Leaky Gut Syndrome: Legit Problem or Imaginary Illness? [Either way it wins the Oscar for best disease name ever]

crotcheskill

See, your gut may betray you but at least it’s not a KILLER CROTCH. Dun, dun, dun!! (Seriously though is this not the best anti texting while driving advert you have ever seen?! Canada, you win again!)

For as long as there has been cheese and chocolate, a certain group of people has skulked around the outside of buffet tables, orbited appetizer platters and played the Hokey Pokey with hors d’oeuvres trays. You’ve probably noticed them since they have to ask every waiter “Does this have dairy in it?” before they order and then drool over your ice cream sundae while clutching a bottle of Lactaid like it’s the last pregnancy test in the store after a weekend with Flava Flav. They are – we, actually, as you know I’m one of the beleaguered too – the lactose intolerant. And for as long as we’ve been made miserable by our inability to digest dairy, as demonstrated by our gas, bloating, abdominal pain, and diarrhea after eating dairy products, we’ve been told that we’re basically stuck with it for life. Then, to add the cream-pie-to-the-face insult to injury, often people think we’re making our food sensitivit(ies) up.

I myself was even in the doubter camp for most of my life. First, because I was vegetarian so long, cheese, cottage cheese, yogurt and other forms of dairy made up a large part of my diet (and were usually the one “normal” thing I could eat at parties other than fruit). And second, let’s be honest, because a wheel of Brie is so close to heaven that I hear angels sing whenever I eat one. (And by “one” I do actually mean one wheel. When I was pregnant my favorite meal was a loaf of crusty French bread and a wheel of double-creme Brie. It’s one of the sad facts of pregnancy that your bean almost never makes you crave kale and cod liver oil but inevitably wants to stunt its own growth with entire pans of peanut butter rice krispie treats. He/she isn’t even born and they’re already embarrassing you in public.)

But my doubt as to the legitimacy of food sensitivities in general and dairy issues in particular all dissipated last year when I did what has become the single most impactful Great Fitness Experiment yet. Upon the advice of my nutritionist (a great guy named Darryl Bushard I met through LifeTime Fitness) I took all dairy and gluten out of my diet for a month. Unlike previous dietary experiments where I’ve felt deprived and rebellious, this time it was relatively easy to stick with because – and I can’t overstate how huge this is for me – my panic attacks stopped. Completely.

For most of my life I’ve been plagued with “incidents” where I think I’m dying, get insanely anxious, cry, have diarrhea and even vomit. Yet even though the source of my pain was always in my stomach, the doctors always told me it was in my head. (In retrospect I think I was having a very painful reaction to dairy and because I’m an inveterate worrier and the source of the pain was unknown, I’d get all panicky about it and work myself up to a tizzy.) At any rate, eventually I added gluten back into my diet and was fine with it but any significant amount of dairy and I was right back in the bathroom trying to hug the toilet with both ends, which is exactly as elegant as it sounds.

Because my mood (and life) was light years better without dairy I was content to give it up for the rest of my born days. So when a friend posted on Facebook, “It’s funny that people think their problems with dairy come from dairy.” My brain did that screechy-record noise and I e-mailed him all “Whaaaa?!” The gist of his reply was that lots of people have this thing called “leaky gut syndrome” which causes them to have food sensitivities but if you cure your leaky gut then you could eat that stuff again.

Beloved Brie?!? I hit Dr. Google so hard he jumped.

Leaky Gut Syndrome is described as a collection of symptoms ranging from gastrointestinal distress to mood disorders to even things like skin conditions and extreme fatigue, caused by the thinning of the lining of the intestinal wall making it hyper-permeable and thereby allowing pathogens and undigested food into the blood stream. But I quickly learned that, similar to adrenal fatigue and Anne Hathaway’s best supporting actress Oscar win last night, Leaky Gut Syndrome is a very controversial thing. (Seriously I loved Anne in Les Mis. I didn’t see any of the other movies/actresses in the nominated category so I may not be the best judge but come on, when they ripped her teeth out with pliers didn’t you just feel something??)

WebMD says bluntly, ” ‘Leaky gut syndrome’ isn’t a diagnosis taught in medical school. Instead, leaky gut really means you’ve got a diagnosis that still needs to be made.” Tell me how you really feel! While the article does go on to acknowledge that the group of symptoms exists, The WebMD article adds, “But with leaky gut, the evidence – about what causes it and how to treat it – has yet to fully accumulate. This is something that is essential for patients to understand. We are in the infancy of understanding what to do. People who are making claims about what to do are doing so without evidence.”

Well lucky for me I love dubious diagnoses! Actually I don’t. I love research. LOVE science. But I also knew what I had experienced and that seemed to fit with the descriptions of leaky gut, especially in light of the 2010 study commissioned by the respected National Institute of Health.  The Consensus Development Conference on Lactose Intolerance and Health concluded that first, deciding who is and who isn’t lactose intolerant isn’t as simple as it sounds as many people lacking the digestive enzymes tolerate dairy fine while some who have problems produce plenty of the enzymes, and second, “avoiding dairy products isn’t even necessary for lactose-intolerant individuals.” The trick, according to the scientists, is to cure the food sensitivity. And their recommended steps for curing lactose sound very close to the “alternative” therapies suggested for curing Leaky Gut. Also, the biological mechanism described for causing Leaky Gut – the hyper-permeability of the intestinal wall – is already known to occur, especially in conditions like Celiac Disease and Crohn’s Disease.

So when I got to interview Jill Brunewald, a holistic health coach and expert in food intolerances, for an article for Shape I perked up when she started discussing leaky gut syndrome. “Oh it’s real!” she enthused. She explained that thanks to an unhealthy diet, illness or antibiotic usage many people fall into a vicious cycle where their gut is compromised and becomes aggravated, leading to more sensitivities which leads to more thinning of the lining, until you throw up at the mere mention of food or Anne Hathaway. Kidding. Kinda.

What the medical community is missing, Jill says, is that it isn’t enough to remove whatever food is irritating you from your diet but you have to repair the damage done to your intestinal walls – she calls it “healing and sealing”. Once your gut is back to normal function – a period that takes a minimum of six months – then you can, in moderation, eat the foods you were formally sensitive to with no problem. (And because this post is getting crazy long, I’ll go into more detail about how exactly she recommends to “heal and seal” your gut in another post. Yeah, that’s the best attempt at a teaser I’ve got…)

So what do you think of Leaky Gut Syndrome? Is it just another faddish diagnosis or is it a legit affliction? Any of you have it or have experience with it? Have any of you “cured” your lactose (or other food) intolerance? How’d you feel about the Oscars last night??

 

 

65 Comments

  1. I think that is an interesting concept and would be great if true. I wonder if it is similar to the fact that your body can build up resistance to antibiotics over time. Seems like maybe if you could “heal the gut walls/linings” then you could build up tolerance. Definitely something worth checking into!!! (Love the name, too!)

    • Antibiotic resistance operates on a different cellular mechanism but you make a good point that our bodies are far more adaptable than we give them credit for!

  2. You had me at “clutching a bottle of Lactaid like it’s the last pregnancy test in the store after a weekend with Flava Flav.”

    I’m VERY curious about this, because after decades of eating every and anything, I’ve been trying to figure out what is causing almost comical bloating, and my scattershot efforts to eliminate various suspects, including dairy and wheat, have not been conclusive.

    I will definitely be back!

    • Please let me know what you find out!!! Sometimes I have random bloating issues too and I’ve never been able to figure it out either. Sometimes by the end of the day I’ll look 5 months pregnant. It’s ridic!

  3. Why is their crotch glowing? Is it radioactive? Anyway … LGS, as I like to call it, sounds like a bad deal, but it is much better than LBS any day of the week.

    Seriously, though, my daughter was once lactose intolerant, but she no longer is. So there is hope. I don’t know if she had LGS, though.

  4. Reading up on leaky gut syndrome (for a paper in university) it seems that yes, you can do what you can to reduce the inflammation and recover BUT if it’s due to a real sensitivity like gluten or dairy, you are not doing yourself a favour by having it again or you are just giving youself the same issue again because the underlying sensitivity is still there. Maybe it means you can have a little now and then…but it doesn’t seem like it. Sometimes you develop sensitivity from too much of something…I made myself allergic to oranges by having waaaaaay too many. And yes I love them. And maybe I could have one now and then, but I don’t feel like the risk of feeling like death warmed over is worth the orange.

    • Yes, the nutritionist mentioned that if you don’t maintain moderation you can start the whole bad processes all over again. Who knew our guts were so finicky? And your work/studies always sounds SO interesting. I want to do whatever it is you do!

  5. My mom swears that I was allergic to dairy and did better without wheat as a kid, but once I hit middle school, nothing seemed to bother me anymore, and an allergy test showed me negative for everything when I was 13 so I never looked back.

    I think I’m an everything in moderation person, I don’t think I’m leaky :). I do find that I do much better without a lot of wheat (maybe 1-2 servings a day max) when I’m not training hard (but when I am, bring on the bread!!!)

    • “I don’t think I’m leaky.” You need that on a t-shirt. And I’ve always admired your ability to be moderate with your foods and not get crazy one way or the other!

  6. I’ve been dealing with undiagnosed stomach problems for two years and still have no answers so I’m definitely going to look into this. Thanks for the information!

  7. I have a long history with food intolerances (and a strong opinion on this). And I think that the idea that you can “cure” your food intolerance is complete BS.
    I was diagnosed with fructose intolerance over 7 years ago when FODMAP issues were just barely being researched. At the time, I was extremely sick. After all the tests including a colonoscopy that showed serious damage to my intestines, my doctor was convinced that I had Crohn’s. The antibody test came back negative though showing I did not have it. I was just that sick from the food intolerance.
    Several years later, I had another flare up and another colonoscopy. They determined at that time that I did not have Crohn’s and that my intestines had healed and were now in good shape.
    Then last year I bought IBS Free at Last and learned about FODMAPs (fructose intolerance is the main test to use before trying this). And that changed my life. I discovered that I had a fructan intolerance as well. Now, as long as I manage my diet well I do great. I don’t have stomach problems, my energy is much better, my mood is much better. I feel like a different person. (the Monash University App is really great for managing FODMAPs).
    But I also know from living with this for so long, that I’m not going to get better and magically be able to eat fructans or fructose one day without consequences.
    Also, for anyone with IBS symptoms, I would seriously suggest checking it out. A study from UVA just found that the diet improved symptoms in 75% of people with IBS and it is the mainstay of treatment for IBS in Australia.

    • Okay, wow – I’ve never heard of fructose/fructan intolerance or FODMAP before! I’m so glad it’s helped you so much – off to Google and see what this is all about!

  8. I am dealing with those kind of problems for more than three years now. I have problems with dairy mostly milk and I think I have a leaky gut but I passed some tests over the years and I have nothing. I learn to live with it and to adapt my diet. It is hard but I am feeling much better now. The most hard thing it is not know what maybe you have and worry about!

    • This: “The most hard thing it is not know what maybe you have and worry about!” YES. The not knowing why I felt so awful was so scary.

  9. With everything being added to our food supply and the depletion if the mineral content in our soil, I imagine we’ll be seeing more odd & painful digestive issues. If we eat hormone and antibiotic-infested food, it’s bound to have consequences. I don’t want to sound holier-than-thou, but there’s so much going into our food supply that we don’t know about, and the medical community can’t possibly keep up.
    OK, off the soapbox. 🙂
    As for the Oscars… Being a theater geek, I loved all the musical numbers, and I really liked Ben Affleck’s speech. Oh, and all the sound guys with long, flowing locks!
    Wasn’t crazy about the frat boy humor directed at some of the women.

    • Good point – I’ve often thought we’d have a lot less issues in general if we had access to Garden of Eden level of food, lol! And I agreed about the frat boy humor. A whole song about talented actresses but instead of focusing on their talent, just focused on them being naked??

  10. I can’t wait for the 2nd edition to this post! I have had lactose intolerance 3x in 18 years-each time lasting 2-3 years. I am currently in my 3rd round and although it isn’t as bad as it was when I was 18 (couldn’t eat anything with milk ingredients-and lactaid never helped). I now can’t tolerate soy, beans, eggs or gluten. All my symptoms start in the afternoon around 4pm…ranging from minor stomach/intestine discomfort and progress to my belly swelling up like those poor Ethiopian children on the “Feed the Children” commercials. I have been gluten-free for about a year and one side effect of being able to go off my anti-depressant(something I didn’t think i would EVER be able to do). At Christmas I took one bite of a brownie and before I knew it i had inhaled the rest. I braced myself for the aftermath…but nothing happened. So of course I kept pushing the limits..I was able to eat gluten foods and a little dairy for about 3 weeks(it was glorious) before my symptoms returned. I figured I must have “healed” my gut from eliminating the foods for such a long time that I was able to tolerate them again…and then I damaged it. 🙁
    I feel like I am being *weak* when I say I can’t have xyz…like I am being judged for not being strong enough…so it is kinda nice to have all this attention to the food intolerances. I am worried that I am becoming intolerant to peanut butter(because i eat it everyday!)…and that would make me so sad!

    • So interesting about your symptoms not kicking in until later in the day and then causing mad bloating – that’s what used to happen to me too!! Everytime I’d get sick it would happen until after dark. My husband and I used to joke I had Sundowner’s.

  11. You’ve probably noticed them since they have to ask every waiter “Does this have dairy in it?” before they order and then drool over your ice cream sundae while clutching a bottle of Lactaid like it’s the last pregnancy test in the store after a weekend with Flava Flav.

    Perhaps the best simile in a web article ever…..

    YOU. ARE. A.GENIUS…..

  12. I love it (not) that the medical profession don’t think these kinds of things, like Leaky Gut Syndrome, exist because they didn’t learn about it in their ancient medical textbooks at university. I used to have such an intolerance to dairy that I remember once being in London with my mum and, after a rather delicious frozen yoghurt (frozen yoghurt was all the rage, and my mum thought I was just being fussy about dairy) I literally had to lie down on the pavement because it felt like the energy had completely drained out of my body. I felt so terrible I didn’t know what to do with myself. I didn’t know if I wanted to be sick or find a toilet fast, or both.
    Fast forward 15 years and, after a lot of diet clean-up, I now eat dairy. I don’t eat it all the time, organic dairy seems to suit me much better (psychological or not, it works for me) and I do notice when I go overboard, but I have gone from having a pretty severe reaction to now being able to eat it. Leaky Gut Syndrome? I don’t know as I was never diagnosed one way or the other, but I can also eat wheat nowadays too when I fancy a big slice of toast and butter!

    • So interesting!! I know what you mean though about feeling so so horrible after eating dairy and having people just look at you like you’re nuts. I’m glad that it’s gotten better over the years! I’m hoping that mine will improve too.

  13. I’m glad my tax dollars (and oil/gas royalties…) are going to such provocative ads (for reals! I walk to/from work, usually along a river pathway that’s car-free, but a portion is on actual streets, and I’m constantly trying to make sure drivers don’t hit me!).

    Interestingly, I have a super finicky tummy, and my naturopath (after much convincing on her part…), got me to give up dairy, and since I’m a non-egg eating vegetarian, that basically meant going vegan. However, my tummy improved quite a lot, so dairy is still out. I also don’t do all that well with gluten, and some vegetables (beets, leeks, sunchokes, cabbage…really, it’s a pretty long list of foods I just can’t digest). I’ve also done several rounds of different types of probiotics, which also helped quite a lot, but my tummy is still picky.

    I’d be curious to read more about this leaky gut, because my “cure” for a sensitive GI tract is basically just cutting out more and more foods that I’m sensitive to – if the solution is a strict diet for 6 months, and then a return to swiss, I’d be a much happier camper. I’m off to do some googling.

    • just as an FYI, your list of vegetables you can’t tolerate is a list of vegetables high in fructose (beets) and fructans (sunchokes, leeks, cabbage)

      • Oooh, that thanks for the tip! I wonder why I’m okay with fruit though if beets are a problem…hmmm. I’ll definitely be asking my doctor and naturopath about this- thanks again!

        • With fructose intolerance it depends on the ratio of fructose to glucose. So foods with more fructose than glucose (less obvious than you’d think) are the problem, foods with more glucose than fructose or 50/50 are not a problem. It is also dose dependent. So with a lot items that are 50/50 it’s best to have a small amount so you don’t overload your system.

    • i can’t have cabbage either…interesting about the fructans. I will definitely research more! what probiotics did you have success with?

      • Yes, wow, I find this whole fructose/fructan convo so interesting too! I really need to read up on this more. I’ve never personally noticed a problem with any of those foods but it seems like it’s an issue for a lot of people! Would love to hear more about what you guys discover as you go – keep me posted!

      • The one I liked best was HMF Intensive by Genestra- huge difference.

  14. I saw a naturopath many years ago who, after talking with me and making me keep a food and poop (no really) diary, she diagnosed me with Leaky Gut. I read up on it right away, of course. I’d read about almost every kind of stomach and GI woe known to the medical community by then and my take on it was – and still is – that food intolerances lead to leaky gut, not the other way around. Basically, when you have a food intolerance your stomach flora and acid balance is thrown completely out of whack when you eat that particular food. This eats away at your intestine walls, causing hyperpermeability, which means that proteins and other chemicals leave your digestive system and can cause havoc everywhere. Enter all those other associated ailments.

    After I realized this, I got strict with eliminating dairy and gulten, and it took almost two full years, but I finally am starting to feel like myself. And yes, I can tolerate more gluten and dairy now than I could back when my symptoms were really bad, but I don’t test it too much. Only special occasions. Like wedding cake. 😉

    • Right – the holistic lady I talked to would agree with your assessment I think. Sorry if I didn’t write that very clearly. She does definitely think that (in addition to antibiotic useage and certain illnesses) that food intolerances cause leaky gut. Which then exacerbates the intolerances. Leading to a vicious cycle. She was quite clear that when you reintroduce the “sensitive” foods, it can only be after your gut is healed and even then only in moderation. OD on milk again and I’ll find myself right back where I started… Thanks for sharing your experience! So glad you are feeling better!!

  15. This is the second time I have heard about it in a week. Dr. Oz just had an episode on this. There was an integrative gastroenterologist on talking about leaky gut syndrome. I think this is something we are going to hear more about. I hope the medical community will start looking Into it more. I am 25 and was diagnosed with Crohns Disease in November. I am curious how it is all related.

  16. I don’t know how I feel about leaky gut syndrome. Will have to do some more reading on it. (I like research too, and I’ve been diagnosed with IBS in the past – much better now.) BUT, I do know I was glad to read I’m not the only one who hears the angels singing when she sees a block of cheese. Phew. Good to know I’m not alone!
    Gaye

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  18. I’ve had stomache issues for as long as I can remember. It came to a head in high school when I would get nauseous at the drop of a hat. I went through so many tests and all they could conclude was that it was anxiety and growing pains. :-/ Oooookay.

    Then I had all kinds of digestive issues during and right after college and went through more tests with no clear answer except a possible diagnosis of IBS. So frustrating. Ten years later I still have issues, particularly with bloating (I’m with you on the 5-month-pregnant-looking belly!). Looking forward to your follow-up.

  19. Very interesting- I want to believe it for your sake. So you can once again enjoy ice-cream and brie 🙂

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  28. I have recently been diagnosed with Leaky Gut Syndrome, and it had been a LONG process mainly because it was so difficult to figure out what the problem was at first! I had really abnormal bloating that made me look like I was 5mnths pregnant here and there, and it was really uncomfortable and made me feel a bit sick not to mention I was very tired everyday and feeling a bit depressed!! I was getting symptoms of bladder infections so my doc at that time just kept treating me for bladder infections even though it was coming up negative, so after a few courses of antibiotics over a period of say 6months, the bloating got worse. It was there everyday permanately and it wasn’t just my tummy. I would get fluid retention in my legs, around my waist, it just made me feel horrible! I decided to switch docs and my new doc immediately made me get an ultrasound, blood, urine and stool test. The results came back clear except the stool test. Turns out I had a very rare (to this area) parasite in my gut! Took 6weeks of another course of antibiotics to get rid of them which has now resulted in leaky gut. It’s now been nearly 8mnths since I have been cleared of the parasite but my body still suffers from bad bloating to certain foods. The only time I didn’t suffer from bad bloating was when I went on a 6week holiday to Europe 6months ago. Not sure if that was because I was walking up to 7hrs a day some days so increased exercise, or if it was because I was away from a stressful everyday environment with work etc.. Or they’re food over there is not processed like it is here in Australia? All I know is as soon as I came home the bloating came back! I have now seen a naturopath so hopefully on the mend finally but I do believe both stress and food all contribute and a bit of exercise definitely helps! I would def recommend getting tested with your doc if you do have any of these synptoms too as parasites are way more common than people realize and the longer they’re in your gut the more damage they do and then the longer it takes to fix the damage.

  29. Panic attacks from dairy are very likely caused by casein (at least the mental parts, I don’t know about the puking and pooing) Casein buildup and intolerance is a common problem for the autistic and if casein builds up too much it can turn into mental illness so bad you get diagnosed with schizophrenia. I used to have “panic attacks” in the morning after eating ice cream or other dairy products the night before and it was so bad sometimes I would be twitching uncontrollably and rocking back in forth in tears from the confusion and fear. If casein is your problem, you can go back to eating moderate amounts of dairy after going off it for a time. It takes time for casein to build back up and make you crazy again, but going on a no-dairy fast for a month a year or something would be a good idea.

    Also, materialists will not likely agree with me on this one, unless they’ve been reading Masaru Emoto books, but the cows that all that dairy comes from are stressed out, sick and literally imprisoned their whole lives, in fear, and that makes their milk full of fear and stress. You are what you eat.

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  31. I went and saw an holistic GP practicioner, privately. I followed a healign protocol strictly and I cured my gut. No more lactose intolerance, fructan or fructose malalsbsorption. It was a long road, I tried doing it myself reading stuff on the internet, I was missing important aspects though. This is new in th eUK but my advice after being though this, is don’t put it off GO and see a holistic GP doctor. Qualified GP that work in th enatural section too. They are worth every bit of money. It’s not easy but it’s worth it it.
    Everywhere on the internet will tell you theres no cure (even the NHS – read something written last year that said only thing you can do is avaid the foods- it’s rubbish, they don’t always get it right. They can do emergnecy great A1, but preventative is not something they know anything about. When you look into the face of a trained NHS GP and they tell you everything you’ve been told is crap, t’s an eye opener. Don’t give up. Good luck to you all. Remember its not what you cut out it’s the good stuff you add in and lifestyle changes too. You hav eto learn these. Find a GP with the biggest skill set, travel a couple of hours if you need too and listen to what they say. I hope this helps someone. When I was first startign out . Someone wrote on a thread simply, “you can heal it”. It gave me the will to go on.

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