Are you suffering from symptoms of leaky gut? If you have leaky gut syndrome or other gut related health issues, gut support supplements can often help restore your gut health. Because there are many different gut-healing supplements out there, this article will highlight a few of the top selections and provide you with recommendations on a few changes you can make to improve your symptoms.
Continue reading to take the next steps in restoring your gut health.
What Is Leaky Gut?
Leaky gut syndrome, which is also known as “intestinal permeability” or “gut hyperpermeability”, is when the tight junctions between the cells that line the small intestine begin to loosen.
The small intestine plays an important role in digestion, as it absorbs the nutrition from the food that you consume. As a result of this, leaky gut syndrome is often associated with a poor diet, although, stress, alcohol, aspirin and ibuprofen, and other types of irritants can also cause inflammation of the gut lining. This inflammation increases a protein called zonulin, which modulates the permeability between the cells of the walls in the digestive tract.
Eventually, over some period of time, gaps will appear in the intestinal lining. These gaps will allow undigested food particles and harmful bacteria to leak through the intestinal wall and into the bloodstream. These food particles that appear in the bloodstream can contribute to many symptoms and diseases such as Crohn’s Disease and Celiac Disease.
In addition, leaky gut syndrome can also be part of other chronic health conditions like food sensitivities, autoimmune conditions, poor mental health, and skin conditions. If you have been diagnosed with leaky gut syndrome, do not fret. There are many supplements for gut health on the market, as well as other helpful approaches, that may reduce your symptoms.
Symptoms of Leaky Gut Syndrome
While everyone can experience some stomach and digestive issues from time to time, only persistent symptoms are deemed to be troublesome. Some frequent symptoms may be an indication of something more than simple digestive upset.
Frequent symptoms of someone with leaky gut syndrome can include:
- Bloating
- Brain fog
- Fatigue
- Abdominal pain
- Joint pain
- Skin conditions
- Food sensitivities
- Digestive issues
- Diarrhea
How Leaky Gut Syndrome is Diagnosed
If you think you have leaky gut syndrome, your doctor may run some tests to confirm. Such tests may include the following:
Intestinal Permeability Assessment: measures the levels of mannitol and lactulose (types of indigestible sugars in the urine).
Food Sensitivities Test: checks if you have any food allergies or sensitivities to around 87 different foods. If you have multiple food sensitivities, this may indicate leaky gut syndrome.
Zonulin Test: checks the levels of zonulin.
How to Heal Your Gut
There is an array of gut-healing supplements that claim to help the symptoms associated with leaky gut syndrome. However, it is important to be aware that you do not need to take several different types of leaky gut treatment supplements. In fact, it is often wise to only take a small number of gut repair supplements to identify which ones work best for you. Specifically, you should select a few of the best gut repair supplements of the highest quality that can help you rebalance your good and bad bacteria, reduce inflammation, and restore the gut lining.
Some of the best gut repair supplements and gut-healing probiotics can come in the form of capsules and gut health powders. Types of gut health powders can often be added to milk, water, or other drinks, to make it more palatable.
Here are some of the best gut repair supplements to support your gut:
L-Glutamine
This amino acid plays a key role when it comes to maintaining the health of your gut lining. L-Glutamine is one of the best gut repair supplements out there, as it can help repair the right junctions between cells in the gut lining- which is important for those who suffer from leaky gut syndrome.
As Glutamine is a substance that the gut uses to repair the intestinal cells, it should be considered for gut health improvement. L-Glutamine may also be beneficial for restoring the gut lining and regulating the intestinal barrier function, especially during periods of high stress.
In addition, L-Glutamine in gut health supplements may also reduce inflammation, improve bloating, and provides the gut cells with essential nutrients they need to heal.
Vitamin D
As you may already know, we can naturally produce some vitamin D when our skin is exposed to the sunlight. However, vitamin D deficiency is very common in modern life. , as people tend to get less sun exposure nowadays and depending on location, can only make vitamin D from the sun under very limited conditions. This is why taking a vitamin D supplement is the best choice for a vitamin D deficiency.
Gut Healing Probiotics
Research studies have shown that gut-healing probiotics are important for preventing and reducing leaky gut symptoms. Probiotics can help with constipation, diarrhea, IBS, and ulcerative colitis.
Can Probiotics Help to Heal the Gut?
A well-known treatment for gastrointestinal diseases is Probiotics. The live microorganisms of gut-healing probiotics can help to improve the gut microbiome. Some of the specific benefits include:
- Repairing leaky gut.
- Reducing inflammation.
- Managing pathogenic overgrowth
- Maintaining a healthy intestinal barrier.
Gut-healing probiotics may significantly reduce the symptoms of many digestive disorders. , including irritable bowel syndrome and Crohn’s Disease.
The healthy gut microbiome that probiotics can help you achieve may allow you to maintain a healthy intestinal barrier. Whereas bacterial overgrowths such as SIBO can lead to an increase in intestinal permeability.
While probiotic supplements are helpful, it is important to choose ones that have colony-forming units in the billions because the amount of CFUs you receive can play a big part in how effective the probiotic is that you are consuming.
It is crucial to note here that prebiotics are also beneficial alongside probiotics. This is because probiotics feeds on the beneficial fiber that probiotics supply. Prebiotics can be consumed through different fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and prebiotic supplements, just like probiotics can be consumed through properly fermented foods like yogurt, kombucha, sauerkraut, and kefir.
Dietary Changes
While supplements may help resolve gut health issues, changes in diet can also be beneficial. In our modern diet, we often consume foods that often induce inflammation and gut health issues. Removing a few specific foods from your diet can also be used as a beneficial treatment. Foods that you may want to limit or avoid include:
- Sugar – Research indicates that a diet that is high in sugar content can often cause epithelial barrier dysfunction. You should aim to consume no more than 37.5 grams per day (men) and 25 grams per day (women).
- Processed Foods
- Red Meat (unless grass-fed or wild game)
- Dairy.(if you are sensitive to this)
- Fried Foods.
- Gluten (some are more sensitive than others, but gluten tends to create an inflammatory response)
- Artificial sweeteners
Just as there are foods to avoid such as sugars, artificial sweeteners, and processed foods, there are also foods that are beneficial for your gut health. Increasing your fiber intake is one of the best ways to improve your gut microbiome naturally. High fiber foods include fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. You should also consume more gut-healing foods such as bone broth, ginger, and omega-3 fatty acids like from fish.
In addition, collagen protein can also help to support the gut lining. Check out an article from WebMD, about the best collagen for gut health. The article discusses collagen peptides, how they work, and whether they are the best collagen for gut health.
The Bottom Line
You may benefit from leaky gut supplements if you have been diagnosed with leaky gut syndrome or other gut health issues, as such supplements can help to restore the function of the intestinal barrier. It is also important that the necessary dietary changes are not ignored, as changes in your diet can help to improve symptoms of leaky gut syndrome. Such changes include eating an anti-inflammatory diet, increasing intake of fiber, and decreasing intake of sugar. Eating healthy fats like coconut oil and omega-3 fats can also be beneficial.
Additionally, taking steps to reduce your stress levels and making sure that you are getting enough restorative sleep each night. In fact, stress and sleep can both be beneficial, just as much so as supplements.
As always, you should seek advice from your doctor or healthcare professional before you add any supplements to your treatment plan. If you have any more questions about leaky gut supplements or which gut healing supplements are best for you, please visit our blog articles for more information HERE.
