What Is Leaky Gut And How Can You Treat It?

Most of us (including most doctors) do not recognize or know that digestive problems wreak havoc in the entire body, leading to allergies, arthritis, autoimmune disease, rashes, acne, chronic fatigue, mood disorders, autism, dementia, cancer, and more. So having a healthy gut means more than simply being free of annoyances like bloating or heartburn. It is absolutely central to your health. It is connected to everything that happens in your body. That is why Functional Medicine almost always starts helping people treat chronic health problems by fixing their gut.

In this mini-episode, Dr. Hyman is joined by Dr. Elizabeth Boham to review two patient cases focused on treating the gut.

Elizabeth Boham is a physician and nutritionist who practices functional medicine at The UltraWellness Center in Lenox, MA. Through her practice and lecturing she has helped thousands of people achieve their goals of optimum health and wellness. She witnesses the power of nutrition every day in her practice and is committed to training other physicians to utilize nutrition in healing. Dr. Boham has contributed to many articles and wrote the latest chapter on Obesity for the Rankel Textbook of Family Medicine. She is part of the faculty of the Institute for Functional Medicine and has been featured on the Dr. Oz show and in a variety of publications and media including Huffington Post, The Chalkboard Magazine, and Experience Life. Her DVD Breast Wellness: Tools to Prevent and Heal from Breast Cancer explores the functional medicine approach to keeping your breasts and whole body well.

In this episode, Dr. Hyman and Dr. Boham discuss:

What is leaky gut, and why does it lead to so many other health issues, including food sensitivities?

How our diet, food supply, over-reliance on antibiotics, acid blockers, steroids, and more can lead to leaky gut

Using stool testing and Cyrex testing to assess gut health.

The ‘5R’ program (remove, replace, reinoculate, repair, and rebalance) that Functional Medicine uses as a guide to treat chronic issues.

- Remove stressors: get rid of things that negatively affect the environment of the GI tract including allergic foods and parasites or other bad bugs such as bacteria or yeast. This might involve using an allergy “elimination diet” to find out what foods are causing GI symptoms or it may involve taking drugs or herbs to eradicate a particular bug.

- Replace digestive secretions: add back things like digestive enzymes, hydrochloric acid, and bile acids that are required for proper digestion and that may be compromised by diet, drugs, diseases, aging, or other factors.

- Reinoculate. Help beneficial bacteria flourish by ingesting probiotic foods or supplements that contain bacteria such as bifidobacteria and lactobacillus species, and by consuming the high soluble fiber foods or “prebiotics.” Probiotics are beneficial microorganisms found in the gut that are also called “friendly bacteria.” Antibiotics kill both good and bad bacteria. Probiotics in the form of supplements or food are needed to re-inoculate the gut. Fermented foods, like yogurt, miso, & tempeh are food sources of probiotics. Prebiotics are nondigestible food ingredients that selectively stimulate the growth of beneficial microorganisms already in the colon. Prebiotics feed probiotics. Prebiotics are available in many foods that contain a fiber called inulin, like artichokes, garlic, leeks, onion, chicory, and tofu. Grains such as barley, flax, oats, & wheat are also good sources of prebiotics.

- Repair. Help the lining of the GI tract repair itself by supplying key nutrients that can often be in short supply in a disease state, such as zinc, antioxidants (e.g. vitamins A, C, and E), fish oil, and the amino acid glutamine.

- Rebalance. Pay attention to lifestyle choices – sleep, exercise and stress can all affect the GI tract.

Additional resources:

“Is Your Digestive System Making You Sick, and Fat?”

“How to Feed Your Gut”

“A New Approach to Autoimmune Disease”

“Lab Spotlight: Testing for Food Sensitivities”

“The Wrong Gut Bugs Can Make You Fat and Sick (and How to Fix Them)”

“Top 5 Diet Changes for Autoimmunity”

“Gut & Digestive Health”

[christinabachman]

Her ability to remain focused while being constantly interrupted is amazing.

[JT-hlfh]

Dr Hyman we know you know all of this and please share your thoughts when you are on your own on the program. But when you have a guest it’s helpful to hear your guest speak more.

[da]

You're awesome Dr. Hyman, but please let her share the info without constant interruption.

[mariannejones]

She’s in the middle of her story and he interrupts her to tell his. He interrupts her so much I can’t watch it.

[bahl]

I really appreciate the information, but Dr Hyman's interruption is so so painful for the listeners. Please, let people finish the sentences.

[ravichadha]

Why dr mark has to call experts. He seems to think he knows better than the expert doctor. Then why call her? Please Dr. Hyman let her speak.

[win-didi]

She need her own channel so that so she can COMPLETELY share her information 🤦‍♀️

[mell.]

I had a bacterial infection in my gut for a long time. Antibiotics to get rid of the infection and fermented foods to get the microbiome back in order have made me feel 10 years younger. It feels so good to feel great again.

[dianalawrence]

Omg please please please let her finish! It is so frustrating when you do this, makes me not want to watch anymore. This is how people forget what they were going to say... great info nevertheless.

[madelineconnors]

I think Dr. Hyman needs to watch these interviews back, and see how much he interrupts. It is infuriating.

[jilliansunrise]

It's a conversation, not a monologue.
Somewhat annoying, yes. But I would think most of us know how to multitask. I'm just glad to have come across doctors who go the extra mile for their patients. Let's all stay awesome!

[organiclife]

This is a fantastic interview.
The lady was a great interviewer host and he was a nice guest.

[valeriemckay]

Such good info, thank you both very much. I will watch again because many of these "syndromes"are common in my family and though I have learned and made many changes and seen results, I have so far to go. The interrupting everyone is focused on? ... reminds me of my family, I get it, feel right at home. This is a great channel, I hope everyone stays focused on the vital information and your generous character.

[GoddessLaurel]

Thank you for this video and for having such a balanced expert guest. This topic is important to bring into the mainstream.

[Forrest]

Worthy of 10 million views this needs to be the primary focus 🙌

[meocoi]

Thank you Dr. Hyman for bringing Dr. Boham on, who is extremely knowledgeable and professional.

[williamcrawford]

Great video! Say whatever you want about Dr. Hyman, but in my opinion he is a great asset by providing non-mainstream health & medical information to the public. I wish my physicians were more like him.

[lisaewald]

Thank you Dr Hyman, you and your guest are so helpful.. I told 2 doctors I need help and they just ignore it.. they say is exercise.. I have exercised since I was 18 yrs old.. but I had surgery in 2018 and I feel bad ever since..lot of good knowledge here..💕🌴

[relydbrowning]

Always outstanding content doc💖 Dr Bohem so knowledgeable!

[selenecarr]

Dr's you are both a blessing for sick people, and all people to listen and protect the longivity for a healthy life. This is definitely the route to heal. Its difficult to find Doctors like you. Im in Toronto Canada if you have a place to refer please. You are obviously an icredibly passionate Doctor . Please know being perfect is a tough mountin to climb, so people be nice and make suggestions in place of harshness. Thank you so incredibly much