What Causes Inflammation in the Gut and How to Stop It

We hear a lot about inflammation in regards to gut health. However, a lot of the focus is on the results of gut health causing inflammation throughout the body. Today we are going to focus on inflammation in the gut, what causes inflammation in the gut, and how to stop inflammation in the gut.

What is Gut Inflammation?

Gut inflammation, otherwise known as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), is when the tissues in the digestive tract are inflamed. The two types of IBD are Crohn's Disease and ulcerative colitis (UC).

The diseases are differentiated by what parts of the intestinal system are affected by the inflammation. Ulcerative colitis tends to stay in and around the colonic structures. Crohn's disease can affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract but most often affect the ileum and colon.

They are categorized into mild, moderate, or severe and by location.

Both conditions can overlap with symptoms and can sometimes be misdiagnosed as the other. This is why they received the umbrella term inflammatory bowel disease or an inflamed gut.

What Causes Inflammation in the Gut?

Gut inflammation is different from inflammation in other parts of the body because it is an autoimmune condition. It is caused by an abnormal immune system reaction in which the immune cells begin to attack the tissues of the digestive tract.

This causes extreme pain and other uncomfortable symptoms.

While there isn't one exact cause for this, there are a few contributing factors. Gut inflammation can be caused by:

• Genetic factors
• Microbial disturbances or interactions (dysbiosis — an imbalance of the healthy : pathogenic gut bacteria ratio)
• Infections (intestinal or outside of the intestines)
• Certain medications

Now, the causes above are not the only things that contribute to gut inflammation. However, they are the ones that have a role in the initial onset of gut inflammation.

After IBD has occurred, there are other things that can aggravate the inflammation and symptoms, like:

• Unhealthy diet that contributes to inflammation
• Lifestyle choices like smoking and alcohol
• Out-of-control stress

Interesting side note about smoking and IBD: those suffering from Crohn's disease will experience problems associated with smoking and tobacco use. However, those with UC have seen a protective effect from tobacco use and it seems to prevent flare-ups — there are other things you can use for this effect that are healthier (high-tryptophan-containing foods), but just for the sake of interesting information we wanted to include this information.

In the case of Celiac disease (which we haven't mentioned yet), there is gut inflammation associated with the intake of gluten-containing foods. While the inflammation does happen in the GI tract it only happens in the presence of gluten. IBD on the other hand doesn't have a specific food trigger. IBD tends to be more of an issue with the commensal gut bacteria and immune system reactions than anything else.

How to Know if Your Gut is Inflamed

The only way to really know if your gut is inflamed is by going to your doctor and getting tested for the different types of gut inflammation-related diseases.

You'll want to go to the doctor for testing if you experience the following symptoms:

• Abdominal pain and cramping
• Bloody or abnormal stool
• Mucousy stool
• Feelings of incompleteness after a bowel movement
• Nausea and vomiting
• Unexplained weight loss
• Inflammation in other areas of the body
• Skin conditions
• Ulcers in other areas of the body
• Fatigue in addition to these other symptoms

Sometimes you'll have these symptoms and it will be another gastrointestinal condition or something else altogether. The best decision you can make is to go to the doctor to get symptoms cleared up, get a diagnosis, and take action towards a healthier and more enjoyable life.

Oftentimes when people have IBD they will experience times of remission and times of flare-up. Learning what causes your symptoms to get worse is the best way to avoid flare-ups from happening and keep symptoms in control. Sometimes people do everything they can to avoid them and still end up with a flare, talking to your doctor in this case is the best way to approach your situation.

IBD can sometimes be misdiagnosed at first. If just going based on symptoms, doctors can sometimes diagnose a case of IBD as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) instead. IBS is different from IBD in that there is no associated GI inflammation or damage. A true test for IBD is genetic testing that can be indicative of the disease.

How to Stop Inflammation in the Gut

First, you'll want to make some lifestyle changes. Many studies have shown the benefits of healthy lifestyle changes and better symptom management. Because IBD is an autoimmune issue, any trigger to the immune system can cause a flare-up, and depending on the severity of the inflammation, symptoms may be easily managed while in severe cases you will need medical interventions.

Lifestyle Changes That Can Help Reduce Gut Inflammation:

• Drinking enough water
• Eating fruits and vegetables
• Removing highly processed foods from the diet
• Reducing sugar intake if it is high
• Getting enough sleep each night
• Light, daily exercise
• Avoiding a sedentary lifestyle
• Spending time every day outside in the sun
• Spending time with people who make you happy
• Avoiding stress wherever possible and learning how to deal with stress if it is unavoidable
• Practicing mindfulness

Pick one or two of these suggestions and start implementing them. You don't need to change everything all at once — that's not a sustainable way to approach anything.

Medical Interventions

Some other IBD interventions that your doctor may choose to provide you with include:

Medications — this will depend on which form of IBD you have and what level your symptoms are at. Some medications your doctor may prescribe are:

• Corticosteroids
• Aminosalicylates
• Immunomodulators (thiopurines (TPs), methotrexate (MTX), calcineurin inhibitors, and Janus Kinase (JAK) inhibitors)
• Biologics — these attack other inflammatory responses that immunomodulators don't focus on like pro-inflammatory cytokines, TNF-α and IL-12/23

Surgery may be needed in some instances where the inflammation has caused irreversible damage to the affected GI tissues.

Newer Treatment Options

• Apheresis therapy — this is a newer treatment that targets the different leukocytes in an area and absorbs them
• Improving the gut microbiome — this one is extremely important but can be a little tricky to nail down. While we can see a difference in the gut microbes inhabiting the colon of people with IBD than the general population, each person has a unique makeup of ideal microbes. This area of research is ongoing to figure out the best way to treat IBD with gut modulation. The best way to do this on your own is by eating a diet rich in nutrients, prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics.
• Antibiotics
• Fecal microbial transplantation (FMT) — taking a sample from a healthy gut and transplanting it into the unhealthy gut. This has shown a lot of promise in many different conditions including IBD.
• Stem cell transplantation — this will mainly be used for repairing damaged tissues
• Exosome therapy — exosomes are released from multiple types of cells (stem cells, immune cells, food, etc.) they are being used as a way to help repair damage and regenerate tissues and cells in IBD patients

There are a lot of options out there for IBD patients. All of these suggestions can help with reducing gut inflammation and will be chosen on a case-by-case basis by your doctor for your specific condition.

Atrantil for Gut Health

Another option to ask your doctor about is Atrantil. While Atrantil was created to help small intestine bacterial overgrowth patients, the overlap in symptoms with IBD indicates that it could be a viable option to improve some symptoms. Atrantil uses prebiotics, polyphenols, and postbiotics to help reduce inflammation throughout the body especially the gut while feeding the good bacteria and fighting the bad. If you want a natural solution to help improve your gut health, Atrantil is the way to go.

What other questions can we answer about Atrantil or gut inflammation? Let us know by commenting below!