Leaky Gut Explained
05.22.2025If you feel bloated after most meals, your supplements don’t seem to be doing much, your skin’s flaring up, or your digestion just feels “off” even with a healthy diet – increased intestinal permeability (aka leaky gut) could be part of the picture. When the gut lining is compromised, it can affect how well you absorb nutrients and how your body responds to food, often showing up in ways that seem unrelated to digestion.
Gut health might not be the first thing you think of when something feels off - but it’s often where the story starts. From skin issues to fatigue, so many symptoms trace back to the gut. Our gut and the microbes that live inside it directly influence our immunity, inflammatory pathways, hormones and detoxification processes. But what often gets overlooked is the gut lining – the protective barrier that keeps our gut microbes and digested food safely separated from our immune system. When that barrier breaks down, it can trigger a cascade of health issues.
What Is Leaky Gut?
Think of your gut lining as a tightly woven barrier, like a security gate, that keeps the good stuff in (like nutrients) and the unwanted stuff out (like toxins, bacteria, and undigested food particles). When everything’s working as it should, this barrier helps maintain a balanced and healthy environment in your body. But when the gut lining becomes “leaky,” those tight junctions between cells start to loosen. This allows things that aren’t supposed to pass through (like toxins or food particles) to slip into the bloodstream, where they can trigger inflammation and immune responses.
In the medical world, this is referred to as increased intestinal permeability (aka leaky gut), and is widely recognised as a key factor in many health issues.
Common Signs & Symptoms of Leaky Gut:
- Digestive issues (bloating, gas, diarrhea, constipation)
- Food sensitivities or new intolerances
- Brain fog or fatigue
- Skin issues (eczema, acne)
- Autoimmune flare-ups
- Joint pain or inflammation
- Mood changes (anxiety, irritability)
What Causes a Leaky Gut?
The integrity of your gut lining isn’t fixed. It can fluctuate depending on what your body is exposed to. Things like stress, certain foods, alcohol, medications, and even intense exercise can temporarily impact how “tight” those junctions in the gut lining stay.
For example, during high-intensity endurance workouts, blood flow shifts away from the digestive tract to support your muscles, which can cause temporary gut discomfort (think bloating, nausea, or even diarrhea). In a similar way, some additives in processed foods, like emulsifiers or sweeteners, can irritate the gut lining by disrupting the protective mucus layer.
These exposures can trigger short-term inflammation and increase intestinal permeability. In small doses, this response is actually part of the body’s defence mechanism and it helps the immune system respond to threats and repair any damage. Once the trigger is gone, your gut lining usually heals and returns to normal.
But here's the thing: everyone's threshold is different. Some people bounce back quickly, while others (especially those dealing with chronic stress, frequent medication use like NSAIDs, or repeated exposure to gut irritants) might experience more lasting damage. Over time, this can lead to persistent inflammation and more serious breakdowns in the gut barrier, making the body more vulnerable to ongoing health issues.
The most common culprits to watch out for when intestinal permeability, or leaky gut, include:
- Poor diet (processed foods, sugar, alcohol)Chronic stress
- Medications (NSAIDs, antibiotics)
- Gut dysbiosis (imbalanced gut bacteria)
- Infections or toxins
- Lack of sleep or poor lifestyle habits
How to Start Healing a Leaky Gut
Like most things, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to healing – especially when it comes to the gut. But here are a few things to consider:
Avoid Common Triggers
Avoid common food triggers that might upset the gut while you work on healing can give your lining a better chance at repairing. These include alcohol and processed foods, refined sugar, coffee, dairy products, and artificial sweeteners like sucralose and aspartame.
Introduce Supportive Nutrients
There are several key nutrients and herbs that can help reduce inflammation while rebuilding barrier function – two necessary steps when it comes to healing leaky gut.
Glutamine: Glutamine (found in our best-selling digestive formula, Happy Gut) is an amino acid that plays a key role in repairing and strengthening the gut lining. It helps support the integrity of the intestinal barrier, making it especially useful for those dealing with leaky gut. Research shows that glutamine helps reduce gut permeability and promotes gut healing by coating and nourishing the gut lining from within.
Slippery elm: Also found in Happy Gut, Slippery elm is a soothing herb that acts as a prebiotic - feeding the good bacteria in your gut to help support a healthy microbiome. When mixed with water, it forms a gel-like substance that coats and calms the gut lining, giving it a chance to heal. In one study, people with digestive issues saw a 40–60% improvement in symptoms like constipation, diarrhea, and gut permeability after taking slippery elm.
Zinc: This crucial mineral improves the deal of the tight junctions that form the intestinal barrier, helping to prevent leaky gut. It’s also a powerful antioxidant to help modulate inflammation and restore barrier function. A deficiency in zinc has been shown to increase barrier dysfunction and permeability, and supplementation has been shown to reverse this.
Collagen: Marine collagen peptides can play a helpful role in supporting the gut lining. Research shows they help protect the tight junctions by calming inflammation and supporting the integrity of the barrier itself. On top of that, collagen provides key amino acids - the building blocks your body needs to maintain a healthy mucosal lining.
Curcumin: Best known as the active compound in turmeric, Curcumin is a powerful anti-inflammatory that’s been shown to help calm gut inflammation and support the gut barrier. Research also suggests that once absorbed, Curcumin tends to concentrate in the GI tract - one reason it’s so effective at supporting digestion and overall gut health.
Focus on Stress Management
Stress management is a crucial but often overlooked part of any gut healing journey. Chronic stress can disrupt digestion, alter the gut microbiome, and weaken the gut lining by increasing inflammation and loosening tight junctions. In other words, when you're constantly in "fight or flight" mode, your gut takes a hit. Taking steps to manage stress, whether through breath-work, movement, mindfulness, or simply making a conscious effort to slow down, can help calm the nervous system and support the gut’s natural healing process.
