Wall Street Journal Best Seller Dr. M's Seven-X Plan for Digestive Health
What is zeolite?
Zeolite is a group of minerals and chemicals compounds of the silicate type. Silicates are derived from rock-forming minerals, and form most of the earth’s crust.
These are micro-pores in these chemicals and can act like a “rock sponge”. Animal data suggests that natural zeolites like clinoptilolite stimulate immune system, and regulate severity of inflammation. It is widely marketed as a detox agent against toxic metals in the body.
Is It Leaky Gut or Leaky Gut Syndrome?
Zeolite and leaky gut study:
Dr. Lamprecht and colleagues from the Medical University of Graz in Austria sought to examine if zeolite supplements would help reduce inflammation and seal the intestinal barrier to make it less leaky.
Methods and design of zeolite and leaky gut study:
- Double blind, randomized placebo controlled trial.
- 52 endurance trained athletes participated in the study.
- The intervention group received zeolite-clinoptilolite in the form of PANACEO SPORT , 1.85 g of zeolite per day for 12 weeks.
- Control group received identical capsules containing 500 mg of cellulose. Of note, a variety of zeolite supplements are available on the market.
- A variety of blood and stool tests were done including but not limited to zonulin levels and chemicals involved with inflammation. Zonulins are proteins that regulate the tight junctions of the chain links of our intestinal barrier.
Is It Leaky Gut or Leaky Gut Syndrome?
Results of zeolite and leaky gut study:
For the purposes of this blog writing, I am going to focus mainly on the positive related to leaky gut or intestinal permeability. Read full study here.
- Zonulin levels were decreased.
- Results suggested that zeolite strengthened the gut barrier and made it less leaky.
- Zeolite-IL10 levels were increased in the zeolite group, with a trend towards significance. IL-10 suppresses inflammation. Its increase suggests the anti-inflammatory properties of Zeolite.
Wall Street Journal Best Seller Dr. M's Seven-X Plan for Digestive Health
Leaky gut allows bad substances to pass through leaky gut barrier, and incite inflammation in the body. The increase in zonulin coupled with an increase in anti-inflammatory IL-10 suggests that the zeolite made gut less leaky, and affected the process of inflammation via its effect on anti-inflammatory IL-10.
How does Zeolite work?
The precise mechanisms remain to be established. Zonulin is secreted by the liver and the gut. The intestinal secretion occurs as a result of incitement by food proteins, toxins and intestinal bacteria etc..
The results of current study suggest that zeolite induced increase of zonulin occurred likely due to interaction with gut bacteria since dietary pattern was kept the same. The increase in zonulin occurs via its interaction with intestinal inhabitants including bacteria or microbiota/microbiome.
Is It Leaky Gut or Leaky Gut Syndrome?
Other potential mechanisms of zeolite on leaky gut include the following:
- Immune-stimulation
- Regulation of inflammation e.g. controlled inflammation or “not too hot, not too cold” concept
- Acting as a sponge, its ability to adsorb or accumulate liquids containing toxic substances on its surface
- Detergent actions
Wall Street Journal Best Seller Dr. M's Seven-X Plan for Digestive Health
