One of the key concepts that EMUWellness founder Mel Blundell outlined in her informative interview with The Real Food Chain’s Jon Moore in episode three of our podcast was that “we are more than we eat, we are what we absorb”.
In other words, it’s as much our body’s ability to absorb nutrients as it is about the food we consume. So how did Melinda spell this out to our listeners? In particular, what is the cause and symptoms of leaky gut syndrome?
It all revolves around the finger-like projections in the small intestine called villus (plural villi) that are designed to maximise the absorption of nutrients from the food we eat. Around a millimetre in length, the villi line the small intestine and greatly increase the amount of surface area of the gut. This increases the efficiency of how well we absorb the good stuff from the food we digest.
However our Western diet, with its emphasis on pasteurised and highly processed food, which is high in preservatives and sugar, has had the effect of damaging the vital villi. This has compromised the ability of the intestine to absorb nutrients and can lead to the aforementioned “leaky gut” syndrome.
From Fermented Foods for Health by Deirdre Rawlings Ph.D, N.D.
“…when the microflora become imbalanced, the walls or lining of the digestive tract become damaged, and because the intestinal membrane is so thin, food substances or larger molecules can pass through the walls directly into the bloodstream, bypassing normal digestive processes. This can lead to malabsorption of the important nutrients your body needs to sustain itself.”
This is how Melinda described the syndrome in her interview with Jon.
Interested in hearing more about what Melinda had to say about gut health, fermented foods and more? Listen to episode 03 of The Real Food Chain at http://realfoodchain.libsyn.com/website
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