There is no one particular treatment for leaky gut. There are various supplements that have been shown to help with leaky gut and the integrity and health of the digestive system. Probiotics like acidophilus and bifidobacter and saccharomyces boulardii which is a type of yeast that helps to fight other types of yeast in the digestive system, help with leaky gut.

Dietary control from the gluten free, casein free diet, to the specific carbohydrate diet, to the low oxalate diet, for kids on the spectrum can help decrease inflammation in the digestive tract which aids in treating leaky gut. Any time that you decrease inflammation in the digestive tract you create an opportunity for the gut lining to heal and to regenerate. We know certainly with anyone has Celiac’s disease, which is a genetic intolerance to gluten, that can cause a blunting of the digestive surface and over time can lead to a leaky gut situation. So in those cases you need to remove gluten to allow for that inflammatory process to diminish and for the mucosal barrier, which is the lining of the gut and the mucosal barrier is the mucous that gets produced, to regenerate.

Glutamine is a particular amino acid product that has been shown to be helpful as a nutritive amino acid for the digestive tract and in treating leaky gut. Cayenne is an herb that also has been shown to increase blood flow to the digestive system, it helps stimulate secretory IgA production and so too that can also be a useful remedy for leaky gut. It is being shown that turmeric or the active ingredient in turmeric called curcumin can be helpful for inflammation, not only digestive inflammation but systemic inflammation throughout the body which can also be helpful in treating leaky gut.

So there are a number of things that can be done to help leaky gut. There is not just one treatment that does the same thing for everybody. So if there is a leaky gut situation happening, dietary control, supplement control, controlling yeast and bacteria, make sure you decrease inflammation in general can be helpful for leaky gut.

There are certain tests that can be done that sort of show the significance of leaky gut. It isn’t always an easy thing to ascertain 100% from a diagnostic standpoint. There are some tests that sort of indicate that there is a likelihood of a leaky gut situation happening with the absorption of certain chemicals that can be measured in the urine. But I just wanted to make you aware that leaky gut is a true phenomenon. Leaky gut is not an all or none situation. Leaky gut can happen with kids on the spectrum it can happen with other disorders whether it is Autism or Autism spectrum disorders or other neurological diseases or chronic fatigue or fibromyalgia. Leaky gut is something we commonly talk about with respects to digestive problems. Leaky gut is a real thing that can be caused by underlying infection and inflammation of the digestive tract. In part 3 I will cover a few of the common supplements used to treat leaky gut.

Leaky gut is controversial because there are many scientists and physicians that look at leaky gut and say “well that’s impossible, how could you develop holes in the gut“ and they are correct, you are not really developing holes per se. What is happening is the cells that line the digestive tract are grouped very tightly together. You normally have things that can be absorbed across the cell surface, through the cell and then excreted out the other side. That is how many nutrients and whatnot get into our body.

But between the cells sometimes things can get by as well. There is something called tight junction and the tight junction is chemicals that help attach the one cell to the next. You can almost think of it like Velcro. You have one cell is being velcroed to another. If that Velcro structure starts to breakdown then those tight junctions start to breakdown and you start to create microscopic gaps in between cells which is leaky gut. And you can now get food protein or other toxins that can flow across the mucosal lining unabated and into the blood stream and essentially that is what we are talking about with respect to leaky gut.