If you have symptoms of leaky gut supplements, there are many ways in which you can begin to heal your gut, including following a leaky gut diet plan and taking nutritional supplements. We’ve compiled a list of the top 6 leaky gut supplements to take for reducing intestinal inflammation, strengthening the gut lining, improving digestion, and regaining your overall health.
Disclaimer: Always check with a licensed healthcare practitioner or your physician before taking a new supplement for safety and dosage. Nutritional supplements can interact with medications and cause serious health problems, so please run any new supplement by a healthcare professional before adding it to your diet.
Top 6 Leaky Gut Supplements
1.Betaine HCL
Betaine HCL is a hydrochloric acid supplement, which helps increase stomach acid production to improve the digestion, absorption and assimilation of all nutrients, especially protein.
The reason why betaine HCL is at the top of our leaky gut supplements list is because low stomach acid is one of the most common causes of leaky gut. When you aren’t producing enough stomach acid, your body can’t properly digest and absorb the nutrients in the food you that eat. Not only can this lead to nutrient deficiencies, but it also lets food “linger” in your GI tract, where bacteria can ferment and putrefy it (yuck, we know!).
If left untreated, these bacteria can set up shop in your small intestine and cause chronic inflammation, leaky gut, and a bacterial overgrowth condition called SIBO (1). If you have symptoms such as bloating, acid reflux, constipation, and abdominal pain, you could have low stomach acid.
Taking a stomach acid supplement like betaine HCL is a good starting point to help increase your stomach acid production, aid digestion, and improve nutrient absorption. However, it’s also important to consider why you have low stomach acid in the first place.
Many diet and lifestyle factors can contribute to low stomach acid production, such as frequent antibiotic use, alcohol consumption, a low fiber diet, and chronic stress. So while taking betaine HCL is helpful for healing leaky gut, it’s only part of the equation when it comes to improving your gut health in the long term.
To find out if you have low stomach acid, try taking The Baking Soda Stomach Acid Test at home. It’s quick, painless, and easy. All you need is baking soda and cold water.
How to Take it: Take a betaine HCL supplement right before each meal.
2. Probiotics
Probiotics are beneficial bacteria found all over your body, and they form the foundation of a healthy digestive system. Probiotics help with nutrient absorption, help reduce inflammation, produce certain vitamins, and prevent “bad” or opportunistic bacteria, such as yeast, from overpopulating your system.
Probiotics can help heal leaky gut by strengthening the gut lining, and replenish your natural stores of good bacteria to reduce inflammation. Since probiotics play such a crucial role in digestion, you may also notice physical improvements soon after you start supplementing with them. It’s not uncommon to experience improved bowel movements, increased energy, and less gas and bloating once you find the probiotic strain (or strains) that work best for you.
However, there are many different strains of probiotic supplements, and not all of them provide the same benefits. For example, certain strains of bacteria are known to be most beneficial for immune function, while others do a better job at improving digestion. This is where you’ll need to do a bit of research or speak with a healthcare practitioner to find the appropriate probiotic supplement to match your specific needs.
How to Take it: Probiotics are best taken on an empty stomach, first thing in the morning, or right before bed (assuming your last meal was at least three to four hours beforehand). This allows the probiotics to recolonize in the intestinal lining without the interference of any other foods.
You can also get probiotics in your diet by eating fermented foods, such as sauerkraut, beet kvass, and coconut milk yogurt. However, if you’re also dealing with candida (yeast overgrowth), you may want to supplement with a yeast-eating strain of bacteria called saccharomyces boulardii (sac b) (3).
3. Restore:
A Plant-Derived Mineral SupplementThere’s one plant-derived mineral supplement we’ve heard of for leaky gut called Restore, which is made from lignite extract. If you’ve never heard of lignite extract, don’t worry: you’re not the only one.
Lignite extract comes from decomposed plants (it sounds weird, but bear with us), which break down peat into lignite. The reason why lignite is helpful for leaky gut is because it’s rich in carbon, which has the ability to bind to toxins in your GI tract, and allow them to pass safely through your system.
Now, one of the reasons why leaky gut happens in the first place is due to an overload of toxins in your GI tract, which contribute to breaking apart the tight junctions of the intestinal lining (4). Due to its ability to filter out these toxins, Restore can help lay down the framework for a healthier gut microbiome, which will support your body’s ability to heal on its own.
Unlike some detoxification supplements, Restore doesn’t cause intense die-off symptoms or harm the kidneys when taken at high doses.
How to Take It: Take one teaspoon three times a day, 30 minutes before meals. Work your way up to two tablespoons, three times daily to support healing. For more information, head over to Restore’s website.
4. L-GlutamineGlutamine is an amino acid that contributes to healing leaky gut by repairing the gut’s mucosal lining and closing up the tight junctions in your intestine. Glutamine helps reduce intestinal inflammation, which may also provide relief for digestive symptoms.
Glutamine is most effective when it’s taken as a powder, especially when you’re dealing with a weakened digestive system, which may not be able to properly break down or absorb capsules and food sources of glutamine.
How to Take it: The amount of glutamine you need to take each day will depend on your current state of health. For the correct dosage and form of l-glutamine to take, consult your healthcare practitioner.
5. Quercetin
Quercetin is an antioxidant found in plant foods that may help stimulate the production of proteins in the GI tract that can heal and seal the gut lining, which is exactly what the body needs to repair leaky gut (5).
Quercetin is also known for being an extremely powerful anti-inflammatory, which can reduce intestinal inflammation, keep allergies at bay, and even improve symptoms of autoimmune conditions. Allergies, food sensitivities and autoimmune conditions all can stem from leaky gut syndrome.
How to Take it: We hate to sound like a broken record, but the amount of quercetin you need will depend on your symptoms and the severity of those symptoms. Consult your healthcare practitioner for dosage, frequency, and the best time of day to take it.
6. Vitamin D
There are many things vitamin D does for your body, but in the case of a leaky gut it activates killer T-cells for defense against infections and bacteria. It can also reduce chronic inflammation. Vitamin D is said to be a key player in holding the tight junctions of the intestinal lining together, which means deficiency could actually contribute to the onset of leaky gut (9).
How to Take it: To find out how much vitamin D your body truly needs, it’s best to run some lab tests. From here, your doctor or healthcare practitioner can prescribe the best dose for you, based on the current picture of your health. Don’t forget to get outside and get your vitamin D from the sun, too!
Top 2 Leaky Gut Functional Foods
1. Apple Cider Vinegar
As we mentioned earlier, a primary cause of leaky gut syndrome is having low stomach acid. This can encourage bacterial overgrowth and intestinal inflammation, and ultimately lead to leaky gut.
The acetic acid in apple cider vinegar may help stimulate stomach acid production to help you better digest and absorb nutrients from the food you eat (6). The best type of apple cider vinegar to use is a raw, unpasteurized version (like Bragg’s), because it will contain digestive enzymes.
How to Take it: Dilute one to two tablespoons of apple cider in ½ cup of water and drink five to 10 minutes before each meal. Always use a straw to prevent the acid from wearing down your tooth enamel.
A Word of Caution: Several OTC medications interact with apple cider vinegar, including diuretics and insulin. If you’re currently taking any prescription drugs, check with your doctor before taking apple cider vinegar.
2. Bone Broth
Bone broth is our favorite food for healing leaky gut because it’s the only true dietary source of type II collagen (aside from collagen and gelatin supplements, which are also derived from bones). Collagen is the most abundant protein found in the body, and while it’s a buzzword associated with skin health, it also has the ability to help heal and seal holes in the gut lining.
Collagen is extremely easy for the body to digest and absorb when it’s released from bones and connective tissue into a broth, which makes it ideal for those with weakened digestive systems.
Connective tissue is also rich in several anti-inflammatory amino acids, such as proline and glycine, which help promote detoxification, fat digestion, and reduce inflammation in the GI tract. (7)(8). It’s safe to say if there’s one food Mother Nature would want us to eat for leaky gut, bone broth would be it.
Final ThoughtsWe’d be doing you a huge disservice if we ended this article without touching on the importance of your diet when it comes to healing leaky gut. While supplements can definitely serve a purpose, healing your gut can only begin when you go to the source of the problem. And, more often than not, factors in your diet are the primary cause of leaky gut.
Pairing leaky gut supplements with healing foods (such as bone broth), getting enough rest, reducing your stress levels, and following a leaky gut diet is the best way to reclaim your gut health and say adios to your symptoms for good.
To make your gut healing journey as simple and straight-forward as possible, we’ve created this comprehensive leaky gut diet food list to download, where we explain the best foods to eat, the foods to eat occasionally, and which foods to avoid at all costs, as well as our top lifestyle tips for supporting gut health.
Unvaccinated children's pose zero risk to anyone as by Harvard Immunologists. According to
An Open Letter to Legislators Currently Considering Vaccine Legislation from Tetyana Obukhanych, PhDDear Legislator:My name is Tetyana Obukhanych. I hold a PhD in Immunology. I am writing this letter in the hope that it will correct several common misperceptions about vaccines in order to help you formulate a fair and balanced understanding that is supported by accepted vaccine theory and new scientific findings.
Do unvaccinated children pose a higher threat to the public than the vaccinated?
It is often stated that those who choose not to vaccinate their children for reasons of conscience endanger the rest of the public, and this is the rationale behind most of the legislation to end vaccine exemptions currently being considered by federal and state legislators country-wide.
You should be aware that the nature of protection afforded by many modern vaccines – and that includes most of the vaccines recommended by the CDC for children – is not consistent with such a statement.
I have outlined below the recommended vaccines that cannot prevent transmission of disease either because they are not designed to prevent the transmission of infection (rather, they are intended to prevent disease symptoms), or because they are for non-communicable diseases.
People who have not received the vaccines mentioned below pose no higher threat to the general public than those who have, implying that discrimination against non-immunized children in a public school setting may not be warranted.
1. IPV (inactivated poliovirus vaccine) cannot prevent transmission of poliovirus.(see appendix for the scientific study, Item #1). Wild poliovirus has been non-existent in the USA for at least two decades. Even if wild poliovirus were to be re-imported by travel, vaccinating for polio with IPV cannot affect the safety of public spaces. Please note that wild poliovirus eradication is attributed to the use of a different vaccine, OPV or oral poliovirus vaccine. Despite being capable of preventing wild poliovirus transmission, use of OPV was phased out long ago in the USA and replaced with IPV due to safety concerns.
2. Tetanus is not a contagious disease, but rather acquired from deep-puncture wounds contaminated with C. tetani spores. Vaccinating for tetanus (via the DTaP combination vaccine) cannot alter the safety of public spaces; it is intended to render personal protection only.
3. While intended to prevent the disease-causing effects of the diphtheria toxin, the diphtheria toxoid vaccine (also contained in the DTaP vaccine) is not designed to prevent colonization and transmission of C. diphtheriae. Vaccinating for diphtheria cannot alter the safety of public spaces; it is likewise intended for personal protection only. Therefore unvaccinated children's don't cause any risk.
4. The acellular pertussis (aP) vaccine (the final element of the DTaP combined vaccine), now in use in the USA, replaced the whole cell pertussis vaccine in the late 1990s, which was followed by an unprecedented resurgence of whooping cough. An experiment with deliberate pertussis infection in primates revealed that the aP vaccine is not capable of preventing colonization and transmission of B. pertussis. The FDA has issued a warning regarding this crucial finding. [1]
Furthermore, the 2013 meeting of the Board of Scientific Counselors at the CDC revealed additional alarming data that pertussis variants (PRN-negative strains) currently circulating in the USA acquired a selective advantage to infect those who are up-to-date for their DTaP boosters, meaning that people who are up-to-date are more likely to be infected, and thus contagious, Unvaccinated children's are more than people who are not vaccinated.
5. Among numerous types of H. influenzae, the Hib vaccine covers only type b. Despite its sole intention to reduce symptomatic and asymptomatic (disease-less) Hib carriage, the introduction of the Hib vaccine has inadvertently shifted strain dominance towards other types of H. influenzae (types a through f). These types have been causing invasive disease of high severity and increasing incidence in adults in the era of Hib vaccination of children (see appendix for the scientific study, Item #4). The general population is more vulnerable to the invasive disease now than it was prior to the start of the Hib vaccination campaign. Discriminating against children who are not vaccinated for Hib does not make any scientific sense in the era of non-type b H. influenzae disease.
6. Hepatitis B is a blood-borne virus. It does not spread in a community setting, especially among unvaccinated children's who are unlikely to engage in high-risk behaviors, such as needle sharing or sex. Vaccinating children for hepatitis B cannot significantly alter the safety of public spaces. Further, school admission is not prohibited for children who are chronic hepatitis B carriers. To prohibit school admission for those who are simply unvaccinated – and do not even carry hepatitis B – would constitute unreasonable and illogical discrimination.
In summary, a person who is not vaccinated with IPV, DTaP, HepB, and Hib vaccines due to reasons of conscience poses no extra danger to the public than a person who is. No discrimination is warranted.
How often do serious vaccine adverse events happen?
It is often stated that vaccination rarely leads to serious adverse events.
Unfortunately, this statement is not supported by science.
A recent study done in Ontario, Canada, established that vaccination actually leads to an emergency room visit for 1 in 168 children following their 12-month vaccination appointment and for 1 in 730 children following their 18-month vaccination appointment (see appendix for a scientific study, Item #5).
When the risk of an adverse event requiring an ER visit after well-baby vaccinations is demonstrably so high, vaccination must remain a choice for parents, who may understandably be unwilling to assume this immediate risk in order to protect their children from diseases that are generally considered mild or that their children may never be exposed to. A lot of unvaccinated children's play important rule.Can discrimination against families who oppose vaccines for reasons of conscience prevent future disease outbreaks of communicable viral diseases, such as measles?
Measles research scientists have for a long time been aware of the “measles paradox.” I quote from the article by Poland & Jacobson (1994) “Failure to Reach the Goal of Measles Elimination: Apparent Paradox of Measles Infections in Immunized Persons.” Arch Intern Med 154:1815-1820:
“The apparent paradox is that as measles immunization rates rise to high levels in a population, measles becomes a disease of immunized persons.” [2]
Further research determined that behind the “measles paradox” is a fraction of the population called LOW VACCINE RESPONDERS. Low-responders are those who respond poorly to the first dose of the measles vaccine. These individuals then mount a weak immune response to subsequent RE-vaccination and quickly return to the pool of “susceptibles’’ within 2-5 years, despite being fully vaccinated. [3]
Re-vaccination cannot correct low-responsiveness: it appears to be an immuno-genetic trait. [4] The proportion of low-responders among children was estimated to be 4.7% in the USA. [5]
Unvaccinated children's may create some problems in future. Studies of measles outbreaks in Quebec, Canada, and China attest that outbreaks of measles still happen, even when vaccination compliance is in the highest bracket(95-97% or even 99%, see appendix for scientific studies, Items #6&7). This is because even in high vaccine responders, vaccine-induced antibodies wane over time. Vaccine immunity does not equal life-long immunity acquired after natural exposure.
It has been documented that vaccinated persons who develop breakthrough measles are contagious. In fact, two major measles outbreaks in 2011 (in Quebec, Canada, and in New York, NY) were re-imported by previously vaccinated individuals. [6] [7]
Taken together, these data make it apparent that elimination of vaccine exemptions, currently only utilized by a small percentage of families anyway, will neither solve the problem of disease resurgence nor prevent re-importation and outbreaks of previously eliminated diseases.
Is discrimination against conscientious vaccine objectors the only practical solution?
The majority of measles cases in recent US outbreaks (including the recent Disneyland outbreak) are adults and very young babies, whereas in the pre-vaccination era, measles occurred mainly between the ages 1 and 15.
Natural exposure to measles was followed by lifelong immunity from re-infection, whereas vaccine immunity wanes over time, leaving adults unprotected by their childhood shots. Measles is more dangerous for infants and for adults than for school-aged children.
Despite high chances of exposure in the pre-vaccination era, measles practically never happened in babies much younger than one year of age due to the robust maternal immunity transfer mechanism.
The vulnerability of very young babies to measles today is the direct outcome of the prolonged mass vaccination campaign of the past, during which their mothers, themselves vaccinated in their childhood, were not able to experience measles naturally at a safe school age and establish the lifelong immunity that would also be transferred to their babies and protect them from measles for the first year of life.
Luckily, a therapeutic backup exists to mimic now-eroded maternal immunity. Infants as well as other vulnerable or immunocompromised individuals, are eligible to receive immunoglobulin, a potentially life-saving measure that supplies antibodies directed against the virus to prevent or ameliorate disease upon exposure (see appendix, Item #8).
In summary:
1) due to the properties of modern vaccines, non-vaccinated individuals pose no greater risk of transmission of polio, diphtheria, pertussis, and numerous non-type b H. influenzae strains than vaccinated individuals do, non-vaccinated individuals pose virtually no danger of transmission of hepatitis B in a school setting, and tetanus is not transmissible at all;
2) there is a significantly elevated risk of emergency room visits after childhood vaccination appointments attesting that vaccination is not risk-free;
3) outbreaks of measles cannot be entirely prevented even if we had nearly perfect vaccination compliance; and
4) an effective method of preventing measles and other viral diseases in vaccine-ineligible infants and the immunocompromised, immunoglobulin, is available for those who may be exposed to these diseases.
Unvaccinated children's will not affect anyone.Taken together, these four facts make it clear that discrimination in a public school setting against children who are not vaccinated for reasons of conscience is completely unwarranted as the vaccine status of conscientious objectors poses no undue risk to the public.
Sincerely Yours,
~ Tetyana Obukhanych, PhD
Tetyana Obukhanych earned her Ph.D. in Immunology at the Rockefeller University, New York, NY with her research dissertation focused on immunologic memory. She was subsequently involved in laboratory research as a postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard Medical School and Stanford University School of Medicine, before fully devoting herself to natural parenting.
(Original Source: legislature.vermont.gov – Testimony Senate Health & Welfare Committee Wednesday April 22, 2015 H.98 – public records)
Editor’s Note: This article has been slighted edited to reflect the language from the letter submitted to the Vermont General Assembly on April 22, 2015. As part of the Vermont Senate Health & Welfare Committee, it is a matter of public record and accessible here.)
UPDATE: The above links on the Vermont government website no longer work. Here is a copy.
https://healthimpactnews.com/2017/harvard-immunologist-to-legislators-unvaccinated-children-pose-zero-risk-to-anyone/
Clinical trials underway at the Mayo Clinic are revealing an unlikely friend in the fight against cancer… the measles virus.
Scientists have long known that getting sick with the measles can sometimes trigger spontaneous reduction in the size of tumors, but recent clinical trials at the Mayo Clinic have demonstrated just what a powerful weapon the little virus can be.
In a 2014 trial, a concentrated dose of the measles put a late-stage cancer patient into long-term remission.
The terminally ill woman had suffered through every type of chemotherapy available and two stem cell transplants, only to relapse again and again.
She had an advanced case of multiple myeloma, a deadly cancer of the blood spread throughout her body and bone marrow, when researchers offered her a last-ditch resort — a massive dose of the measles.
Within 5 minutes, she got a splitting headache and a fever of 105, followed by vomiting and shaking.
Within 36 hours, a tumor the size of a golf ball on her forehead had disappeared, and within two weeks there was no cancer detectable in her body.“It’s been the easiest treatment I’ve done by far,” she tells CNN.
The virus strain was engineered and weakened in a lab, and then given in a dose strong enough to vaccinate 10 million people.
Treating cancer with viruses is not new. Mayo Clinic scientists say “virotherapy” has been used successfully on thousands of cancer patients, but this is the first case of a patient with cancer spread throughout her body going into remission.
“I think we succeeded because we pushed the dose higher than others have pushed it,” said lead study author Dr. Stephen Russell. “And I think that is critical. The amount of virus that’s in the bloodstream really is the driver of how much gets into the tumors.”The measles virus makes cancer cells join together and explode, Mayo Clinic researcher Dr. Angela Dispenzieri explains. There’s also evidence that the virus stimulates the immune system, helping it recognize any recurring cancer cells and “mop them up.”
Subsequent clinical trials have shown similar results with ovarian cancer, breast cancer and non-Hodgkins lymphoma, according to a 2016 research paper titled “Measles to the Rescue.” And current trials are looking at the effect of the measles on glioblastoma multiforme, mesothelioma and squamous cell carcinoma.
“We recently have begun to think about the idea of a single shot cure for cancer — and that’s our goal with this therapy,” Russell said.
