As I study to become a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, we look at putting the pieces of a puzzle together similar to an investigator. We look at the symptoms and find out what they are connected to in the body- what is the root cause. Then we help repair the problem by starting with the foundations-
- Digestion
- Blood Sugar Handling
- Essential Fatty Acids
- Mineral Balance
- Hydration
To determine what symptoms a client has, our in this example myself, we start with lots of paperwork including the “NAQ” forms – Nutritional Assessment Questionnaire and then a functional evaluation. One of the symptoms that I have lately (or becoming more aware of the annoying problem) is a constantly drippy nose. This symptom is related to our immune system.
In the manual “Signs and Symptoms Analysis from a Functional Perspective”, I can read on the reasons for the symptom of a drippy nose and what is the main reason for this problem. Here is what the manual says a running or drippy nose may be a sign of- chronic sinusitis. But why and how?
Then we go deeper- as every body system works together and the immune system is 70-80% in the gut! Sinusitis can connected to the digestive system and a series of events can be triggered.
- functional hypochlorhydria and pancreatic enzyme deficiency
- this deficiency causes the maldigestion of our macronutrients: carbohydrates, fats and proteins
- the maldigested food in our stomach then enters the small intestines (duodenum) leaves large macromolecules undigested
- the undigested large molecules of food form the substrate for dysbiosis = abnormal intestinal flora
- when we have bad gut flora and the intestinal wall becomes intact then we lose the absorptive ability of the mucousal membrane lining
- the result is an abnormal permeable intestinal mucous membrane
- overtime the large incompletely digested food particles (especially proteins) begin to be able to knock down the guards that secure the walls around the small intestine kingdom.
- once the villi guards (looks like shag carpet) get destroyed, reduces the Gut Associated Lymphoid Tissue or GALT and secretory IgA which is one of the body’s first line of defense against foreigners or invaders of the “castle” (gut)
- Once these macronutrients that are undigested leak out and escape into the foreign land (outside of the gut wall lining) via the bloodstream they are discovered by a different security force (the immune system). Now they activate the emergency response team (immune system) to tag the proteins as foreigers and must be attacked- and eliminated.
- the undigested macromolecules of food, mostly proteins, are now moving through the bloodstream and the immune system responds by creating antibodies or antigen complex.
- the antigen created to eliminate these foreigners result in our line of defense reacting to the situation at hand – by producing symptoms of allergies, or dripping nose in my case, asthma in others or a list of symptoms that relate to leaky gut and foreign invaders that escaped their safe area into the unknown territory where they don’t belong.
- now a simple food that may be a whole natural food source is now tagged as an allergen by your immune system.
What is dysbiosis? An imbalance of the microbiome- the gut bacteria flora. The bad gut bacteria outnumbers the good bacteria which allows the pathogenic (bad) bacteria to now flourish and thrive creating this microbial imbalance in the body.
Dysbiosis in the small intestine can show up as sinus infections, itchy skin, chronic infections and frequent colds in the winter season. To eliminate the symptom as my constant drippy nose, we need to address the root cause by evaluating the digestive system and gut function. A test that identifies the antibody IgA to specific foods- which foods that may be tagged as enemies in your body and cause an immune response (attack and eliminate).
“Of the five major antibodies circulating in the bloodstream, IgA is produced in the greatest quantity in a day. IgA antibodies are the first line of defense against suspected disease causing agents like viruses and bacteria. IgA antibodies to specific foods may form when the lining of the intestinal tract, the mucous membrane, becomes inflamed or damaged due to stress, alcohol, medications or other inflammation-causing conditions. Elevated IgA to specific foods is widely believed to be a sign of damage to the mucous membranes in the gut. Individuals with Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis, or even those with suspected leaky gut may benefit from testing IgA food reactions. It is important to know that, with the exception of gliadin (found in wheat gluten), the elimination of IgA reactive foods has not been proven to provide relief for any specific health conditions.”
source – http://rmalab.com/medical-laboratory-tests/allergy/food-reactions
In functional therapy as an NTP, we may have a client get a stool analysis to check digestion and parasites (I have done many of these tests for my Naturapath doctors). A Nutritional Therapy Practitioner can include a functional evaluation of your reflex points related to the small intestine and colon for tenderness and tension. The next step is to neural-lingual test supplements/nutrients that your body maybe asking for to help repair the gut wall lining and gut flora. We may need nutrients that heal the intestines as well as HCL, pepsin supplement and pancreatic enzymes to help get the digestive system working effectively and efficiently on it’s own again!
So often it seems that one major reason for many symptoms in our body are related to our stomach acid levels- or lack of the right acidity in our stomach to properly digest our food known as hypochlorhydria as well as low pancreatic enzymes. We need digestive enzymes to breakdown our food properly-
- protein needs enzyme protease to break into peptides and amino acids
- fats need enzyme lipase to breakdown into three fatty acids and glycerol (triglycerides)
- carbohydrates need the enzyme amylase to break starch and sugar into glucose
.If we don’t break down our food correctly then we begin to have all sorts of problems as described above – leaky gut (undigested food particles leaving into illegal territory) and dysbiosis which can impair the immune system because these foods now create an alarm reaction in the body and an allergic reaction.
But what are auto-immune disorders? As we said – an unknown trigger as a undigested large food particle escaped out of the gut wall lining out into the bloodstream then trigger the immune system because it was seen as a foreigner – then the first line of defense creates antibodies to fight back. The problem with auto-immune disorders is that the body starts to not only fight infections but it’s own body tissues. Typical treatment for auto-immune disorders focus on medication to reduce the immune system’s behavior. Instead we should start looking at the gut – as above.
Our immune system is to protect us and keep us healthy- fight infections and viruses that are around us but what if it decides our own healthy cells are invaders or foreigners? Our own immune system begins to attack itself- including body tissues and can even cause abnormal growth and changes in our organ function.
What can we do to feel better and be healthy from the inside out?
It all starts in the gut. If you don’t know why you have an inflammatory response or a challenged immune system… start with repairing and healing the gut! Masking the pain or the problem with a Band-Aid doesn’t last forever- they are a temporary fix and don’t repair the root cause of the problem.
Here is another helpful resource to learn more
Coach Debbie Potts
