The world of medical science is a lot more unpredictable than the layperson might think. Be it an accidental discovery, the product of technological advancement or fervent internet discussions, it’s hard to say where the next breakthrough might come from. Leaky gut, for example, is all the rage these days on health blogs, podcasts, and medical journals. And yet, most doctors don’t recognize it as a verified medical condition.
But, almost in spite of the medical community’s tentative approach, the conversations surrounding leaky gut and its impact on our collective health persist. Today, we’ll take a look at what we do know about, what we think we know about, and what you can do about leaky gut.
What Is It?
Though the term “leaky gut” sounds awfully colloquial, you just have to hand it to whomever coined the name, because it sure is on-the-nose. Let us start with you gastrointestinal tract (GI), which stretches from the mouth to anus, with the esophagus, stomach, and large and small intestines in between. This system’s job is to process everything that we put in to it, extract the important nutrients, and filter out all of the stuff that the body doesn’t use as fuel.
Leaky gut allegedly comes in to play once the food that we eat passes through to the intestines. You see, the intestines are supposed to have microscopic openings designed to finely extract only the most important nutrients in to your bloodstream. With leaky gut, those openings are larger and as such, do a shoddy job of protecting what is and is not absorbed into the bloodstream.
