Your Gut Wall Has Cracks — And Everything Is Leaking Through
Increased intestinal permeability — commonly called "leaky gut" — is increasingly recognized as a driver of chronic inflammation, autoimmunity, and systemic illness.
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Your Gut Was Designed to Be Selective — Here's What Went Wrong
Your intestinal lining is meant to be selectively permeable — allowing nutrients through while keeping out pathogens, toxins, and undigested food particles. Leaky gut occurs when this barrier becomes compromised.
Immune Activation
Foreign particles in the bloodstream trigger immune responses, driving chronic inflammation.
Autoimmunity Link
Research links intestinal permeability to autoimmune diseases including Hashimoto's, RA, and MS.
Gut-Brain Connection
Leaky gut can lead to "leaky brain" — neuroinflammation causing brain fog and mood issues.
Food Sensitivities
Undigested food particles entering blood trigger immune reactions to previously tolerated foods.
The Damage Happens Slowly, Then All at Once
The intestinal lining is held together by "tight junctions" — protein structures that regulate what passes through. Various factors can damage these junctions:
It Doesn't Just Stay in Your Gut
Because leaky gut drives systemic inflammation, symptoms can appear throughout the body:
Digestive Symptoms
Systemic Symptoms
The Autoimmune Connection
Researcher Alessio Fasano's work suggests that intestinal permeability may be a prerequisite for autoimmune disease development. Healing the gut is often a crucial step in managing autoimmune conditions.
How to Know for Sure
Five Steps to Seal the Cracks
Functional medicine uses the "5R" framework to systematically heal the gut:
Remove
Eliminate triggers: gluten, dairy, sugar, alcohol, processed foods, infections, and problematic medications. You can't heal while continuously irritating the gut.
Replace
Add digestive support: digestive enzymes, HCl if needed, and bile support for proper breakdown of food. Inadequate digestion contributes to permeability.
Reinoculate
Restore healthy bacteria with high-quality probiotics, fermented foods, and prebiotic fiber. A healthy microbiome supports barrier function.
Repair
Heal the lining with targeted nutrients:
Rebalance
Address lifestyle factors: sleep, stress, movement, and ongoing dietary habits. The gut heals best in a state of rest and digest, not fight or flight.
What Your Gut Lining Needs to Repair
Your Kitchen Is Part of the Treatment
Healing Foods
Foods to Avoid
Healing Starts in the Gut — Let's Begin
Our AI can help you understand your symptoms and create a starting point for your gut healing journey.
Start Free ConsultationFrequently Asked Questions
Yes — while the term "leaky gut" is informal, the underlying condition is well-documented in medical research as increased intestinal permeability. Studies show that when the tight junctions between intestinal cells become compromised, larger molecules can pass through and trigger immune responses throughout the body.
Common causes include chronic stress, overuse of NSAIDs and antibiotics, excessive alcohol, a diet high in processed foods and sugar, gluten (which triggers zonulin release in susceptible individuals), gut infections, dysbiosis (microbial imbalance), and environmental toxins. Often multiple factors work together to damage the intestinal barrier.
Symptoms extend far beyond the gut and can include bloating, gas, food sensitivities, skin issues (eczema, acne, rashes), joint pain, brain fog, fatigue, mood changes, and autoimmune flares. Because the immune system is activated, leaky gut can manifest as inflammation virtually anywhere in the body.
Diagnosis can include the lactulose-mannitol test (measures intestinal permeability directly), zonulin testing (a protein that regulates tight junctions), comprehensive stool analysis, and food sensitivity panels. Many practitioners also rely on symptom patterns and response to gut-healing protocols as diagnostic indicators.
The intestinal lining can regenerate relatively quickly — cells turn over every 3-5 days. However, fully restoring barrier integrity and resolving the associated immune activation typically takes 2-6 months with a comprehensive protocol. Severe cases with autoimmune involvement may require longer commitment.
Gut-healing foods include bone broth (rich in collagen and glutamine), fermented vegetables, cooked vegetables, and healthy fats. Key supplements include L-glutamine, zinc carnosine, collagen peptides, slippery elm, marshmallow root, and probiotics. Removing trigger foods is just as important as adding healing ones.