Intestinal health – the intestine as the basis of our immune system
With a total length of six to eight meters and a surface area of up to 400 square meters, the intestine is the largest organ in our body. For a long time, the intestine was underestimated as a purely digestive organ. However, it is a real all-rounder with far-reaching health functions. Around 80 % of all active immune cells are found in the intestine. This makes it the largest immune organ in the human body. In addition to its immense importance for our immune system, the intestine also fulfills many other tasks: For example, the intestine is a major supplier of energy. Day after day, it breaks down nutrients from food that we need for an active life. Provided that the intestine is not impaired in its function!
Our largest organ under attack
The intestinal microbiome (intestinal flora) consists of trillions of microbes and is therefore a microcosm in its own right that controls the majority of all metabolic processes in our body. The gut produces vital vitamins, enzymes and amino acids and neutralizes everything harmful that enters our body with food. Our intestinal wall therefore needs an extremely powerful protective barrier in the form of healthy bacteria to prevent anything that could be harmful from penetrating our intestinal wall and entering the bloodstream. Environmental toxins and pollutants, constant stress, sugar and carbohydrates, gluten, gluttony and lack of exercise weaken this impenetrable barrier more and more. Inflammations spread: The intestine becomes leaky.
Leaky gut syndrome – the permeable bowel
If the intestine can no longer fulfill its natural barrier function as part of a leaky gut syndrome, various unwanted substances pass through the intestinal wall into the bloodstream. These include pathogens, incompletely digested food components and toxins that the body actually excretes. The immune system reacts by releasing inflammatory substances.
The result: silent inflammation
One consequence of leaky gut syndrome can be silent inflammation. Silent inflammation is, as the name suggests, a silent inflammation. This means that inflammation develops in the body that goes unnoticed. Silent inflammation usually has no classic inflammatory symptoms such as redness, swelling, fever or pain. This means that, if left untreated over a long period of time, silent inflammation can stress and weaken the body’s immune system. This paves the way for a whole range of diseases. Examples include arteriosclerosis, chronic pain, autoimmune diseases (multiple sclerosis) and even tumor diseases.
Food intolerances, diarrhea and flatulence
On the other hand, it is suspected that the excessive immune reaction in leaky gut also promotes food intolerances and allergies. In the case of a food intolerance, the body is no longer able to digest or metabolize certain food components. Frequent flatulence, diarrhea or abdominal pain after eating can be signs of food intolerance. This occurs because the immune system is directed against the undigested food components in leaky gut and recognizes them as harmful. If, for example, the same food is ingested as part of a previously well-tolerated meal, the immune system considers it to be harmful, even though it does not actually pose any danger.
Histamine intolerance
In addition to food intolerances, histamine intolerance is also on the rise. People who suffer from this cannot tolerate foods that may contain large amounts of histamine, such as red wine, well-aged cheese or Parma ham. Most people have no problems with these foods. However, some people react to eating them with symptoms such as reddening of the skin, hives, abdominal cramps, nausea and headaches. This may be due to histamine intolerance. One of the possible causes of histamine intolerance can also be a permeable gut or leaky gut syndrome. Comprehensive diagnostics put us on the right track.
Intestinal problems as a trigger for various diseases
The consequences of a leaky gut – leaky gut syndrome
Virtually all of the symptoms listed here can be treated with certain medications. The cause is very often due to impaired bowel function:
- Sinusitis
- Depression
- Skin diseases
- Neurodermatitis
- Gastritis
- Cardiac arrhythmia
- Arthritis
- Liver intoxication
- Bronchitis, asthma
- Chronic fatigue
- Susceptibility to infection
- Migraine
- Overweight
- Unclear joint and muscle pain
- Sleep disorders and much more.
Intestinal diagnostics and therapy
Targeted diagnostics and appropriate therapies with probiotics and micronutrients can help to rebuild both the intestinal flora and the intestinal mucosa. Detailed stool analyses by a specialist laboratory that analyzes the following parameters are important:
- Composition of the intestinal bacteria,
- Excessive fungal contamination,
- Indications of the presence of digestive disorders in the sense of maldigestion or malabsorption,
- Indications of immunodeficiency,
- Changes in the mucous membrane up to leaky gut syndrome.
When the gut makes you fat
Research into the gut is currently more popular than ever. Every year, thousands of studies look at what the trillions of bacteria and therefore the microbiome in our gut do: Which composition keeps us healthy, which makes us ill? What does a healthy colonization with bacteria, viruses and fungi look like? And can diseases be cured by changing a person’s microbiome? Scientists even suspect that the microbiome in the wrong composition can not only harm the soul, but can also lead to stubborn obesity that resists any diet. For example, low microbiome diversity appears to increase the likelihood of obesity and insulin resistance. That would mean: Individual gut bacterial composition makes people good or bad food metabolizers. Firmicutes bacteria are the bacteria that are supposed to get the most energy out of every meal. If these are suppressed by other bacteria, then losing weight will also work.
Gut good, all good! How a gut cleanse supports your health
If you are aware of these connections, then it is only logical and consistent that individual medicine places a large focus on the gut. After all, therapy can only ever be promising if you get to the bottom of the real cause of the symptoms. Probiotics
Fortunately, the individual bacterial community in the gut is not set in stone. Just as it can change for the worse through poor eating habits, antibiotics or constant stress, it can also be positively influenced. For example, by taking probiotics. These promote intestinal health in the long term. Micronutrients
I also support the function of the gut with appropriate micronutrients. For example, vitamins A, B2, B6, B12, C, D and folic acid as well as the trace elements zinc, selenium and copper help to strengthen the immune system. Vitamins A, B2, biotin and niacin help to rebuild the mucous membranes.