically consuming an HFD (>40–50% of total daily kcals) has many detrimental effects on intestinal barrier integrity. A typical Western-style diet has about 35–45% of calories derived from fat. The ketogenic diet gets about 70-80% of kcal from fat.

Simply removing these triggers can take an enormous amount of effort. However once these trigger foods and chemicals are removed, the signs of leaky gut may alleviate.

It is important to understand that leaky gut damages the tissue lining of the wall of the intestine. Removing trigger foods and trigger chemicals only helps to partially control leaky gut. It does not fully repair the damage to the intestinal wall.

How to heal Leaky Gut

Despite what you may have heard, there’s no quick fix to heal your gut. But you can make amazing progress in just 60 days when you follow our free Ultimate Leaky Gut Guide. We made this guide especially for you and included our proven 5-step RRORR protocol: Remove-Replace-Optimize-Repair-Rebalance. Get it now and get back on the path of health and vitality!

Step 1. Remove

This first step is all about setting a heathy foundation and doing a hard reset on your food intake and lifestyle.

Of course, the first step in healing a leaky gut is to identify YOUR potential triggers that could be causing or exacerbating the condition. Assess the previous 6 factors and see which ones are most important for you. Based on our experience, common culprits include gluten, dairy, processed foods, refined sugars, alcohol, artificial additives, food items where you have a sensitivity or allergy to, and – of course – stress.

Start eliminating these triggers from your life. Stop throwing gasoline on the fire and you will be half way already.

Step 2. Replace

Add in the right foods to set your foundation of health. Replace trigger foods with gut-healing ones that support the restoration of the intestinal lining. Focus on nutrient-dense, whole foods, such as leafy greens, colorful vegetables, lean proteins, nuts, seeds, and healthy fats. If you can, incorporate bone broth. Be sure to add in Omega 3 fats (EPA & DHA). See more details in our guide – including our Leaky Gut Food Lists.

Step 3. Optimize

Research continues to come out showing how people with leaky gut often also have other digestive disorders, such as IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), reflux, low stomach acid, SIBO, or an infection such as candida or parasites. That’s why this step to improve your digestion and absorption. And addressing any underlying infections can’t be skipped. If you suspect an underlying infection, it is best to consult a functional health practitioner.

Check our guide for comprehensive information what to do in this step.

Step 4. Repair

In this step you’re going to turn on the right genes that help to heal your gut. the gut lining renews its cells every 3 – 7 days, so we can repair the intestines very well. Removing the irritating triggers was step 1 and gave your gut space and time to heal. Replacing inflammatory foods with foods and intermittent fasting that support healing was step 2. Step 3 helped you to digest your food better so that less partially digested food particles can leak through the intestinal barrier. Now you are ready to go all-in and repair your leaky gut.

We have selected the best nutrients and supplements to turn on your right genes and put them in our guide. Nowhere else you well find such a complete overview.

Step 5. Rebalance

When the microbial balance in your gut is right, your whole body is able to function the way it’s supposed to. But when that balance gets out of whack, that’s where problems can start to add up. In this last step it’s finally time to focus on your microbiome, and repopulate your gut with good bacteria. We will use the right probiotics and prebiotic fibers.

You can consult a Functional Medicine practitioner and get a comprehensive gut microbiome test to assess the bacteria, fungal and parasite status along with digestive enzymes, immune system and inflammation in your gut. Or you can just go ahead and follow all these steps and keep focusing on how you feel.

If you follow our protocol, no doubt that you’ll feel your best you’ve felt in a looong long time. Healing leaky gut is that essential to vibrant health and energy.

You’ve got this!

And we’re here to help.