Here’s what happens when you reduce endotoxemia

Recall that SIBO means that due to the loss of hundreds of important species in the modern gastrointestinal tract due to overexposure to antibiotics , food additives , synthetic sweeteners , pharmaceuticals such as stomach acid blocking and anti-inflammatory drugs , herbicide and pesticide residues and food and other factors , fecal microbes in the colon as a result have been allowed

to over-proliferate . But these fecal microbes have also managed to ascend into the 24 feet of small intestine where they take up residence . The small intestine is poorly equipped to house these fecal microbes . The small intestine is by design permeable because that's where amino acids , fatty acids , vitamins and minerals are mostly absorbed .

But when trillions of fecal microbes come to inhabit the small intestine , they live and die every few hours , releasing their toxins into the intestinal contents . One type of toxin in particular , lipopolysaccharide endotoxin or LPS endotoxin , is able to penetrate the small intestinal wall and gain entry into the bloodstream .

The process is also worsened by inflammation that these fecal microbes provoke in the small intestinal wall . When LPS endotoxin is allowed to get into the bloodstream , the process is called endotoxemia .

It is now becoming clear that endotoxemia plays a role in virtually every human health condition , from obesity to dementia , to anxiety and depression , and if not addressed , you will never have full control over any health condition .

So in this episode of Defiant Health , let's discuss why I argue that SIBO and LPS endotoxemia are conditions that affect half the US population , and let's talk about steps you can take to address this situation and gain an understanding of what wonderful effects you can expect when you reduce or minimize LPS endotoxemia .

Later on in the podcast , let's talk about Defiant Health's sponsors that include Paleov alley , who provides fermented grass-fed beef sticks , bone broth , protein rich in collagen , organic super greens and low-carb superfood bars , and now 100% grass-fed and finished pastured meats .

And BiotiQuest , who provides unique probiotics such as sugar shift to support healthy blood sugars and simple slumber to assist in obtaining healthy sleep , probiotics crafted with the unique property of combining synergistic microbes . So the entire situation begins with small intestinal bacterial overroute , sibo , that is , the overproliferation of fecal microbes .

These are species of microbes that ordinarily live in the colon and comprise your fecal material . These are species like E coli and Salmonella and Campylobacter . Because we've lost so many beneficial species in the colon , it's allowed these fecal microbes to over-poliferate and , even more remarkably , then ascend into the 24 feet of small intestine .

As you can imagine , that's a very inflammatory situation . That is , you have these fecal microbes living where they're not supposed to be in the small intestine . The small intestine is protected by a thin single layer mucus barrier , unlike the colon that is adapted to having lots of fecal microbes .

That has a much thicker two-layer mucus barrier , and the small intestine beyond that also is very permeable . And that's why , when fecal microbes have over-pliferated and ascended into the small intestine where they live and die in short order , microbes only live for a few hours at a time .

So you have trillions of microbes living and dying in rapid succession in the small intestine . This is when they die . They release something called endotoxin , as I mentioned in the opening comments .

When endotoxin enters the bloodstream , that's endotoxemia , and this explains how microbes in the GI tract can be experienced as skin conditions like rosacea or seborrhea or psoriasis , or as conditions in the brain , such as dementia , anxiety , depression , parkinson's disease , or conditions in the joints and muscles , such as fibromyalgia , rheumatoid arthritis , or as metabolic

diseases like type 2 diabetes , obesity , heart disease . In other words , you really have to reconsider , redefine virtually all human disease in light of this , the contribution of endotoxemia . Now , when this lipopolysaccharide endotoxin enters the bloodstream , it's not as bad as in sepsis .

This is the situation where you have an infection , let's say urinary tract infection that in some people , enters the bloodstream , so microbes enter the bloodstream . That's called sepsis and that can make you extremely sick . Those are people who go into respiratory failure , get put on a ventilator , they have low blood pressure , they can die of shock .

So in that situation the level of endotoxin is a hundred times or more higher . In endotoxemia it's not that bad like in sepsis , but there's a 200 to 400% increase in the level of endotoxin in the bloodstream . Enough to have these metabolic consequences and effects on other , causing other health conditions .

Now to get our arms around , just how many people are affected by this process , let's consider studies like this In condition blank what proportion of people test positive for SIBO ? So let's consider fatty liver . There's about 100 million Americans with fatty liver . That is , infiltration of the liver by fat that can lead to cirrhosis over time .

Well , of the 100 million people with fatty liver , what proportion test positive for SIBO ? There's a variety of ways this is done , such as testing for hydrogen gas and breath that are produced by microbes . Sometimes it's done by an endoscopy and an aspirate is obtained from the stomach , duodenum or dejunum and that can show the presence of microbes .

Regardless , what proportion of people with fatty liver test positive for SIBO ? Well , 50% . Well , 50% of 100 million is 50 million people right there . How about people with irritable bowel syndrome , ibs ?

Well , there's about 60 to 70 million people in the US with IBS , and approximately it varies from study to study , but approximately 40% of those people test positive for SIBO . That adds another 24 million or so people to the list . Well , let's throw in people with obesity there's about 115 million people in the US with obesity and 50% test positive .

So that's another 60 million or so . And now there's some overlap , of course , an obese type 2 diabetic with fatty liver . But let's throw in all the people who have fibromyalgia , autoimmune conditions , neurodegenerative conditions , restless leg syndrome , food intolerances , on and on .

You can see , we easily can exceed 150 million Americans who have SIBO and thereby endotoxemia . So , given these numbers , we're talking about one of the worst epidemics ever in the history of our species on this planet . It affects approximately one in every two people , and that includes teenagers and children , by the way .

Now , when there's endotoxemia , it drives a number of processes that lead to various health conditions . It leads to , for instance , insulin resistance .

That is , the situation in which your body's organs , like muscle and liver and brain , no longer respond properly to insulin , and so the pancreas compensates by producing huge amounts of insulin 10 times more , 30 times more , 100 times more in order to overcome that resistance to insulin .

So that situation of insulin resistance is the underlying process that drives risk for other conditions such as heart disease , coronary disease , dementia , breast cancer , obesity and many other conditions . Couple that also with the inflammation that endotoxemia causes .

One of the other effects of endotoxemia is it causes expansion of abdominal visceral fat , that is , fat in the abdominal cavity that is very inflammatory , so that fat in the abdominal cavity is itself inflamed and it also releases inflammatory so-called cytokines , or factors that export inflammation to other parts of the body , such as the brain or the heart's arteries ,

the coronary arteries , or skin or thyroid or liver . Just about all organs are exposed to this process , and it can drive diseases or other health conditions in those organs . There probably is no organ that escapes the effects of endotoxemia and thereby insulin resistance , inflammation and other conditions .

Endotoxemia also amplifies pain , so if you have some other reason for having , say , a bad knee or bad hip , it will amplify that pain , making it more difficult to control symptoms .

I think you can appreciate what a powerful driving force endotoxemic can therefore be in increasing your potential for type 2 diabetes , hypertension , high blood pressure , coronary disease , cognitive impairment and dementia , fibromyalgia and on and on to include virtually all human disease . That's the bad news .

The good news is , once you recognize this and learn how to deal with it , you have been given enormous control over your health . Now let's pause for a moment so I can tell you about Defiant Health's sponsors . When we come back , let's talk about all the wonderful benefits you can experience when you learn how to manage and eradicate SIBO and thereby endotoxemia .

The Defiant Health podcast is sponsored by Paleov alley makers of delicious grass-fed beefsteaks , healthy snack bars and other products . We are very picky around here and insist that any product we consider has no junk ingredients like carrageenan , carboxymethylsalos , sucralose and , of course , no added sugars . And all Paleo Valley products contain no gluten nor grains .

In fact , I find Paleov alley products among cleanest in their category . One of the habits I urge everyone to get into is to include at least one , if not several , servings of fermented foods per day in their lifestyles .

Unlike nearly all other beefsteaks available , paleo Valley grass-fed beefsteaks are all naturally fermented , meaning they contain probiotic bacterial species . And now Paleov alley is expanding their Wild Pastures program that provides 100% grass-fed , grass-finished pastured beef and pastured chicken and pork raised without herbicides or pesticides .

And they just added wild-caught seafood caught from the waters of Bristol Bay , alaska .

Among their other new products are pasture-raised fermented pork sticks , chocolate-flavored grass-fed bone broth protein and grass-fed organ complex in capsule form , and new essentially electrolytes in powder form to add to potassium and magnesium intake , available in orange , lemon and melon flavors .

Listeners to the Defiant Health podcast receive a 15% discount by going to paleo valley . com/defiant health . I'd like to welcome Defiant Health's newest sponsor , BiotiQuest . I've had numerous conversations with BiotiQuest founders Martha Carlin , and academic microbiologist , dr Raul Cano .

They have formulated unique synergistic probiotic products that incorporate what are called collaborative or guild effects , that is , groups of microbes that collaborate with each other via specific metabolites , potentially providing synergistic benefits . They have designed their Sugar Shift probiotic to support healthy blood sugars . Simple Slumber to support sleep .

Ideal Immunity to support a healthy immune response , Heart-Centered that supports several aspects of heart health , and Antibiotic Antidote designed to support recovery of the gastrointestinal microbiome after a course of antibiotics . BiotiQuest probiotics are , I believe , among the most effective of all probiotic choices for specific health effects .

Enter the discount code UNDOC15 for a 15% discount for Defiant Health listeners . So what sorts of benefits can you expect by reversing or suppressing SIBO and the accompanying endotoxemia ? Well , the list is long and it includes virtually all common chronic diseases that you're likely familiar with .

So you can expect that you can reduce blood pressure , often dramatically . You can reduce insulin resistance and thereby reduce your risk for numerous other diseases that result from insulin resistance , including coronary disease , that's , heart attacks , need for procedures , etc .

Fatty liver , high triglyceride levels , low HDL , small LDL particles , cognitive impairment and dementia , breast cancer and other cancers that are triggered by insulin resistance . You can expect weight loss , especially from abdominal visceral fat . You can see this in a reduction , for instance , in your waist circumference . Reduced depression and suicidal thoughts .

Reduced anxiety . Reduced potential for heart rhythm disorders like atrial fibrillation . Reduce severity or development of congestive heart failure . Reduced Arthritis Pain . Reduced risk for diverticular disease such as diverticulitis and colon cancer . Reduced risk for Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis . Reduced risk for Irle bowel syndrome .

Reduced risk for Restless leg syndrome , since restless leg syndrome is virtually synonymous with SIBO . Reduced potential for food intolerances to FODMAPS , nightshades , fructose , histamine-containing foods , legumes and nuts this all represents forms of SIBO . Reduced risk for Neurodegenerate conditions and slowing of many of the phenomena of aging .

Now , that's only a partial list . If you have any health condition , you should at least consider Whether SIBO , and thereby endotoxemia , is either an initiating factor that is , the cause or an exacerbating factor that is , makes the disease worse .

So , in other words , in type 2 diabetes , you can make yourself diabetic just by eating bad foods , but you can also contribute to high blood sugars and insulin resistance via SIBO and metabolic endotoxemia . So maybe SIBO and endotoxemia was not the initiating factor , but it is an amplifying factor . It makes it much worse and harder to control .

So how do you attack this

problem ? Well , first of all , question whether you have it . So one way to find out is to test with the AIR device AIRE from the company of Food Marble , and all that is is a breath testing device that talks to your smartphone on a scale of 0 to 10 , and it arrives from baseline of more than four units , it's a positive test .

So let's say you there's a preparatory diet . You go on with no fibers or sugars for 12 hours or longer prior to testing . Morning of testing get a baseline level should be low , like maybe 1.2 or something like that and then consume something with prebiotic fiber . The easiest thing to do would be a cup of coffee with two teaspoons of inulin .

Inulin is the best prebiotic fiber to test with because it's consumed by the most microbe , by many microbes that comprise SIBO . So drink that coffee . You can eat other foods also and then test again 30 to 45 minutes and every 30 to 45 minutes thereafter for up to 90 minutes . Any rise in values of four units or more .

Let's say the next measurement you get is 9.8 , that's a positive . That means that microbes are living high up in your gastrointestinal tract , in the stomach , duodenum and jejunum . Because it takes 90 minutes at the least , at the very least , for that annulin to reach the colon , where production of hydrogen gas is normal .

So production of hydrogen gas before 90 minutes is abnormal , signifying microbial colonization of the small intestine . Now , it's not a perfect method , but it's a method that you can use . It's also helpful for tracking long term . Now there's some more detail to this . I urge you , if you want to use the air device , see my super gut book .

It has detailed instructions on how to use it for this specific purpose . Another way is to just look for signs that you have SIBO . Food intolerance is virtually guaranteed . You have SIBO . Some conditions like restless leg syndrome , urinal bowel syndrome , fibromyalgia , are so commonly associated with SIBO and endotoxemia that you can safely assume that you have it .

Any neurodegenerative condition , any autoimmune condition , obesity , type two diabetes and fatty liver are also very highly associated with SIBO . It's a safe assumption .

Now , I think it's a safe assumption because my solution to SIBO is so benign , that is , if the solution was something drastic like taking out your small intestine , well , you better be damn confident , right , that you really need to go through that . But what if the solution is something that smells and looks like yogurt ? It's not yogurt .

It's not the stuff you buy in the store . It's very different , but it is something like yogurt . So the way I've been getting rid of SIBO is to ferment three microbes A strain of lactobacillus reuteri , the 6475 strain . A strain of lactobacillus gasseri , the BNR17 strain . Those two microbes are unique and that they colonize the small intestine .

That's where SIBO occurs . Right , that's where the battle is . So those two species colonize the small intestine and produce what are called bacteriocins . These are natural antibiotics effective against the species of SIBO . I threw in another microbe , bacillus coagulans , the GBI-30,6086 strain . I included it for three reasons .

One is it also produces bacteria that are effective against some different microbial species than the other two . The combination has a very broad spectrum of antimicrobial effects for the SIBO species . Two , it has a great track record in reducing the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome , which is essentially the same as SIBO , and it makes the yogurt taste better .

It makes very delicious yogurt , so it kind of softens the edge of the sourness that lactobacillus gasri tends to cause . So we ferment those three microbes for 36 hours , we co-framed it together and then we consume it for four weeks .

If you have a really bad case of SIBO , as sometimes happens in people who've taken prolonged courses or repeated courses of antibiotics , you can do it much longer , but a minimum of four weeks . And then , if you're gonna test again with the air device , you wanna stop the Rhodorite specifically for two weeks and then test .

And the reason for that is Rhodorite also produces hydrogen gas and it's in the small intestine . So it gives the appearance of a positive test and so you have to stop the Rhodorite for two weeks after your four week course before you test again Then .

I urge people to continue , not daily , with the what I call SIBO yogurt , those three microbes , but to do it occasionally , maybe two or three times a week , because it seems to be helpful in preventing recurrence . Recurrences of SIBO and thereby endotoxemia are very common and I believe continually to consume the SIBO yogurt prevents recurrence .

After all , these are at least the Rhodorite and gasri are keystone species that you should have had all along , but they were eradicated by a course of antibiotics may have taken many years ago or sometime in your past . Another useful strategy to fight back SIBO and thereby endotoxemia is to include lots of fermented foods in your daily routine .

Caffirs , kombucha , kimchi , veggies you ferment on your kitchen counter . You want to do this several times a day . It doesn't have to be a large serving , but several times a day for maximum effect . What fermented foods do is the microbes that are in the fermented foods , such as leuconostoc , mesenteroides or various pedicoccus species .

These microbes don't colonize the intestines but they feed the beneficial microbes . So , for instance , leuconostoc produces metabolites like acetate and lactate that feed important species like fecalobacterium . So you don't have to remember all that detail . Just remember that lots of fermented foods in your lifestyle is very helpful and helps keep SIBO away .

Another thing you want to do is to include plenty of prebiotic fibers and other related compounds . Fibers , for instance , get fructo-oligosaccharides and inulin from foods like onions , garlic and other root vegetables . Galacto-oligosaccharides from legumes and root vegetables . Hyaluronic acid a very important one , even though it's not sourced from plants but from animals .

You want to make a habit of this and if you're counting your prebiotic fibers , a minimum of 20 grams per day is a really comfortable number . That generates lots and lots of species diversity in your GI tract . Another strategy to be aware of is clove green tea .

It's my recipe for using clove as a source of the essential oil eugenol , and eugenol essentially doubles the thickness of intestinal mucus , at least temporarily . In green tea are green tea catechins like epigallocatechin that cause the mucin proteins in your intestinal mucus to cross link and thereby convert intestinal mucus from a semi-liquid to a semi-gel .

And lastly , we include inulin and fructo-oligosaccharides as a powder , and this causes a bloom in butyrate , producing species like fecalobacterium and necromancia and this leads to a better mucus barrier , better intestinal barrier . So we make it as a clove green tea See my recipe in the Supergut book , page 246 , but it's very easy .

It's a couple tablespoons of whole cloves . Don't use ground cloves , you want whole cloves . Put it in a saucepan with about two cups of water , bring to a boil , reduce the heat so that you can maintain a low boil for about 10 minutes and then put your green tea bag or whatever device you're using to make green tea A .

Good choices include Trader Joe's Peek , piq-uet Crystals , newman's Own and Numie and UMI Organic Gunpowder Green Tea . These have been shown to have the highest catechin content . So you get that crossed linking effect and then you let it cool , add the inulin , fos , stir and then sip it .

This is really helpful , especially in the beginning when you're having a lot of die off or a lot of uncomfortable symptoms as you're killing off fecal microbes with your SIBO yogurt or whatever strategy you're using for killing off the SIBO organisms .

Eating whole foods , as we do , also helps , because whole foods contain additional factors such as polyphenols , resveratrol , capsaicin that's the thing that makes peppers hot . Those things also have modest effects on improving gut health while also suppressing SIBO and endotoxemia .

Probiotics can sometimes be helpful , but especially the bio-dequest sugar shift , the sponsor of this podcast . They have conducted a clinical trial to demonstrate a dramatic reduction in endotoxemia , and the omega-3 fatty acids and the vitamin D in our basic program also contribute to maintaining the mucus barrier and the intestinal barriers .

They also contribute to reducing endotoxemia . There you go , because we have such a benign potential solution to SIBO yogurt . What I'm calling SIBO yogurt , that is , the yogurt that we ferment for 36 hours with lactobacillus gastrolyte , lactobacillus rhodoride and bacillus coagulant so far has had a very high success rate .

About 90% of people who've done this 50 people who've done this anecdotally have tested negative by the air device for hydrogen gas . I hope to perform a formal clinical trial to validate this , but it's so benign and so easy to do , doesn't cost very much .

You make the first batch by acquiring those three commercial probiotics , but then future batches you can make from a little bit of a prior batch . And if you don't know what I'm talking about , please see my super gut book as well as my DRDAVSInfiniteHealthcom blog and you'll see that it's very easy to make these yogurts . They're not really yogurt .

Please don't get me confused . There's nothing to do with the stuff in the store . That's something completely different . That's kind of garbage the stuff they sell in the store because it's fermented too briefly and they use microbes that really don't have that much benefit .

We are choosing microbes with very specific properties , such as upper GI or small intestine colonization and bactericin production . So please don't confuse what we're doing here with anything you buy in the store . Now , if you've learned something from this episode of the Defiant Health Podcast , I invite you to subscribe via your favorite podcast directory .

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