Leaky Gut Solutions: Practical Steps to Rebalance Your Gut Health

If you've searched for how to fix a leaky gut, you've probably found long lists of powders, bone broth recipes and foods to cut out. Some of that advice helps. A lot of it is guesswork, and some of it leaves people eating less and less while their gut doesn't change.

In my online nutrition practice, "Do I have leaky gut?" is one of the questions I'm asked most, usually by people who've had bloating, food reactions or an unpredictable gut for years. I've lived with IBS and SIBO myself, so I understand wanting a clear answer and a clear plan.

Here's what "leaky gut" means, what weakens the gut lining, and the steps that have research behind them.

What "leaky gut" means

Your gut lining is only one cell thick, and the cells are held together by "tight junctions" that act like seals. When those seals loosen, more gets through to your immune system than should, such as bits of bacteria and larger food proteins. Researchers call this increased intestinal permeability, and it can drive inflammation (Camilleri, 2019). "Leaky gut" is just the shorthand, and it isn't a medical condition in itself.

A leakier barrier is linked with conditions such as IBS, coeliac disease and inflammatory bowel disease, but the research hasn't shown that tightening the barrier on its own fixes them (Camilleri, 2019). That's why I look for what's loosening it, rather than chasing the leak by itself.

I've covered the causes, the symptoms and how it's tested in my post on leaky gut causes and symptoms. This one is about what to do.

Steps that support your gut lining

1. Find what's driving it

This is the step most guides skip. If SIBO, a gut infection or an imbalance in your gut bacteria, regular anti-inflammatory painkillers, alcohol or ongoing stress is loosening the barrier, no amount of powders will keep up. (I go through these causes in my leaky gut causes and symptoms post.) If gluten is on your mind, please get tested for coeliac disease before you cut it out, because the test doesn't work once you've stopped eating it. Working out your driver is where I start with every client, and it's why two people with the same symptoms can need very different plans.

2. Feed the lining

• Fibre and plant variety. Fibre is one of the dietary factors that strengthens the gut barrier (Camilleri, 2021), largely because your gut bacteria turn it into short-chain fatty acids, which fuel the cells of your colon lining. Aim for a wide range of vegetables, legumes, wholegrains, nuts and seeds, at a level your gut can manage.
• Enough protein. The amino acids glutamine, cysteine and tryptophan are on the same barrier-supporting list (Camilleri, 2021). A palm-sized serve of protein at each meal is a good start.
• Vitamin A and D foods. Eggs, oily fish, liver, and orange and dark green vegetables.
• Bone broth, if you enjoy it. It's a nourishing food, but the evidence for it is thinner than the marketing. I've written about that in is bone broth good for your gut?

A word of caution: fermented foods and high-fibre "prebiotic" foods such as onion and garlic are often recommended for leaky gut, but they don't suit everyone. If you have SIBO, IBS or histamine intolerance they can make symptoms worse, so introduce them slowly or wait until we've worked out what's going on.

3. Ease up on what stresses the barrier

Alcohol, large amounts of free fructose (from soft drinks and juice) and emulsifiers (additives that keep processed foods smooth) all increase gut permeability (Camilleri, 2021). In a small human feeding study, a common emulsifier reduced the variety of gut bacteria and the short-chain fatty acids they make (Chassaing et al., 2022). So:

• Keep alcohol low, or take a break while you're working on your gut. My post on alcohol, caffeine and your gut explains why (see also Bishehsari et al., 2017).
• Cut back on ultra-processed foods, which are where most emulsifiers live.
• Swap soft drinks and juice for water or herbal tea.
• Use anti-inflammatory painkillers (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen only as your doctor advises. They reliably make the gut lining leakier (Camilleri, 2019), so ask whether there's an alternative if you take them often.

4. Look after stress and sleep

In healthy volunteers, the stress of giving a public speech was enough to make the small intestine leakier (Vanuytsel et al., 2014). So calming your nervous system is part of the plan, not an extra. Slow breathing before meals, a walk outside, and a regular sleep routine all help. My post on stress and digestion goes into more detail.

5. Use targeted nutrients, chosen for you

A few nutrients have human studies behind them:

• Glutamine. It's the main fuel for the cells lining your small intestine. In a trial of 106 adults whose IBS with diarrhoea started after a gut infection, and who had a leakier gut, 80% improved on glutamine compared with 6% on placebo, and their gut permeability improved too (Zhou et al., 2019). The dose in that study was high, so it isn't one to guess at.
• Zinc. Zinc is one of the nutrients known to support the barrier (Camilleri, 2021). In one study, hard exercise in the heat tripled gut permeability, and zinc carnosine reduced that rise (Davison et al., 2016). Zinc is easy to overdo, so the dose and how long you take it matter.
• Specific probiotic strains. With probiotics, the strain matters. Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG improved gut permeability and tummy pain in children with IBS (Francavilla et al., 2010). A random probiotic off the shelf isn't the same thing.
• Vitamin D, if yours is low. Low vitamin D is linked with a leakier gut, but there isn't yet a human trial showing that taking it improves permeability. Correcting a low level makes sense; taking it as a "leaky gut supplement" doesn't.

Which of these suits you, at what dose and for how long, is something I work out with you in a consult.

6. Give it time

Repairing the gut lining usually takes months, not weeks, and symptoms tend to settle gradually. It's worth sticking with the basics long enough to see what they do.

Do you need a leaky gut test?

Often not. Your history and symptoms tell me a lot. When I do run a stool test, markers such as zonulin and secretory IgA (sIgA) give me a window into the gut lining, which I read alongside your gut bacteria, inflammation markers and symptoms. No single marker proves a leaky gut. I explain these markers in my leaky gut causes and symptoms post.

How I work with this in Gut Fix

Inside my 8-Week Gut Fix program we start by working out what's driving your symptoms, whether that's SIBO, an imbalance in your gut bacteria, a food reaction or something else, and build a step-by-step plan around your body rather than a generic gut protocol. Supporting your gut lining is part of that plan.

If you'd like to talk it through, book a free 20-minute Strategy Session. It's just a real conversation about what's going on and whether Gut Fix is the right fit. All consults are online, via Zoom or phone, across Australia.

Start with the basics

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