@LucH That's a very comprehensive paper, thanks for sharing!
I didn't mean that zonulin is a protective inhibitor, I was referencing that substances that inhibit zonulin (like Larazotide acetate) are protective against its deleterious effects (like type 1 diabetes / celiac), as elaborated on in the papers we have both posted.
@LucH said in Zonulin and its Consequences:
For me zonulin is secreted in presence of excess lectins and gliadin (agglutinin family) to avoid aggregation with L-glutamine from the membranes. Zonulin acts as a garde-barrière, telling the body to let the toxins get away. Zonulin tells the tight junctions to stay open …
Do you have more info on this? A search for lectins and leaky gut discloses this article:
Lectins: The Gluten-Lectin-Leaky Gut Connection
Some lectins that we consume in everyday foods can bind to the sugars in the cell walls of the gut or in the blood. This can cause an immune response, leading to inflammation, intestinal damage, altered gut flora, malabsorption, decreased cellular repair, cellular death, and eventually disease.
These lectins bind to glycoproteins and glycolipids (sugar-coated proteins and fats) found on the surface of human and other animal cells. This binding allows for agglutination (clumping) and sometimes can produce an immune response. They can cause agglutination of blood cells and they can bind to the cells that line the small intestine.
This article also references Fasano, he seems to be a popular guy in zonulin world. The relevant reference regarding lectins is here (I think):
Dietary lectins are metabolic signals for the gut and modulate immune and hormone functions
A related paper is here:
Characteristics and consequences of interactions of lectins with the intestinal mucosa
Following general Peat diet suggestions will have you avoiding most lectin-containing foods anyway, but there are two that stick out: dairy and nightshades. Someone could be getting most of their calories from milk and potatoes thinking theyre fine because its Peaty but may be driving intestinal permeability due to the lectin content.
The example given in the article of a noxious lectin is wheat germ agglutinin. I wonder how bad non-wheat derived lectins like those from potatoes and milk are.
If the mechanism is as described I also wonder if it may be advisable to keep dietary gluten and lectins to a minimum during L-glutamine supplementation, as that combination may provide ample reason for a zonulin trigger. This will be easy for wheat, likely also potatoes, but cutting milk may prove to be a challenge, if necessary. It also may be the case that the supraphysiological doses of glutamine generally used in supplementation may override any zonulin signaling caused by incidental dietary lectins. I'm not sure.
