Liz Earle

But that doesn't necessarily mean that everyone with celiac disease needs to take all of these supplements automatically.

And I think this is where blood testing becomes really valuable.

So a simple blood test can measure levels of nutrients like iron, ferritin, vitamin B12, vitamin D, folate.

And you know, that allows supplementation to be targeted to what your body needs rather than guessing.

So you're not taking unnecessary supplements.

You can focus on correcting any deficiencies more effectively.

So always the foundation is a nutrient-rich, gluten-free diet built around whole foods and then using supplements strategically.

Now, when I was with Dr. E and we were talking about different tests that they do at Human, for example, there's one that you may have picked up on, which is the gut function test.

And that is measuring something called zonulin.

So zonulin is a protein and it regulates these things called tight junctions between the cells that line the gut wall.

And the tight junctions act like a gatekeeper and they control what passes from the digestive tract into the bloodstream.

And that's super important for all of us, but especially for somebody who is celiac.

So when the junctions work properly, they allow all the nutrients and the vitamins and the minerals to pass through into the bloodstream while keeping the larger unwanted molecules, including things like gluten, bacteria and toxins out.

So zonulin helps to open and close these junctions temporarily as part of normal digestion.

So if your zonulin levels are elevated, the junctions can stay open for longer than they should.

And this is increased intestinal permeability and it's often referred to as leaky gut.

You might have heard that expression.

So testing for zonulin can be a really useful clue about the integrity of our gut health and the gut barrier in particular.

So elevated levels of zonulin are associated with celiac disease.

They're also associated with autoimmune conditions, IBS type symptoms, food sensitivities, autoimmune, chronic gut inflammation.