Healus Health

Leaky gut doesn’t always look like a gut problem. 👀

Increased intestinal permeability can affect more than digestion because your gut barrier and immune system are closely connected.

Yes, digestive symptoms can be part of the picture:
→ Bloating
→ Abdominal discomfort
→ Diarrhea or constipation

But other symptoms and conditions may also be associated with increased intestinal permeability, including:
→ Food sensitivities
→ Brain fog
→ Fatigue
→ Skin issues like eczema and rosacea
→ Inflammatory and immune dysfunction
→ Autoimmune disease
→ Mood changes, including anxiety and depression

Does having one of these symptoms automatically mean you have leaky gut? No. These symptoms can have many different causes, and increased intestinal permeability is rarely the whole story.

But when several of these issues are showing up together—especially alongside digestive or inflammatory symptoms—the health of the intestinal barrier may be worth considering.

And if your gut barrier is compromised, the next question is: What caused it?

In Part 3 we’re getting into the everyday factors that can contribute to leaky gut—and some of them may surprise you.

Follow along to learn more. 🦠

“Leaky gut” is a term that gets thrown around a lot—but what does it actually mean?🤔

Despite the name, it doesn’t mean your intestinal lining literally has holes in it.

The medical term is increased intestinal permeability, and it happens when the structures that help regulate what passes through your intestinal barrier—called tight junctions—aren’t functioning the way they should.

Why does that matter?

Your gut lining is designed to let nutrients and other beneficial substances through while keeping bacteria, toxins, partially digested food, and other unwanted substances inside the digestive tract.

When that barrier becomes more permeable, substances that normally wouldn’t cross can make their way through—where they can interact with the immune system and potentially contribute to inflammation and symptoms both inside and outside the gut.
And that’s where the conversation around leaky gut gets a lot more interesting.

Postbiotic supplements can get confusing fast. Sodium butyrate, magnesium butyrate, tributyrin, powdered tributyrin, liquid tributyrin… they’re not all the same.

If you’re choosing a butyrate supplement, here’s what I’d pay attention to:

→ The form of butyrate — Tributyrin is absorbed more slowly through the digestive tract than sodium butyrate, making it a better option when you’re looking for benefits farther down in the gut.

→ The concentration — Powdered tributyrin is commonly available at lower concentrations, while liquid tributyrin can be as high as 97.8% pure.

→ The delivery system — How the supplement is encapsulated matters, especially if the goal is to deliver it farther down the digestive tract.

These are the same things we considered when developing Complete Biotic for our integrative medicine practice—which is why we chose highly concentrated liquid tributyrin in a delayed-release capsule.

The simple takeaway: don’t just look for “butyrate” on the label. Look at what form you’re actually getting and how it’s being delivered.

To learn more about butyrate and our post biotic supplement, the Complete Biotic check the link in our bio.

There’s a reason we don’t sell a probiotic.

After more than a decade in integrative medicine, I became far more interested in what certain beneficial bacteria actually produce — including the Postbiotic butyrate.

Butyrate is one of the most important metabolites produced by the gut microbiome. It helps support the gut lining, intestinal inflammation, healthy motility, microbiome balance, and it has effects that extend well beyond the digestive system.

And that discovery is ultimately part of how Healus began.

We saw such a meaningful role for butyrate in practice that we wanted a reliable way to supplement it directly — which eventually led to our postbiotic supplement, Complete Biotic.

If you want to learn more about butyrate, postbiotics, and the science behind Complete Biotic, check out the link in our bio and follow along.

Why was butyrate one of my go-to supplements when supporting gut health in patients with autoimmune disease?

Butyrate is a short-chain fatty acid naturally produced by your gut bacteria when they ferment fiber — and it plays an important role in both gut and immune health.

It helps support the integrity of the gut lining, regulate intestinal inflammation, and promote regulatory T cells (Tregs), which play an important role in immune tolerance and keeping the immune response appropriately regulated.

Of course, there is no single supplement that “fixes” autoimmune disease. But supporting the gut through diet, fiber, lifestyle, and postbiotics like butyrate can be one piece of a much bigger picture.

Want to learn more about butyrate? You can find our postbiotic supplement, Complete Biotic, at the link in our bio.

Let’s talk about “leaky gut” and autoimmune disease.

The scientific term is increased intestinal permeability — and research has found it occurring alongside a number of autoimmune conditions.

But here’s the part that often gets oversimplified: the relationship can go both ways.

An unhealthy gut lining may contribute to immune activation and inflammation, while chronic inflammation and immune dysregulation can also negatively affect the gut lining and microbiome.

That can create a vicious cycle between gut health, inflammation, and the immune system.

So how do you help break that cycle?

That’s what I’m covering in Part 3: the gut health protocol I used with my autoimmune patients.

Follow along for the next reel.

Why did I almost always start with gut health when working with autoimmune patients — even when they had zero digestive symptoms?

Because your gut and immune system are constantly communicating.

A large portion of your immune system is associated with the gut, where it’s continually deciding what to tolerate and what may require an immune response.

And when gut health is compromised, it can potentially add another layer of immune activation to an already dysregulated system.

That doesn’t mean the gut causes every autoimmune disease. Autoimmunity is complex. But supporting gut health can be an important piece of the bigger picture.

In Part 2, I’m breaking down the gut lining — and why it matters in autoimmune disease.

Follow along for the rest of the series.

After more than a decade in integrative medicine, I developed a few gut health opinions that I’ll stand by. 👀

Gut health is about so much more than eliminating foods or finding the perfect probiotic. Stress and the nervous system, fiber, how you eat, your microbiome, sleep, movement, and your overall lifestyle all play a role in digestion.

And yes — I’m a big believer in postbiotics. After seeing the clinical impact they could have on digestion, the gut lining, inflammation, and microbiome health, we eventually created our own: Complete Biotic.

You can learn more about Complete Biotic at the link in my bio.

Which of my 5 gut health hot takes resonated with you the most👇

After more than a decade in integrative medicine, one thing became very clear: health is about so much more than diet, supplements, and lab results.

Chronic stress, draining relationships, anxiety around food, unresolved trauma, and a dysregulated nervous system can all influence the body — including digestion, hormones, inflammation, and immune health.

And on the other side of that? Joy, connection, laughter, community, and actually enjoying your life matter too.

Sometimes the things affecting our health the most aren’t the things we’re taught to look at.

Which of these unconventional health truths resonated with you most?