I first discovered the concept of a leaky gut about 15 years ago. Back then when I talked about it,  I got shot down a lot . One of my good friends who is a physician told me I sounded like a quack. He later confessed he thought he might have a leaky gut. Turns out he did.  Today the concept of a leaky gut is fairly well known.

So now nearly 15 years later I shouldn’t be surprised to discover that there is also such a thing as a leaky brain and yet I am. It makes sense when I think about a group of patients I have had over the last 10 years who initially looked psychotic. One of them was even diagnosed as being schizophrenic. It turned out that none of them were schizophrenic or psychotic. I think that in all probability they were suffering from a leaky brain. I say that because when we changed their diet to include all clean food and a variety of wholesome nutrients, the psychiatric anomalies they exhibited disappeared. Which is what you would expect if the psychiatric problems were being caused by a leaky brain. 

So what exactly is a leaky brain?Turns out the brain is just like the gut in that it is protected from potentially harmful substances in the bloodstream by a fence-like structure called the Blood-Brain Barrier(BBB). I have always known about the blood brain barrier. What wellness researcher worth their salt does not? I just never knew that like the gut, the BBB was also only one cell thick. For some reason, I find this very disconcerting. The brian is responsible for, well, everything! Surely the brain’s architect could have provided more protection than the depth of one small cell? I always assumed that the brain was uniquely protected, what with our thick skulls and all. Apparently not.

Like the gut, the lining of the brain is a single-layered lattice of cells joined together by tight junctions that keep most substances out and allow a few substances into the brain. The substances typically kept out include heavy metals, pesticides, pcbs, and damaging proteins. The  substances allowed in are oxygen, hormones, and nutrients such as coconut oil.

If the tight junctions become loose or broken, the BBB becomes more permeable and harmful substances can leak, causing damage to the brain in the form of inflammation; In other words, a leaky brain in an inflamed brain. 

What Causes a Leaky Brain?

Believe it or not, one of the causes of a “leaky brain” is a leaky gut. Of course we know that the gut and the brain are connected by the vagus nerve. So it makes sense that damage to one might damage the other. 

Not surprisingly the same factors that cause a leaky gut—poor gut health, unhealthy diet, food intolerances, and sensitivities, as well as toxins and infections—can also create a leaky brain. 

Studies from Harvard show that wheat creates a leaky gut and leaky brain as a protein found in the wheat and gluten produces zonulin. Zonulin is a protein that weakens the tight junctions of the gut lining and BBB and contributes to leaky gut and leaky brain. Great. All wheat? 

I am hoping that this research shows that US wheat which is hyper-hyberized and also  sprayed with glyphosate  is the bad guy here and that the wheat grown in Europe called Einkorn wheat, does not create the same havoc. I will get back to you on that. 

You may recall from my former articles, I mentioned that when mankind just showed up on earth we did quite well until we discovered wheat and then all hell broke loose and we began to have much more disease and actually live shorter lives. It took many millennia for us to adapt to Einkorn wheat but we finally did only to have US farmers muck it up by creating a wheat loaded with zonulin. 

Stay tuned to find out what else causes a leaky brain. Some of it may surprise you.