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Common drugs, foods, and beverages can disrupt the integrity of our intestinal barrier, causing a leaky gut.
Intestinal permeability, the leakiness of our gut, may be a new target for both disease prevention and therapy. With all its tiny folds, our intestinal barrier covers a surface of more than 4,000 square feet—that’s bigger than a tennis court—and requires about 40% of our body’s total energy expenditure to maintain.
There is growing evidence implicating “the disruption of intestinal barrier integrity” in the development of a number of conditions, including celiac disease and inflammatory bowel disease. Researchers measured intestinal permeability using blue food coloring. It remained in the gut of healthy participants but was detected in the blood of extremely sick patients with sepsis with a damaged gut barrier. You don’t have to end up in the ICU to develop a leaky gut, though. Simply taking some aspirin or ibuprofen can do the trick.
Indeed, taking two regular aspirin (325 mg tablets) or two extra-strength aspirin (500 mg tablets) just once can increase the leakiness of our gut. These results suggest that even healthy people should be cautious when using aspirin, as it may cause gastrointestinal barrier dysfunction.
What about buffered aspirin, an aspirin-antacid combination which theoretically “buffers” gastrointestinal irritation? It apparently doesn’t make any difference: Regular aspirin and Bufferin both produced multiple erosions in the inner lining of the stomach and intestine. Researchers put a scope down people’s throats and saw extensive erosions and redness inside 90% of those who took aspirin or Bufferin at their recommended doses. How many hours does it take for the damage to occur? None. It can happen within just five minutes. Acetaminophen, sold as Tylenol in the United States, may not lead to gastrointestinal damage and could be a better choice, unless you have problems with your liver. And rather than making things better, vitamin C supplements appeared to make the aspirin-induced increase in gut leakiness even worse.
Interestingly, this may be why NSAID drugs like aspirin, ibuprofen, and naproxen “are involved in up to 25% of food-induced anaphylaxis.” In other words, they are associated with over 10-fold higher odds of life-threatening food allergy attacks, presumably because these drugs increase the leakiness of the intestinal barrier, causing tiny food particles to slip into the bloodstream. But can exercise increase risk, too?
Strenuous exercise—for instance, an hour at 70% maximum capacity—may divert so much blood to the muscles and away from our internal organs that it may cause transient injury to our intestines, causing mild gut leakiness. But this can be aggravated if athletes take ibuprofen or any other NSAID drugs, which is unfortunately all too common.
Alcohol can also be a risk factor for food allergy attacks for the same reason—increasing gut leakiness. But cut out the alcohol, and our gut might heal up.
What other dietary components can make a difference? Elevated consumption of saturated fat, which is found in meat, dairy, and junk food, can cause the growth of bad bacteria that make the rotten-egg gas hydrogen sulfide, which can degrade the protective mucus layer. You can see the process below and at 3:21 in my video Avoid These Foods to Prevent a Leaky Gut.
It is said to be clear that high-fat diets in general have a negative impact on intestinal health by “disrupting the intestinal barrier system through a variety of mechanisms,” but most of the vast array of studies that cited the negative effects were done on lab animals or in a petri dish. Are people affected the same way? You don’t know for sure until you put it to the test.
Rates of obesity and other cardiometabolic disorders have increased rapidly alongside a transition from traditional lower-fat diets to higher-fat diets. We know a disturbance in our good gut flora has been shown to be associated with a high risk of many of these same diseases, and studies using rodents suggest that a high-fat diet “unbalances” the microbiome while impairing the gut barrier, resulting in disease. To connect all the dots, though, we need a human interventional trial—and we got one: a six-month randomized controlled-feeding trial on the effects of dietary fat on gut microbiota. It found that, indeed, higher fat consumption was associated with unfavorable changes in the gut microbiome and proinflammatory factors in the blood. Note that this wasn’t even primarily saturated fat, such as from meat and dairy. The researchers just replaced refined carbohydrates with refined fats—swapping out white rice and wheat flour for soybean oil. These findings suggest that countries westernizing their diets should advise against increasing dietary fat intake, while countries that have already adopted such diets should consider cutting down.
Doctor’s Note
For more on leaky gut, check out The Leaky Gut Theory of Why Animal Products Cause Inflammation and How to Heal a Leaky Gut with Diet.
I also talked about gut leakiness in my SIBO video: Friday Favorites: Tests, Fiber, and Low FODMAP for Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO).
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Michael Greger M.D. FACLM
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“Vitamin C is often recognized as the ‘immune-supporting’ vitamin and for good reason. Vitamin C works to strengthen our immune system by protecting, promoting the production, and supporting the function of immune cells,” says Colleen Sloan, PA, RDN, LDN, a physician assistant and registered dietitian who supports pediatric patients and their families.
And when that glass is paired with a healthy, robust breakfast it can help keep the whole body balanced, blood sugar included. “Enjoying a glass of 100% orange juice with a source of protein, fiber-rich foods, and healthy fats to help create a more balanced plate,” she says. “Plus, research suggests that hesperidin, a natural plant compound in 100% OJ, may play a role in moderating blood sugar after meals.”
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Let’s be honest, no serum in the world can mask struggling skin from within.
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Many people think that vitamin C is only useful during specific seasons or situations—like when you’re feeling subpar and want to give your immune system some extra support.* While it’s true that vitamin C bolsters immune function and response, it turns out that taking it every once in a while doesn’t fully unlock the vitamin’s capabilities and health benefits.*
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Our knowledge of the gut-skin axis isn’t exactly breaking news, but let me give you a quick refresher in case you forgot: Damage to your gut can significantly impact how your skin looks and feels1
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Vitamin C is one of those rare ingredients that gets almost ubiquitous praise in the beauty space. Dermatologists and estheticians love it because it can help support the collagen layer, has brightening properties, and can fight free radicals. It’s often their go-to recommendation for a daytime serum.
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Some wrinkles are brought on by age alone, and there’s nothing wrong with displaying a long and joyful life on your face.
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Does the so-called miracle tree live up to the hype?
Moringa (Moringa oleifera) is a plant commonly known as the “miracle” tree due to its purported healing powers across a spectrum of diseases. If “miracle” isn’t hyperbolic enough for you, “on the Internet,” it’s also known as “God’s Gift to Man.” Is moringa a miracle or just a mirage? “The enthusiasm for the health benefits of M. oleifera is in dire contrast with the scarcity of strong experimental and clinical evidence supporting them. Fortunately, the chasm is slowly being filled.” There has been a surge in scientific publications on moringa. In just the last ten years, the number of articles is closer to a thousand, as shown here and at 1:02 in my video The Benefits of Moringa: Is It the Most Nutritious Food?.
What got my attention was the presence of glucosinolates, compounds that boost our liver’s detoxifying enzymes. I thought they were only found in cruciferous vegetables, such as cabbage, broccoli, kale, collards, and cauliflower. Still, it turns out they’re also present in the moringa family, with a potency comparable to broccoli. But rather than mail-ordering exotic moringa powder, why not just eat broccoli?Is there something special about moringa?
“Moringa oleifera has been described as the most nutritious tree yet discovered,” but who eats trees? Moringa supposedly “contains higher amounts of elemental nutrients than most conventional vegetable sources,” such as featuring 10 times more vitamin A than carrots, 12 times more vitamin C than oranges, 17 times more calcium than milk, 15 times more potassium than bananas, 25 times more iron than spinach, and 9 times more protein than yogurt, as shown here and at 2:08 in my video. 
Sounds impressive, but first of all, even if this were true, it is relevant for 100 grams of dry moringa leaf, which is about 14 tablespoons, almost a whole cup of leaf powder. Researchers have had trouble getting people to eat even 20 grams, so anything more would likely “result in excessively unpleasant taste, due to the bitterness of the leaves.”
Secondly, the nutritional claims in these papers are “adapted from Fuglie,” which is evidently a lay publication. If you go to the nutrient database of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and enter a more reasonable dose, such as the amount that might be in a smoothie, about a tablespoon, for instance, a serving of moringa powder has as much vitamin A as a quarter of one baby carrot and as much vitamin C as one one-hundredth of an orange. So, an orange has as much vitamin C as a hundred tablespoons of moringa. A serving of moringa powder has the calcium of half a cup of milk, the potassium of not fifteen bananas but a quarter of one banana, the iron of a quarter cup of spinach, and the protein of a third of a container of yogurt, as seen below and at 3:15 in my video. So, it may be nutritious, but not off the charts and certainly not what’s commonly touted. So, again, why not just eat broccoli?
Moringa does seem to have anticancer activity—in a petri dish—against cell lines of breast cancer, lung cancer, skin cancer, and fibrosarcoma, while tending to leave normal cells relatively alone, but there haven’t been any clinical studies. What’s the point in finding out that “Moringa oleifera extract enhances sexual performance in stressed rats,” as one study was titled?
Studies like “Effect of supplementation of drumstick (Moringa oleifera) and amaranth (Amaranthus tricolor) leaves powder on antioxidant profile and oxidative status among postmenopausal women” started to make things a little interesting. When researchers were testing the effects of a tablespoon of moringa leaf powder once a day for three months on antioxidant status, they saw a drop in oxidative stress, as one might expect from eating any healthy plant food. However, they also saw a drop in fasting blood sugars from prediabetic levels exceeding 100 to more normal levels. Now, that’s interesting. Should we start recommending a daily tablespoon of moringa powder to people with diabetes, or was it just a fluke? I’ll discuss the study “Moringa oleifera and glycemic [blood sugar] control: A review of the current evidence” next.
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Michael Greger M.D. FACLM
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Katie Decker-Jacoby
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If you’ve ever dealt with post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation, you likely know the uphill battle that comes with treating those dark spots. Oftentimes, fading those lingering marks takes longer than addressing the breakouts themselves; it can take months for the discoloration to completely disappear—sometimes even years.
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You hear it all the time in skin care circles: Consistency is key. As much as we wish we could snap our fingers and eliminate all of our complexion concerns, you can’t possibly expect miraculous results overnight—it takes patience, effort, and a solid routine to reach your glowing skin goals.
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Hannah Frye is the Assistant Beauty Editor at mindbodygreen. She has a B.S. in journalism and a minor in women’s, gender, and queer studies from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Hannah has written across lifestyle sections including health, wellness, sustainability, personal development, and more.
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There are two types of dietary iron: heme iron, which comes from animal food sources (e.g., meat, fish, and poultry), and non-heme iron, which comes from both plants and animals. Non-heme iron is not absorbed as easily as heme iron, so individuals who don’t eat meat may struggle to get adequate bioavailable iron from their diet.
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Hannah Frye is the Assistant Beauty Editor at mindbodygreen. She has a B.S. in journalism and a minor in women’s, gender, and queer studies from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Hannah has written across lifestyle sections including health, wellness, sustainability, personal development, and more.
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With their free-radical-scavenging abilities and cellular protective properties, antioxidants are the cheat code to help add years to your life.* One nutrient, in particular, is a rather vital member of this longevity club. Introducing: vitamin C.
† PureWay-C™ research has demonstrated superior cellular uptake & retention rates, serum response, and bioactivity compared to other forms of vitamin C (e.g., ascorbic acid, calcium ascorbate, Ester-C). ‡ 1 serving (2 capsules) of vitamin C potency+ delivers 1,000 mg (1 g) of vitamin C. That’s equivalent to the average vitamin C content provided in 15 whole oranges per USDA nutrient analysis data.If you are pregnant, breastfeeding, or taking medications, consult with your doctor before starting a supplement routine. It is always optimal to consult with a health care provider when considering what supplements are right for you.
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