leaky gut

Delayed IgG food sensitivities: depression and anxiety due to inflammation, leaky gut, leaky blood brain barrier and low serotonin

July 20, 2018 By Trudy Scott 5 Comments

It’s really encouraging and exciting to see a major study confirming what we’ve known about IgG food sensitivities or IgG food reactivity for years, and also reporting a link to irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and depression. The paper, published in May this year, The Food-Specific Serum IgG Reactivity in Major Depressive Disorder Patients, Irritable Bowel Syndrome Patients and Healthy Controls states

There is an increasing amount of evidence which links the pathogenesis of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) with food IgG hyperreactivity. Some authors have suggested that food IgG hyperreactivity could be also involved in the pathophysiology of major depressive disorder (MDD).

The following diagram and excerpt illustrates the gut-immune-inflammatory-brain model for depression that is associated with food IgG hyperreactivity or sensitivity.

The gut-immune-inflammatory-brain model for Major Depressive Disorder associated with food IgG hyperreactivity. According to the hypothesis proposed in our previous work, we present a possible mechanism underlying the MDD [major depressive disorder] development, suggesting that the interplay between genetic and environmental factors may lead to disruption of tight junctions, the loss of their integrity and both gut and BBB [blood brain barrier] permeability. Undigested food compounds, which would normally break down in the gut, translocate into the blood circulation, and trough epitopes combine with food IgG antibodies to form immune complexes. This, in turn, provokes an abnormal response and triggers immune-inflammatory cascade. Uncontrolled release of the proinflammatory mediators may contribute to low-grade systemic inflammation and low-grade neuroinflammation, which, via pathological processes in CNS [central nervous system], i.e., changes in neurotransmitter metabolism, neurogenesis, glutamate excitotoxicity, may in consequence induce and then maintain and prolong depression.

[diagram and excerpt from The Food-Specific Serum IgG Reactivity in Major Depressive Disorder Patients, Irritable Bowel Syndrome Patients and Healthy Controls]

I wrote my book, The Antianxiety Food Solution, in 2011 and there wasn’t research on the gut-immune-inflammatory-brain model, but I do write extensively about delayed IgG food sensitivities (as well as other types of food issues). If you don’t have my book I’m including some of the highlights related to this (and I encourage you to pick up a copy too!). If you do have my book I hope this next section encourages you to go back and read chapter 4 again (and even check out the other books I mention below).

I write about how with delayed food reactions, it may take a few hours to several days before symptoms appear, which can make it difficult to identify the offending food or foods. In these reactions, the body responds by creating a type of antibody known as IgG (immunoglobulin G).

I also write about how food sensitivities can have effects beyond physiological symptoms, including creating imbalances in key chemicals in the brain, which can cause anxiety, phobias, depression, irritability, and mood swings. When food sensitivities have these effects, they are sometimes termed “brain allergies” or “cerebral allergies.” Dr. Carl Pfeiffer wrote extensively about this and used these terms in his wonderful book, Nutrition and Mental Illness, way back in 1987. (This book is a quick read and is one of my favorite older books on the subject of mental health and biochemical imbalances.)

I also reference the work of my colleague and friend, clinical nutritionist Liz Lipski. In her 2004 book, the 3^rd edition of Digestive Wellness she shares that

24 percent of American adults claim they have delayed food and environmental reactions.

She feels that these sensitivities are often the result of leaky gut syndrome, a condition characterized by damage to the microvilli lining the intestinal walls. This allows undigested food particles to travel across the intestinal wall and into the blood, where the immune system responds to them as foreign, harmful substances and creates antibodies to neutralize them.

All this sounds very similar to what the new study is reporting doesn’t it? I’d prefer it not to take so long for the knowledge from as far back as 1987 to get into mainstream journals but it’s the world we live in and we can just appreciate that we are moving forward and in the right direction!

The 2018 paper mentioned above concludes the following:

Our findings suggest more common food-specific serum IgG hyperreactivity among patients with IBS and MDD [major depressive disorder], which may be one of the mechanisms leading to the development of immune activation and low-grade inflammation observed in these disorders.

They do support an elimination diet for IBS but not for depression:

There is no causal relationship which could confirm clinical utility of an elimination diet in patients with depression

I do love research, but this really bothers me as it’s just common-sense and we do have some case studies supporting the use of elimination diets. In this case study the patient’s “treatment-resistant” depression improved considerably with an elimination diet, with similar results in another case study where a gluten-free elimination diet improved both anxiety and depression and everyday functioning.

In the meantime, we’ll continue to rely on the wisdom of practitioners like Dr. Pfeiffer and Liz Lipski, and all the clinical evidence showing how an elimination diet does help with both depression and anxiety. Just read some of the success stories on this blog – Paleo and grain free diets: anxiety and depression success stories.

Other mechanisms: nutrient malabsorption and serotonin production

There are other mechanisms that I also cover in my book – nutrient malabsorption and a more direct impact on serotonin production.

One possible mechanism is indirect effects of gastrointestinal damage due to eating problem foods, resulting in nutrient malabsorption. In a 2009 double blind placebo-controlled study:

65 celiac patients aged 45-64 years on a strict gluten-free diet for several years [and showing signs of low folate, low vitamin B12 and low vitamin B6] were randomized to a daily dose of 0.8 mg folic acid,0.5 mg cyanocobalamin and 3 mg pyridoxine or placebo for 6 months

I doubt folic acid or this form of B12 would be used today but even with these forms at these low doses, the study participants showed homocysteine in a good range and reported improvement in general well-being – after just 6 months of supplementation.

Another possible mechanism is the fact that gluten sensitivity and the resulting damage to the gut can limit the availability of tryptophan and therefore lead to decreases in levels of serotonin. Research published in 2005, Gluten-free diet may alleviate depressive and behavioural symptoms in adolescents with coeliac disease: a prospective follow-up case-series study, reports that:

serotonergic dysfunction due to impaired availability of tryptophan may play a role in vulnerability to depressive and behavioral disorders among adolescents with untreated coeliac disease

In addition to removing the foods that are causing the sensitivities, you need to heal the gut and boost serotonin levels with a targeted individual amino acid like tryptophan.

Give the link between anxiety and depression, all of the above could apply if you have anxiety too.

Have you had IgG food sensitivity testing and found that an elimination diet helped reduce your depression or anxiety symptoms?

Oxalates and leaky gut for Anxiety: Webinar replay

December 30, 2016 By Trudy Scott 21 Comments

Just a quick reminder in case you missed this over the New year weekend. You can still listen to the webinar replay from last week: Live Case studies, Q & A, and Special Diet Strategies for Anxiety – with myself and Julie Matthews

Tune in to hear live case studies on how we use special therapeutic diets and bioindividual nutrition strategies with complex clients who have anxiety, other mood issues and various related health problems.

I was my own case study and shared my own oxalate issue in detail (for the very first time) so you can learn in detail about this special diet and how these healthy foods that are high in oxalates caused me excruciating foot pain.

Here is the summary:

In 2013 I was on my feet speaking often 3 full days in a row at conferences
Exhibiting at conferences like American Public Health
Terrible foot pain (+ sharp hip pain in that same year)
- burning pain (like hot coals) and sharp (like shards of glass)
- standing on them and while lying in bed
- one event: had to crawl back to bed from the bathroom
My travel food was all high oxalate foods:
- Smoothies with berries (I took a blender when I travelled)
- Nuts to snack on
- Kale chips

Here is are the high oxalate foods:

And this is how I figured out the issue and what I did about it (with a few dietary changes):

Heard Julie present at WAPF conference
Light bulb: pain and oxalates!
Picked Julie’s brain about my feet pain and oxalates
Consult with Julie – I went salicylate free and oxalate free
It was the oxalates – I knew in 2 weeks!
Pyroluria connection – I have pyroluria and low vitamin B6 is a factor with oxalates
My oxalate results on OAT – nothing showed up
If I am exposed by mistake
- I feel irritable
- A sense of growing pain in my feet (in about 30 minutes)
I always have calcium citrate on hand – sorts me out in a few minutes
Concerns about everyone consuming green smoothies and baking with nut flours (oxalates and copper issues)
Decided to do the Bioindividual Nutrition Program to really learn about these special therapeutic diets
Julie is THE person to teach this!

During the webinar Julie shared her expertise on low oxalate diets and the lab testing, and shared a new powerful case study from her practice – Luka’s story is just heartwarming!

Julie also discusses the science behind these cutting edge therapeutic diet approaches which also include low phenol, low amine, low glutamate and low FODMAPs – and how so much of this can be applied to anxiety, depression and other chronic health conditions.

Here is a slide that covers leaky gut or intestinal permeability and anxiety – and special diets to consider:

The Q&A was excellent (thanks to all of you who attended live and asked questions).

You can register here for access to the replay (this is geared towards practitioners is open for all to listen in and learn + would be great to share with your practitioner if you’re not one)

Julie shared more about the BioIndividual Nutrition Training winter enrollment for practitioners. If you are a practitioner and already know you want to do the BioIndividual Nutrition Training training here is that link to check it out and register.

I highly recommend the training! As I mentioned, it helped me personally and now I use this information with the anxious women I work with and their families. I have also found the connection and sharing amongst the community of practitioners to be an invaluable aspect of joining the program.

PS. Even if you’re not a practitioner, many non-practitioners choose to listen in to these types of calls in order to learn. Feel free to do the same or to pass on to your practitioner so they can learn and then further help you. I also like to share this type of call with my entire community because I know many of you are aspiring health coaches, nutritionists and nutritional psychologists.

PPS. Julie also offers a version of this training to mom’s who want to learn for themselves and their families. Feel free to reach out to them at info [at] bioindividualnutrition.com if you’re interested.

Zonulin and leaky gut on the Thyroid Connection Summit

October 24, 2016 By Trudy Scott Leave a Comment

One of the speakers on the Thyroid Connection Summit is Alessio Fasano, MD and a leading Harvard scientist. He addresses the “Latest Research on Leaky Gut” and shares about zonulin. Dr. Fasano and his team actually discovered zonulin.

Dr. Myers asks him to share the role that zonulin plays in leaky gut:

This is one of many topics being covered on the summit. A few of my other favorites are:

Aristo Vojdani, PhD, MSc, MT: Predictive Antibodies, Leaky Gut and Toxins
Raphael Kellman, MD: Your Microbiome and Thyroid
David Perlmutter, MD: The Gut-Brain-Thyroid Connection
Izabella Wentz, PharmD, FASCP: Infections As a Root Cause of Your Thyroid Dysfunction
Sydney Baker, MD: How Parasites Can Rebalance Your Immune System (yes, you read that correctly – his discussion on helminth therapy or “little dudes” is fascinating!)
Ritchie Shoemaker, MD: Toxic Mold and Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS)

Tune into this online event if you have Graves’, Hashimoto’s, hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism, cancer, nodules, cysts, are post-I-131 radiation or are post-thyroidectomy, or if your doctor says your labs are normal, yet you still have symptoms.

Tens of millions worldwide have some form of thyroid dysfunction, and 60% don’t know they have it or how it occurred. Dr. Amy Myers has identified 5 environmental factors that are the root cause of all thyroid dysfunction: diet, leaky gut, toxins, infections, and stress.

Congrats to Dr. Myers on the release of her new book The Thyroid Connection, which is a companion to the summit content

You can register for the summit here: https://qt247.isrefer.com/go/THY16reg/trudyscottcn/

And purchase at the summit special price here: https://qt247.isrefer.com/go/THY16order/trudyscottcn/

I’m not a speaker on this summit but I’m sharing this resource because thyroid health is so key when it comes to anxiety and depression. And many of the topics on this summit have relevance for anxiety: like genetics, gut health, toxins, stress and more. Enjoy!

The Anxiety Summit – Anxiety: the SCD diet, carbs, adrenals and leaky gut

June 7, 2016 By Trudy Scott 24 Comments

Steven Wright, creator of SCDlifestyle, was interviewed on the Anxiety Summit by host of the Anxiety Summit, Trudy Scott, Food Mood Expert and Nutritionist, author of The Antianxiety Food Solution.

Anxiety: the SCD diet, carbs, adrenals and leaky gut

The Specific Carbohydrate Diet /SCD: the history and the basics
The GAPs diet – the similarities and differences
Stressful times and panic attacks and recovering
Adrenal health and restricting carbs too much
Leaky gut and glutamine

Here are some gems from our interview (I really enjoy Steve’s common-sense advice, especially when you are feeling overwhelmed):

And so if you can adopt the mindset of hey, you know what, this is just an exploration of food. I’m just going to throw out all my beliefs for six months and I’m going to try buying that weird fruit at the grocery store; I’m going to buy a new pan; I’m going to burn some things and just try to make it an exploration, like try to mess it up. If you can do that, if you can get some sort of mindset shift there where it becomes a fun little game, what I would do is I would have a spice of the week and I would put that spice on everything. I don’t care what they say in cookbooks or chef schools, I’ve never been to chef school actually. I would like love to go maybe sometime. But I would just take like oregano and I would put oregano on everything. I’d put it on my vegetables; I’d put it on my fish; I’d put it on the beef; I’d put it on the chicken I cooked just to see what it tasted like. Like somebody says you should never put rosemary on your whatever you’re cooking. Well how do they know? Why don’t you make up the choice for yourself?

We cover leaky gut, autoimmunity and anxiety:

So your immune system is concentrated in your gut. It’s remarkable to think of that, but the reason why is in case these different molecules of the wrong size or the wrong type get into your gut then they gum in and they just kind of like start to attack it and it creates a war. And so if your gut is chronically leaky, like it is for essentially anyone with an autoimmune condition, because that’s per Dr. Fasano’s theory, that’s essentially the way in which you become autoimmune, you’re going to have a war raging in your bloodstream, in your body, in your gut for all day all night. And so that consumes a lot of resources; it creates a lot of inflammatory cytokines; it also regulates some other pathways, which can be circulated, end up in the brain and end up causing anxiety and depression. And so I do believe that there is a subset of people who have anxiety who have either leaky gut as one of their main causes or at least it’s contributing to it. And so digestive health is really important for anxiety in my opinion.

This article: Diet and Inflammatory Bowel Disease, discusses the diets commonly recommended to IBD patients and reviews the supporting data for the low-fermentable oligosaccharide, disaccharide, monosaccharide, and polyol diet; the specific carbohydrate diet; the anti-inflammatory diet; and the Paleolithic diet. The authors of this paper do say that the role of dietary interventions in the management of IBD still needs to be tested vigorously in patients.

Here is the SCD Quick Start Guide

And for health practitioners wanting to learn how to get their message out in a bigger way and help more people: The Practitioner Liberation Project

If you are not already registered for the Anxiety Summit you can get live access to the speakers of the day here: www.theAnxietySummit.com

Missed this interview or can’t listen live? Or want this and the other great interviews for your learning library? Purchase the MP3s or MP3s + transcripts and listen when it suits you.

You can find your purchasing options here.: Anxiety Summit Season 1, Anxiety Summit Season 2, Anxiety Summit Season 3, and Anxiety Summit Season 4.

Dr. Josh Axe’s New Book “Eat Dirt”

March 26, 2016 By Trudy Scott 5 Comments

eat-dirt

I had the great pleasure of interviewing Dr. Josh Axe earlier this week. We talked about the gut and eating dirt!

The title of his great new book is: Eat Dirt: Why Leaky Gut May Be the Root Cause of Your Health Problems and 5 Surprising Steps to Cure It

We covered the following in our interview:

What is leaky gut and what causes it?
The 5 gut types and how to figure out your gut type
What does it really mean to eat dirt?
What are the best foods for a healthy gut?
What are the best supplements and herbs for a healthy gut?
And of course how does stress and anxiety play into all of this?

Hippocrates is famous for saying “All disease begins in the gut” and this book lays out the exact steps to take to begin healing the gut.

We started off discussing leaky gut, what it is and what causes it and the conditions that we see when someone has leaky gut. Here is an excerpt from the book:

Upon their initial visit, approximately 80 percent of my patients present with some level of leaky gut syndrome. They come to my clinic experiencing problems ranging from gallbladder issues to thyroid disease, psoriasis or eczema, migraine headaches, insulin resistance, and even stubborn weight gain. Many are amazed to learn that their condition may share the same origin as colitis, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and Crohn’s disease. And they’re downright stunned when I tell them that some degree of leaky gut is present in every autoimmune disease, including lupus, multiple sclerosis (MS), and type 1 diabetes.

According to research conducted on both animal and human subjects and published in journals such as Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology and Gut, leaky gut syndrome (or increased intestinal permeability) has been linked to the following symptoms and conditions: ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) Alzheimer’s disease, Anxiety and depression, ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), Autism, Candida and yeast overgrowth, Celiac disease and nonceliac gluten sensitivity, Chronic fatigue syndrome, Crohn’s disease, Fibromyalgia, Gas, bloating, and digestive pain, Hashimoto’s disease, Irritable bowel syndrome.

Here is one of the many great diagrams from the book: How Leaky Gut Develops

And here are the 5 gut types that we talked about. They are covered in great detail in the book, together with an eating, supplement and lifestyle plan for each one:

Candida gut, directly related to yeast overgrowth and being overweight, which affects more than 68 percent of all American adults.
Stressed gut, in which chronic stress weakens your adrenal glands, kidneys, and thyroid, and can cause hormone imbalances, fatigue, and thyroid disease.
Immune gut, which afflicts the 15 million people who suffer from food allergies 4 and the 1.6 million with inflammatory bowel disease, as well as the 50 million adults with autoimmune disease.
Gastric gut, caused by small intestinal bacteria overgrowth (SIBO) and acid reflux, which afflicts 60 percent of all adults—half of whom struggle on a weekly basis.
Toxic gut, which can result in gallbladder disease, skin conditions, and chronic liver issues that cause thirty million people great pain every year.

Here is the link to the audio

I received an advance review copy and it’s a great book! I highly recommend it, especially if leaky gut and gut health is an issue for you, and if also you’re new to this concept.

~~If you preorder before it launches you can get $300 in bonus material. Here is the link for making your purchase and getting those bonuses:~~
https://ju127.isrefer.com/go/edr/trudyscottcn/

~~Launch date is next Tuesday March 29^th so be sure you get it and your bonus material before then. Happy reading!~~

Glutamine for healing a leaky gut

November 13, 2015 By Trudy Scott 44 Comments

glutamine-powder

Glutamine is one of my favorite nutrients for healing the gut (or repairing the intestinal barrier). Here is the extract from a paper published last month: Glutamine and intestinal barrier function:

The intestinal barrier integrity is essential for the absorption of nutrients and health in humans and animals. Dysfunction of the mucosal barrier is associated with increased gut permeability and development of multiple gastrointestinal diseases.

Recent studies highlighted a critical role for glutamine, which had been traditionally considered as a nutritionally non-essential amino acid, in activating the mammalian target of rapamycin cell signaling in enterocytes.

In addition, glutamine has been reported to enhance intestinal and whole-body growth, to promote enterocyte proliferation and survival, and to regulate intestinal barrier function in injury, infection, weaning stress, and other catabolic conditions. Mechanistically, these effects were mediated by maintaining the intracellular redox status and regulating expression of genes associated with various signaling pathways.

Furthermore, glutamine stimulates growth of the small intestinal mucosa in young animals and also enhances ion transport by the gut in neonates and adults. Growing evidence supports the notion that glutamine is a nutritionally essential amino acid for neonates and a conditionally essential amino acid for adults.

Thus, as a functional amino acid with multiple key physiological roles, glutamine holds great promise in protecting the gut from atrophy and injury under various stress conditions in mammals and other animals.

I’d like to share how some well-known practitioners use glutamine for healing.

In this article by Dr. Josh Axe: 4 Steps to Heal Leaky Gut and Autoimmune Disease, glutamine is listed as one of the key gut healing nutrients:

L-Glutamine is critical for any program designed to heal leaky gut. Glutamine is an essential amino acid that is anti-inflammatory and necessary for the growth and repair of your intestinal lining. L-glutamine benefits include acting as a protector: coating your cell walls and acting as a repellent to irritants. Take 2–5 grams twice daily.

Be sure to check out the whole article for great images of leaky gut and how leaky gut can lead to leaky brain and mental health problems like anxiety, depression and bipolar disorders. What Dr. Axe states is so true: in many cases, if you can heal the gut, you can heal the brain.

Dr. Axe references a 2008 paper that discusses normalization of leaky gut in chronic fatigue syndrome with

natural anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative substances (NAIOSs), such as glutamine, N-acetyl cysteine and zinc

Dr. Amy Myers, author of The Autoimmune Solution shares this in her blog called 8 Supplements to Heal a Leaky Gut:

L-Glutamine is an amino acid that is fundamental to the well-being of the digestive and immune systems. Glutamine is great for repairing damage to the gut, helping the gut lining to regrow and repair, undoing the damage caused by leaky gut, and reducing sugar cravings. I recommend 3-5 grams a day.

Dr. David Perlmutter, author Grain Brain shares this in his interview with Dr. Tom O’ Bryan on The Gluten Summit:

Adding in nutritional supplements like glutamine to allow the gut to calm down, heal itself, and begin to rebuild those vital intestinal barriers to keep out the invaders.

Dr. Mark Hyman shares this in his book The UltraMind Solution in the gut food section:

Glutamine: 2,500 mg twice a day [this equates to 5000mg or 5g/day] You can use the powder or capsule form. This is a nonessential amino acid that is the preferred fuel for the lining of the small intestine and can greatly facilitate healing. It can be taken for one to two months. It generally comes in powder form and is often combined with other compounds that facilitate gut repair.

In an article on Leaky Gut Syndrome, Sharon Garrett shares how she loves a product called GI Revive, a product that combines glutamine with other gut-healing nutrients:

I LOVE this product and it lasts a long time. It contains L-glutamine, Slippery Elm, Marshmallow Root, Deglycyrrhizinated Licorice, Mucin, Okra Extract, Cat’s Claw, Quercetin, Prune Powder, Zinc, MSM, Chamomile, N-Acetyl Glucosamine, Aloe Vera Extract, and Citrus Pectin. This product was one of the cornerstones of my own progress to heal my gut, and I still use it today for maintenance!

And be sure to read cancer concerns and benefits if you have active cancer and talk to your doctor before using glutamine. Stay tuned for more blog posts on glutamine and the cancer debate. I’m still gathering information to share with you.

Keep in mind that licorice root/DGL (deglycyrrhizinated licorice), probiotics, zinc, slippery elm, marshmallow root and quercetin are other supplement options for gut healing if you can’t tolerate glutamine for some reason.

Have you used glutamine for gut healing? Have you used other approaches for gut healing? Please share and feel free to post questions you may have.