Gut Health - What is it and why is it important to you and your child?

The health of your gastrointestinal system (or “gut”) is the single most important factor in the overall well-being of you and your children.  Your gut is responsible not only for digestive functions, but also affects vitamin and mineral absorption, vitamin production, hormone regulation, immune response, and the elimination of toxins.  Poor gut health is also linked to mood disorders, such as depression and anxiety.  

Chronic health conditions are now common
First a couple of facts and figures:

• As of 2012, half of all adults in the U.S. (or 117 million people) had one or more chronic health conditions.  
• Studies suggest that as many as 1 out of 4 children in the U.S., or 15 to 18 million children age 17 years and younger, suffer from a chronic health problem.  

Let that sink in.  1 in 2 adults with a chronic health condition.  1 in 4 children.  I grew up in the 1970’s.  Maybe I knew one kid with asthma.  Food allergies, cancer, chronic pain were  uncommon.  But today 50% of adults and 25% of kids are sick.  Before my daughter was 13, she knew 3 kids with cancer.  

Too many adults and kids are suffering from chronic illness such as diabetes, asthma, food allergies, fatigue, chronic pain (headaches, joint pain), gastrointestinal disorders, anxiety and depression.

What’s behind this epidemic?
What’s going on?  Our world has become much more toxic and our guts unhealthy as a result.  About 80% of the body’s immune system is located in the gut, which is populated by a complex community of about 100 trillion microorganisms.  When the gut microbiome is destroyed, the immune system is severely compromised.   
Poor diet, chronic stress and toxic overload can result in a condition known as Leaky Gut Syndrome (or intestinal permeability).  Leaky gut occurs when tight cell junctions in the gut begin to “leak” as a result of damage to the gut lining.  This allows substances to seep into the bloodstream, causing the body to mount an immune response that can lead to conditions such as:

• Allergies and food intolerances
• Asthma
• Autoimmune disease
• Eczema and psoriasis
• Fatigue
• Headaches
• Inflammatory bowel disease
• Insulin resistance
• Nutritional deficiencies
• Obesity
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Sensory processing disorders
• Type 1 diabetes

The gut lining is damaged by exposure to toxins such as processed foods (including refined sugar and grains), pesticides and herbicides, chemicals in food packaging, oxidized cooking oils, medications (including antibiotics and NSAIDs), and other chemicals and preservatives.  
One of the significant factors in gut health is the heavy use of glyphosate (RoundUp) on crops.  “Glyphosate use in the agricultural sector rose 300-fold from 1974 to 2014 (0.36–113.4 million kg; 0.8–250 million pounds).”  Glyphosate has been designated by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a probable carcinogen and is known to disrupt the balance of gut bacteria and encourage the growth of harmful bacteria.  Did you know that most wheat grown in the U.S. is sprayed with glyphosate about a week before harvest?  The glyphosate triggers seed release as the wheat is dying, which leads to a greater yield at harvest.  And leads to serious health issues in our children.  Food activist Robin O’Brien often asks “Are we allergic to food, or to what’s been done to it?”

What’s your child’s exposure?
Consider your child’s diet:

• How many foods and food products do they consume each day that contain glyphosate.  Cereals, crackers, pasta, bread, cookies - unless organic - all containing glyphosate.  Testing on Cheerios found glyphosate at a level of 1,125.3 parts per billion (ppb).  Round Up has been shown to cause liver and kidney damage in rats at a level of just 0.05 ppb.
• Conventional meat and dairy is fed GMO corn and other glyphosate-contaminated crops, resulting in residual toxins in the meat and milk.  Conventional meat and dairy are also routinely given antibiotics and growth hormones that can remain in the milk and meat.
• Conventionally grown fruits and vegetables are sprayed with dozens of pesticides and herbicides.  These toxins do not wash off.  Testing by the Environmental Working Group revealed the highest amounts of pesticide residue on strawberries, spinach, nectarines, apples, peaches, celery, grapes, pears, cherries, tomatoes, sweet bell peppers and potatoes.  Strawberries tested had residue of 20 pesticides, while spinach was second, with twice as much pesticide residue by weight than any other crop.

So try as you might to feed your child a healthy diet of whole grains, milk, protein, fruits and veggies, they could be ingesting a large quantity of toxins at the same time.  
It can sometimes take years of poor eating and toxic exposure for symptoms of a damaged gut to appear in adults.   But children are at a greater risk from these environmental toxins.  Kids are not just little adults.  The WHO has said that “Due to their dynamic developmental physiology children are often subjected to higher exposures to pollutants found in air, water and food. These exposures may be handled quite differently by an immature set of systems to the way they are dealt with in adults.”   
In children, poor gut health can start in infancy.  A 2014 study on autoimmunity and the gut stated “Bacterial colonization during and shortly after birth plays a major role in the formation of gut microbiota. Factors affecting the communities in this microbiota include premature birth, Caesarean section versus vaginal birth, breast milk versus commercial formula, and many more.” Frequent use of antibiotics in childhood can also contribute to the destruction of the gut microbiome.  

How can I protect my family’s gut health?
The good news is that one of the easiest ways to affect human health is through nutrition and diet.  
Gut health can be restored by:

1. Removing food intolerances or sensitivities - any food that you already know aggravates the condition.
2. Removing food and toxins that damage the gut, including sugar, grains, conventional meat and dairy, and GMO foods.  
3. Eat organic as much as possible to avoid pesticides/herbicides.  Avoid unfiltered tap water.   
4. Eat healing, whole foods. Avoid packaged and processed foods.
5. If recommended by a practitioner, add supplements that aid in the repair of the gut lining.
6. Re-colonize the gut with probiotics.  

Repairing the gut takes some time and it’s really important to be disciplined. Kids may be resistant at first, but as they start to recover their health and feel good again, they’ll want to hang onto that feeling.  
If you or your child is dealing with poor gut health, you’re not alone.  My daughter was chronically ill from leaky gut syndrome and has made a full recovery (our story here).  I teach parents how to use real food to improve the health of their children and themselves, so that they can enjoy life to the fullest and not suffer from unnecessary discomfort and stress.  If I can be of service to your family, please contact me at Cathy@McCannNutrition.com.  Appointments are available via telephone, Skype or in person.

To receive a FREE copy of the eBook via email of "The Parent's Guide to Your Child and Gut Health: Preventing and Healing Leaky Gut," please click here.  

In health,
Cathy McCann, CNTP

Resources:

• https://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/overview/index.htm
• Compas, B.E., et al. 2012; Coping with Chronic Illness in Childhood and Adolescence https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3319320/
• Benbrook, C.M., 2016; Trends in glyphosate herbicide use in the United States and globally  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5044953/

• https://www.ecowatch.com/monsanto-glyphosate-cheerios-2093130379.html
• ​​http://www.ewg.org/release/2017-dirty-dozen-strawberries-spinach-top-ewgs-list-pesticides-produce#.WXVwW7IrK3A

• Children and Cancer.  http://www.who.int/ceh/capacity/cancer.pdf
• Campbell, A.W., 2014; AutoImmunity and the Gut https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4036413/