Leaky Gut, Increased Intestinal Permeability, & Lupus

The lining of your intestines acts as a 4000 square foot barrier that walls the gut off from the bloodstream. It only lets small things pass through, like digested nutrients and water molecules. It is able to regulate this process because of a special cellular seal known as “tight junctions.” In a tight junction, the “outer layers of two adjacent cells fuse” together. “Leaky gut” is what happens when these seals weaken. This is also known as intestinal permeability. The leaks are typically too small for bacteria to pass into the bloodstream. But, some substances can pass flow through the barrier including: partially-digested food toxins on their way to be excreted pieces of bacteria smaller microorganisms such as viruses (which feed on the bacteria) Triggering the immune system Typically, these substances don’t do damage on their own. But, the body detects them and sees them as signs of an invasion or infection. In response, it “defends itself.” The immune system jumps into action, ramping up inflammation throughout the body. Inflammation is the body’s way of localizing and eliminating foreign invaders and removing any damaged tissue. However, in autoimmune diseases, the immune system misidentifies healthy cells as foreign invaders — making inflammation dangerous to the healthy tissues in the body. A review in Frontiers of Immunology describes it well: “In individuals with a genetic predisposition, a leaky gut may allow environmental factors to enter the body and trigger the initiation and development of autoimmune disease.”

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