Finally, intestinal permeability or leaky gut starts to get some respect. Those who dismiss it as unproven are wearing blinders. But leaky gut is not unproven. There’s even a test for it. The original test was developed in the 1980s by UCLA researchers who were trying to understand what caused the inflammatory bowel disease known as Crohn’s. The researchers found that leaky gut preceded inflammation, implying that the leakiness plays a key role in disease development. In a fascinating retelling of events, the principle investigator Professor Daniel Hollander recalls, “We did not think that it was the only etiologic factor…but by allowing … infectious or toxic substances to penetrate the intestinal barrier…[increased intestinal permeability could] contribute to the cascade of events that culminate in active Crohn’s disease.” “Observations should not be dismissed because they do not conform to our current medical dogma. We are simply missing too many opportunities to help people get well.” That was 30 years ago. And in the interim, leaky gut has been found in association with several diseases including: asthma, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, irritable bowel, kidney disease, psoriasis, eczema, depression, chronic fatigue syndrome, and heart failure. Now we even understand how it happens. In what is likely to be Nobel Prize-worthy work, Harvard celiac researcher, Alessio Fasano, MD found that our bodies make a protein (with the nifty name, “Zonulin”) that essentially unzips the tight junctions that seal the intestinal lining. Although we don’t know all the things that stimulate the release of Zonulin, we do know that certain bacteria and gluten can do it. Along with genetic factors, that may be enough to create a perfect storm to trigger disease. “I firmly believe that without loss of intestinal barrier,” Dr. Fasano wrote me, “it is difficult…to understand how autoimmune diseases would develop.”
Posted on: Tue, 01 Apr 2014 02:21:55 +0000
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