Skin Health, your Gut and Nutrition

Leaky Gut ? 

Have you sprung a leak?

Skin health is a topical subject fuelled by our ever-increasing desire to look beautiful. But have you given a thought to your inside skin - the one inside your nose, mouth and intestinal tract? Perhaps you should - it is one of the most important markers in determining general health.

Let’s go on a journey into the unknown – your gut. The adult digestive or intestinal tract is about 26 feet long, beginning with your mouth and ending up at a place that is unprintable in polite society. The main functions of the intestinal tract are to digest and absorb food and protect us from toxins.

It’s a dirty job, but someone’s got to do it. Consider that we chomp our way through truckloads of food in our lifetime. Our inside skin acts as a barrier, separating goodies from baddies. Like a bouncer at an exclusive nightclub, it rejects the riff-raff and sends them off to be excreted. The gut lining is highly selective, only allowing those molecules entry that are needed for the repair and development of our cells.

The trouble is that gut membranes are fragile and can become permeable, rather like a sieve. Likely causes include a high toxic load, allergens, excessive stress, infections and certain drugs, particularly non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS). Then, unwelcome guests, such as opportunistic bacteria can gatecrash their way into the bloodstream through gaps in the intestinal wall. From here they invade the system and take up residence anywhere in the body, causing considerable mischief.

Increasing evidence points to the involvement of a permeable or “leaky” gut in the development of autoimmune diseases, such as Rheumatoid Arthritis or Ankylosing Spondylitis. Other conditions associated with increased gut permeability are inflammatory bowel disease, thyroid disease, hyperactivity, autism, allergies, chemical sensitivities, skin complaints and chronic fatigue. Liver function is particularly compromised as the liver has to work overtime to detoxify increased numbers of toxins emanating from the gut.

So how do we plug the gaps if we have sprung a leak? Nutritionists use a highly effective approach called the 4 R programme. It involves removing irritants, replacing agents for digestive support, reinoculating with friendly bacteria and, last but not least, repairing the mucosal lining. Various tests can predict the extent of irritation to the gut membranes and therapeutic substances are used to normalise permeability.

The duration of the repair process varies from one person to another, but many practitioners believe that a minimum of 3 months is necessary for healing to occur. Nutrient deficiencies should be corrected, as many vitamins and minerals are vital components of gastric juices. An anti-inflammatory diet programme based on fresh fruit and vegetables, increased water intake and oily fish with no refined carbohydrates or saturated fats aids the healing process of the “leaky” gut - a problem seen increasingly due to unhealthy diets and common drug treatments.

Dark Harvest - Toxicity Diet Depression and Environment