Zonulin

You cannot tell if you have a leaky gut or intestinal permeability through a stool test.

Zonulin is not an accurate marker.

I have done Instagram posts about this.

Do not rely on zonulin.

I love the GI map.

We also add in the Zonulin marker to look at leaky gut, that permeability that again is related to estrogen.

And then we also do a Dutch test, which is a dried urine test for comprehensive hormones.

It's a functional urine test for your hormones that we get to see what your estrogens are, progesterones, androgens, and your...

Or like, we used to think of it like tile and grout, although now we know that the grout is permeable in the right conditions.

And you had mentioned zonulin.

Zonulin is a marker.

We can actually measure it on something like a GI map that is a marker of these, I don't know how to say it, almost like a, the little guy that's going to chip its way through the grout, right? It's gonna make its way through and it's gonna make your gut permeable.

It's gonna poke holes into your gut.

Current research shows that gluten is a critical factor in gut health and gut functioning.

The gliadin fraction of the gluten protein is the only dietary substance known to trigger the release of a gut mucosal hormone called zonulin.

Zonulin regulates the opening of tight junctions in the small and large intestinal mucosa, dramatically impacting the permeability of the gut.

Both the amount of zonulin release and tight junction responsiveness to zonulin differs dramatically between individuals, likely due to genetic variation and exposure to environmental factors like stress, exercise, toxins, etc.

When tight junctions are opened by zonulin, larger-sized particles in the gastrointestinal tract that are not supposed to leave the gut are able to do so.

And so we don't want that.

Zonulin is the thing that governs that.

It tells what are called tight junctions.

I always think about Lincoln Logs and those spots where they're held together.

No, I can't say there's a particular pattern.

What I could tell you is that most of what I just went over in the last five minutes is typically what you're going to find in them, with the exception of those people who have elevated zonulin in their stool.

Zonulin is a protein that's released by your cells when you have leaky gut syndrome.

And that's the more advanced phase of having candida.

Other than that, all patients with candida are going to follow the same basic rule that you're usually not going to find it in the stool.

So we're looking all together.

Zonulin, leaky gut.

Now this is in the yellow.

I want to have a stronger gut.