High liver GGT Enzymes & Leaky Gut Syndrome

By Deirdre Parkinson, Naturopath

Have you had blood test results that were high in liver enzymes? So high that your GP wondered
if you were a closet alcoholic!? High liver GGT enzymes can hint at a toxic liver. Alcohol in
excess will cause liver toxicity and can cause a rise in GGT enzymes in a liver test. However high
GGTs can also be caused by two other common toxic byproducts. One is certain medications.

Many pharmaceutical drugs need to be metabolized though the liver, and can therefore cause a
rise in liver enzymes. Another surprising cause of liver toxicity is a condition known as Leaky
Gut Syndrome. In this case, the very toxins that are meant to be passed out of the body through
good gut function and elimination are instead leaked back into the blood stream and passed back
to the liver for recycling!

Causes of leaky gut syndrome range from our rather toxic Western Diet, to past infections from
parasites or food poisonings. Testing is quite easy, although the current symptoms and health
history are generally enough to confirm the need for gut detox and gut repair. Some of the
warning symptoms of Leaky Gut Syndrome are any in the list below:
• Indigestion /Heart burn /Reflux
• Stomach pains / Nausea /Vomiting
• Burping /Bad breath / Loss of taste
• Crave sweets /Sleepiness after consuming a high carbohydrate meal
• Bowels do not open regularly every day
• Diarrhea or Constipation or both?
• Bowel gas / Bloated stomach
• Itchy bottom
• Blood in your stools or on the toilet paper
• Thinner stools then normal
• Feeling like you haven’t completely emptied your bowel
• The sensation of a lump/pain/or discomfort in your lower abdomen
• Antibiotic medications: when?
• High cholesterol / Gallstones / Pain the right side
• Hepatitis / High alcohol consumption
• Cold intolerance / Heat intolerance

“Impairment of digestive processes can result in an imbalance of gut microflora. The

inflammatory reactions triggered by these organisms and the physical and chemical damage
they inflict on the (usually semipermeable) gut mucosa produces the condition of increased
permeability known as ’Leaky Gut Syndrome’. This ‘Gut Disbiosis or leaky gut syndrome” may
produce enterotoxins, the toxic waste of living bacteria or endotoxins, the cell wall fragments
of dead bacteria”. Extract from Metagenics Practitioner guide to Integrated Detoxification.

Treatment involves (helping the digestion system with hydrochloric acid, digestive enzymes, etc.)
then using herbal-based medications to eliminate any chronic parasitic infections. The next step is
to heal the “leaky” damaged gut lining (L-glutamine, Quercitin, etc.) Herbal and nutritional
compounds are used. The next few steps involve re-establishing the normal gut flora, (probiotics,
fermented vegetables, fermented drinks like coconut kefir, and kambucha etc.) checking for food
intolerances, establishing good bowel function, and helping make healthy diet choices.

PS. It is important to know that the reference ranges for most blood tests are based on
random bloods from the population that is following a Western lifestyle that is not
evolutionarily correct or healthy. The so called “normal range” of a gamma GT used to
be a lot lower than it is now, but has been allowed to be higher because this enzyme is
raised by alcohol and prescription drugs which so many people have today on a regular
basis. So now it’s considered “normal to be toxic!
‘Letting Go’ of the Internal Saboteur
by Robert Kendall B.AC Dip.Med.Herb mAACMA

I am often asked “how do I change and break the negative patterns that make me sick or
fat or procrastinate or lazy or anxious. What can I do to heal my sick body and bring
peace to my sick mind?” My answer is simple ‘Let go’ your stress, let go your worries,
let go your negative emotions. I know this sounds too easy and we all know how hard it
can be to face up to our internal fears and negative stresses. Research has shown that we
pick up 50% of our basic habits and attitudes by the age of 4; we pick up another 30% by
the age of 8 and 10% more by the age of 14 years old. By 14 we have 90% of our basic
habits and belief systems in place. We then spend the rest of our lives trying to figure
them out and change them.

Do you know that the word ‘personality’ comes from the Greek word ‘persona’? In the
ancient Greek theatre the actors used the happy and sad masks to portray what emotion
they would be acting in. So if you have a great personality you have a great mask. We all
have masks built up from early childhood and research is now showing that even our time
in the womb and birthing experiences are the first energy blueprints laid down in our
body-minds.

From there we build our masks of protection and we develop our individual ‘persna-lity’.
This is how our egos are created, our unconscious belief patterns are built up over years
all for the purpose of survival. The brain is programmed to look for danger. When we
cross the savannah we are looking out for the animals that might eat us and the animals
that we might eat.

Ancient humans could do little to change their dangers, this is part of the reason that they
only lived for 40 years or so. Modern research is now showing us that women under long
term stress may shorten their lives anywhere from 9 to 14 years. With all our modern
medicine we aren’t living much longer than 80 years. In fact we are losing quality of life
in order to have a few more years of life.

One common problem that is a symptom of a stressful life, is weight gain. Fat
accumulation has a direct connection to stress as it is often how a person will emotionally
protect themselves. They will eat to quiet the mind and calm their emotions. The body
holding on to fat is a natural form of protection from ancient days of seasonal starvation
and this fat gene is directly linked to the need to survive. No matter how we diet or
exercise if the weight is related to stress/negative emotion nothing will change in the long
term unless we are willing to let go our negative emotional patterns.

When we crossed the savannah we had to be prepared to run or fight; what we refer to as
the fight or flight response. Our body mind complex would automatically go into this
syndrome for protection and survival.

Adrenaline increases your heart rate, elevates your blood pressure and boosts energy
supplies. Cortisol, the primary stress hormone, increases sugars (glucose) in the blood
stream, enhances your brain’s use of glucose and increases the availability of substances
that repair tissues. – Mayo clinic
Consciously we might want to be thin, happy and peaceful but unconsciously we have
deep subconscious survival patterns that seem to have control over our conscious minds
and bodies. I know that in the morning I feel great, full of energy with no cravings for
sugar or fatty food. However by dinner time I am often tired and all my addictive patterns
return.

It has taken many years to realize that this ‘evening guy’ is just coming from old
addictive patterns of seeking comfort in food, TV, coffee, alcohol. “What you crave you
are addicted to” is a Kinesiology saying.

So what can we do to change these old patterns? Well first we must recognize that we
have these negative feelings and then sit quietly and ‘let go’ our resistance to them. When
you stop reacting to negative stresses you stop the need to be in survival mode.

As an Acupuncturist and Kinesiologist I have been trained to see the body/mind as an

energy system. In that energy system the emotions are counted as one source of disease.
Change the energy pattern and you will see changes in the emotions, mind and the
physical body. Healing will begin to happen naturally as you discover your own state of
inner peace and quieten the negative internal dialogue going on between your conscious
and unconscious selves. For more on the subject of “Letting go” please go to my blog on
my website http://www.heavenearthhealing.com/blog/

“Impairment of digestive processes can result in an imbalance of gut microflora. The

inflammatory reactions triggered by these organisms and the physical and chemical
damage they inflict on the (usually semipermeable) gut mucosa produces the condition
of increased permeability known as ’Leaky Gut Syndrome’. This ‘Gut Disbiosis or
leaky gut syndrome” may produce enterotoxins, the toxic waste of living bacteria or
endotoxins, the cell wall fragments of dead bacteria”.

Extract from Metagenics Practitioner guide to Integrated Detoxification.

The body now thinks it is being attacked by foreign bacteria and goes on the alert,
producing more enzymes from the pancreas and the immune system starts to attack the
food particles. This is often the cause of allergies, chronic fatigue, sinus, etc. During the
overactive acid stage the body’s microflora gets destroyed and the stomach lining is now
being eroded by stomach acid, so the stomach creates more mucus to protect the lining.
Now we have high acid, high mucus production. Once the acid glands (parietal cells of
the stomach lining) become exhausted and the microflora destroyed, there still is a large
amount of mucus being formed – this is what the Chinese call ‘dampness’. Dampness
also means bacteria, molds, fungus, phlegm. What usually accompanies dampness are
Parasites, Parasites love damp conditions. The client will experience symptoms that
related to dampness or excess mucus.

You can easily see if you are effected by digestive dampness. Does your
stomach/abdomen swell up after you have raw cold, damp, sweet food? Do you worry
excessively? Do you feel tired after eating? Do you bruise easily? Do you suffer from
odema or fluid retention? Ever eaten a beautiful big salad hoping to lose weight and find
that your lower abdomen swells up, or you get a sinus attack where nothing but clear
mucus comes out of your nose, or your bowel movements go from hard to diarrhoea and
back to hard again? Do you ever feel tired after eating a salad, or a bowl of fruit or cereal
with sugar and milk? Are you someone who can’t lose weight no matter how much raw
food you eat? All of this can be put down to cold damp, sweet, raw food causing an
internal damp condition.
DAMP FOOD AND THE MIND AND EMOTIONS
Let us take it one stage further. The Chinese don’t separate the emotions from the body’s
organs. They see the emotions as being directly connected with each organ. That each
organ has an associated negative and positive emotion. They pay particular attention to
the negative emotions of each organ because they either cause illness or are usually the
result of illness. Each emotion has a particular vibrational rate or frequency that is
attuned to a particular organ i.e.
• Liver/Gallbladder – Anger/frustration
• Heart/Small Intestine – Lack of Joy
• Lung/Colon – Grief/Sadness
• Kidney/Bladder – Fear/anxiety
• Spleen/Pancreas/Stomach – Worry/Reminiscence of the past

As an example we know in Western Medicine that if someone worries too much they get
a stomach ulcer. But what came first? Was the stomach upset by worry, or did a upset
stomach cause the mind to worry?

In Chinese Medicine the brain is directly effected by stomach/pancreas energy and worry
will be the predominate emotion experienced. So an excessive raw diet will upset the
stomach and pancreas and eventually effect someone at the emotional level. They will
become worried and find it hard to stop thinking about the past. This is why people often
get physically and emotionally knocked around by sticky humid weather. Damp people
often prefer a dry hot climate – somewhere like a dry desert climate is perfect for healing
Damp conditions.