Leaky Gut The Missing Link
In the gut there is one layer of cells between you and the outside world.
When this lining of the intestinal tract is healthy it allows nutrients to pass the barrier while blocking toxins from the 50 tons that the average person ingests over their lifetime. With leaky gut, the barrier is dysfunctional, blocking nutrients while permitting toxins to enter the blood stream.
In leaky gut syndrome (LGS), the small intestine becomes inflamed and irritated, toxins make their way through the lining and flood into the blood stream, compromising the liver, the lymphatic system, and the immune response including the endocrine system that controls all hormones.
At first the liver can dispose of these toxins. However the liver can only detoxify and discharge so much. Under normal circumstances it stays busy with metabolic wastes of cell and organ activity. When damage occurs to the lining of the gut from years of antibiotic use, medications, food allergens, gluten allergy and abnormal gut flora the body can no longer offer complete protection from the outside world.
Now, you're exposed. Imagine the further load created on the liver by dumping serious intestinal toxins on a regular basis. There is a point when the liver becomes saturated; it cannot further detoxify the poisons, and they are returned to the blood circulation. These toxins circulate in the body looking for a home. The antibodies will surround them but without the liver's help they find cells and tissues to implant themselves and cause havoc. With the toxins surrounded by antibodies now in your cells your body starts to attack its own tissues.
This is the mechanism of autoimmunity. The body continues over the years to repeat this procedure leading to chronic autoimmune diseases such as asthma, food allergies and sensitivities, chronic sinusitis, migraine, eczema, irritable bowel, fibromyalgia, inflammatory joint disorders and pediatric immune disorders. Serious autoimmune disorders cannot be ruled out in the future as these early changes complicate many body processes leading to more destruction.
So, is this the cause of all autoimmune disorders? No, but all autoimmune disorders such as diabetes, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and myocarditis need to be evaluated for leaky gut.
Go to a functional medicine doctor to help evaluate and treat this missing link. Your body will thank you for it.
