What Are The Symptoms of Leaky Gut?

From acne to weight gain the list of symptoms that are associated with a leaky gut is long and many of the symptoms have nothing to do with stomach, gut, or bowel discomfort. For instance, ADD/ADHD, anxiety, arthritis, and asthma can be related to a leaky gut problem – and that’s just the symptoms that start with “a”!

How can leaky gut cause so many symptoms?

One of the reasons a leaky gut can cause so many different kinds of symptoms has to do with the relationship between gut health and immune system function. A quick query on Google and you’ll soon discover that about 80% of your immune system cells reside in your G.I. (gastrointestinal) system. Which means if you develop a chronic problem in your gut you’re virtually guaranteed to have a chronic immune system problem too, which opens the door for symptoms all over the body.

Another reason a leaky gut can cause a wide variety of symptoms all over the body has to do with nutrient absorption. Your body’s ability to soak up all the good stuff in your food depends on the function of the tiny cells that line your small intestine – they’re called villi and microvilli. As you gut health declines your ability to absorb nutrients also declines which means your other body parts and systems that depend on those nutrients aren’t getting enough of them to do their job at full capacity.

A third reason a leaky gut can cause an unusually large number of symptoms has to do with toxin absorption. Our modern world is full of toxins – sad, but true. Many of those toxins are in and on the food we eat (herbicides, pesticides, fungicides, plastics, etc) and it’s the job of our gut to make sure those toxins don’t slip past our body’s defense systems, hang out where they’re not supposed to, and cause damage. Rather than eliminating those toxins when we go to the bathroom, a leaky gut allows some of those toxins to slip through and end up in our bloodstream other bodily tissues causing harm.

The laundry list of symptoms that have been associated with leaky gut you can find below, but many of the symptoms listed have other known causes as well (like headaches for example). It’s best to work with a trusted health professional so you can be sure you’re not wasting your time working a problem you don’t really have.

Here’s the list of leaky gut symptoms…

To schedule a consultation, click here.