How to Heal Your Gut
Many of the disorders that our naturopathic doctors frequently treat, are related to poor gut health including autoimmune disorders, allergies, eczema, psoriasis, recurrent infections, low immune function, inflammatory bowel disease, acne, hormone imbalance, irritable bowel syndrome and yeast infections.
Patients suffering from these conditions will often have gut overgrowth of yeast, harmful bacteria and parasites, inadequate beneficial bacteria, inflammation, small intestinal bacteria overgrowth (SIBO) and leaky gut. Healing gut issues requires a multi-pronged and stepwise approach:
- Remove food sensitivities that are weakening the immune system and damaging the intestinal lining.
- Remove any harmful organisms that are damaging the gut.
- After the two above steps, then we can repair the gut lining.
Supplements to Repair the Gut Lining
L-glutamine – L-glutamine is an amino acid that is an important fuel for cells that line the digestive tract.
Vitamin A – Vitamin A is vital to the health of mucous membranes – the tissue that lines the digestive and respiratory tracts.
N-acetyl glucosamine (NAG) – This is a different glucosamine from the one that is used for arthritis. It has been shown to have anti-inflammatory effects in inflammatory bowel disease.
Zinc carnosine – A special form of zinc that helps increase antioxidants in the gut and protect the lining of the stomach and digestive tract from damage.
Aloe vera – The gel from inside the aloe plant helps protect the lining of the digestive tract from damage. However, recent concerns have been raised about liver injury associated with aloe vera juice. For that reason we no longer recommend its use.
Citrus pectin – Research has shown that pectin can help the lining of the digestive tract heal from injury.
Research:
Rolandelli RH, Koruda MJ, Settle RG, Rombeau JL. The effect of enteral feedings supplemented with pectin on the healing of colonic anastomoses in the rat. Surgery. 1986 Jun;99(6):703-7.
Azuma K, Osaki T, Kurozumi S, Kiyose M, Tsuka T, Murahata Y, Imagawa T, Itoh N, Minami S, Sato K, Okamoto Y. Anti-inflammatory effects of orally administered glucosamine oligomer in an experimental model of inflammatory bowel disease. Carbohydr Polym. 2015 Jan 22;115:448-56. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2014.09.012. Epub 2014 Sep 21.
Beaufrère AM, Neveux N, Patureau Mirand P, Buffière C, Marceau G, Sapin V, Cynober L, Meydinal-Denis D. Long-term intermittent glutamine supplementation repairs intestinal damage (structure and functional mass) with advanced age: assessment with plasma citrulline in a rodent model. J Nutr Health Aging. 2014 Nov;18(9):814-9. doi: 10.1007/s12603-014-0468-6.
Lan A, Blachier F, Benamouzig R, Beaumont M, Barrat C, Coelho D, Lancha A Jr, Kong X, Yin Y, Marie JC, Tomé D. Mucosal healing in inflammatory bowel diseases: is there a place for nutritional supplementation? Inflamm Bowel Dis. 2015 Jan;21(1):198-207. doi: 10.1097/MIB.0000000000000177.
Werawatganon D, Rakananurak N, Sallapant S, Prueksapanich P, Somanawat K, Klaikeaw N, Rerknimitr R. Aloe vera attenuated gastric injury on indomethacin-induced gastropathy in rats. World J Gastroenterol. 2014 Dec 28;20(48):18330-7. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v20.i48.18330.
Deters A1, Zippel J, Hellenbrand N, Pappai D, Possemeyer C, Hensel A. Aqueous extracts and polysaccharides from Marshmallow roots (Althea officinalis L.): cellular internalisation and stimulation of cell physiology of human epithelial cells in vitro. J Ethnopharmacol. 2010 Jan 8;127(1):62-9. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2009.09.050. Epub 2009 Sep 30.
Ueda K, Ueyama T, Oka M, Ito T, Tsuruo Y, Ichinose M. Polaprezinc (Zinc L-carnosine) is a potent inducer of anti-oxidative stress enzyme, heme oxygenase (HO)-1 – a new mechanism of gastric mucosal protection. J Pharmacol Sci. 2009 Jul;110(3):285-94. Epub 2009 Jun 19.