Treatment and Prevention Measures for Leaky Gut Syndrome

How do you Treat Leaky Gut Syndrome?

There is still a lack of sufficient scientific evidence that can help formulate a proper treatment strategy for LGS. However, the following treatment regimens are sometimes recommended:

• Herbal Remedies: Various types of herbs and herbal preparations are sometimes recommended to treat leaky gut. These include slippery elm, aloe vera, evening primrose (flower / leaf / root), horsetail, dandelion leaf, beet root, and fenugreek.
• Nutritional Supplements: Nutritional supplements help to replenish the gut with essential nutrients. These include vitamins A, D, E, K and B-Complex, minerals (especially zinc), probiotics, L-glutamine, omega-3-fatty acids, and DGL licorice.

• Elimination Diet: This type of diet regimen eliminates the following from food:
• Pathogens like yeast, bacteria, and parasites.
• Gastric irritants like alcohol, NSAIDs, and caffeine.
• Food allergens (causing inflammatory reactions) like peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, beans, corn, cow’s milk, fish, gluten (containing gliadin) in susceptible individuals.
Elimination of these components from the diet helps the intestinal lining to heal and rejuvenate naturally.
• Special Diets: These types of diets are aimed to ease the digestive load on the gut, so that inflammatory reactions do not occur. These include consuming low-sugar foods, gluten-free foods, anti-fungal diets (with nystatin), low FODMAP^* diets, and avoiding processed foods, fermented foods, vinegar, and refined wheat flour products.

  *Acronym for Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides and Polyols.

How do you Prevent Leaky Gut Syndrome?

The mainstay of prevention of LGS is by consuming a balanced ‘gut-friendly’ diet and proper stress management. These are briefly highlighted below:

• Balanced Diet: A healthy, balanced diet containing fresh wholesome food with lots of green leafy vegetables, salads, yoghurt packed with vitamins and minerals is recommended for maintaining optimal GI health.
• Stress Reduction: It is well established that excessive stress can induce the onset and progression of inflammatory bowel disease, which can lead to a leaky gut. Practising techniques like meditation, yoga, and listening to relaxing music can be very helpful for stress management. Therefore, stress reduction is very important.