That's an excellent question, and I wish I knew the answer. Heck, I wish anybody knew the answer. Of course a lot of internet experts think they know the answer, but I disagree with all those I have reviewed. They all seem to start out with the right idea (removing problem foods from the diet), but they quickly demonstrate that they really don't know what they're talking about. I give Chris Kresser (my first example below) extra credit though, for recommending stress control, because as you know from reading my book, stress plays a huge role in the leaky gut syndrome. Anyway, here are a couple of examples of treatment programs recommended by respected internet authorities.
Chris Kresser says:
9 Steps to Perfect Health – #5: Heal Your GutRemove all food toxins from your diet
Eat plenty of fermentable fibers (starches like sweet potato, yam, yucca, etc.)
Eat fermented foods like kefir, yogurt, sauerkraut, kim chi, etc., and/or take a high-quality, multi-species probiotic
Treat any intestinal pathogens (such as parasites) that may be present
Take steps to manage your stress
The SCD Lifestyle experts say:
- Diet Restrictions: Eliminating sugars, starches, grains, and any other irritating foods alleviates the inflammation and starves out the yeast overgrowth (this is where the SCD diet takes over the healing process). Reducing both of these allows the intestinal tract to slowly return to its normal permeability, stopping the flow of foreign objects into the blood, which will stop food intolerance symptoms and eventually help stop the vicious cycle just as the book described it. I would argue that the Specific Carbohydrate Diet is the foundation of curing leaky gut, but it does need some help from the next three pieces.
Here’s a free guide to get started on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet: “How To Start The SCD Diet In 24-Hours”
- Nutritional Supplementing: The conditions that lead to leaky gut can also cause mal-absorption and improper digestion, both of which are going to leave you with nutritional deficiencies. First and foremost: supplementing with a good multi-vitamin, large amounts of vitamin D, and Zinc will help the intestinal lining return to normal (assuming the irritants from the diet are removed by following the SCD diet). Essential fish oils have also been shown to really help improve the condition of the intestinal mucosal lining (omega-3’s greatly reduce inflammation among a host of other benefits).
- Probiotics: Now that the Candida is being knocked down by your adherence to the SCD diet, mixing in a solid foundation of probiotics, and more specifically, the friendly bacteria Lactobacillus Acidophilus is a must. The diet gets rid of the bad bacteria and you need a constant feed of the good bacteria to replace it. Friendly bacteria stop the inhabitance of bad bacteria and yeast, heal the gut lining, help nutrients get absorbed, and keep the vicious cycle in check. Studies suggest that keeping a ratio of 85% good to bad bacteria in the gut will stop the cycle from starting back up. A good non-dairy SCD legal lactobacillus acidophilus will be very beneficial.
- Digestive Enzymes: Digestive enzymes are critical to properly breaking down the foods we eat. They are found naturally in the raw form of foods to help break them down, unfortunately, in the beginning stages of the SCD diet we have to cook all of our fruits and veggies, rendering them useless for enzymes. The have multi-faceted skills to help alleviate leaky gut. First, plant based enzymes will break down food into very small particles before it leaves the stomach, preventing large undigested molecules from irritating the intestinal lining and increasing nutritional uptake. They also work through your intestines acting as garbage collectors by removing toxins, bacteria, and damaged cells of the mucosal lining. The whole process gives the gut a clean slate of healthy cells to rebuild with. While the leaky gut permeability remains, they do the same garbage collecting in the bloodstream if they are passed through the intestinal lining. The bromelain and papain enzymes are shown to reduce inflammation in the gut lining and throughout other tissues in the body, allowing the immune system and the liver some reprieve. Any SCD legal, plant based enzyme will make a world of difference here.
Leaky Gut Syndrome In Plain English – And How To Fix It
Note that they both make the mistake of recommending fermented foods and/or fermentable fibers, and the second example goes way overboard with recommendations for supplements, probiotics, digestive enzymes, etc. I'll concede that a few supplements may indeed be helpful if they are deficient (I'm thinking about vitamins D and B-12, and possibly a source of omega-3's). But in general, as is the case when treating MC, less is more when treating a leaky gut.
While leaky gut is not unique to MC, it appears to be the exclusive domain of autoimmune type diseases, particularly IBDs, and controlled research studies have shown that none of those supplemental items (non-essential supplements, probiotics, digestive enzymes, etc.) are beneficial for treating IBDs. So why would they be beneficial for treating a leaky gut associated with any other autoimmune type syndrome? And of course, a glaring problem with the recommendations by the SCD Lifestyle article is the fermented dairy products. Those are definitely contraindicated for any IBD, and IMO, they should be avoided (along with gluten) by anyone who has any autoimmune type disease.
So what's left? The safest plan (IMO) is a diet that's free of all food sensitivities, alcohol, and artificial sweeteners, and low in fiber, sugar, and sugar alcohols. Major vitamin deficiencies should be remedied, but other than that, the less junk we put into our digestive system, the faster it will heal, IMO. And as Chris Kresser points out, it's especially important to control stress, because the better we control our stress level, the faster our gut will heal.
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