Intestinal malabsorption or intestinal pseudo malabsorption : a problem often not addressed is that of the so-called ” leaky gut “, or the dripping bowel syndrome. If its causes are difficult to diagnose, it has nevertheless been seen in numerous studies that intestinal malabsorption syndrome is frequent in celiac and lactose and casein intolerant people, in people suffering from autoimmune diseases, in people suffering from Helycobacter Relapsing pylori, and in people who have problems with anemia, ulcerative colitis, calcium or vitamin D deficiency, nephropathy, epidermal problems, cystic fibrosis and obviously intestinal dysbiosis.

Digestive symptoms if you suffer from intestinal malabsorption lead to flatulence, frequent constipation or colic, abdominal spasms, excessive fermentation after meals, fatigue and deficiencies of vitamins and minerals. Precisely due to the heterogeneity of the symptoms, we speak of intestinal malabsorption syndromes, but the characteristic that unites them is similar: the substances that normally should be digested by our intestine pass through its wall, which is no longer permeable due to a progressive weakening and breakdown of the intestinal villi. This triggers a series of symptoms that are not, as we have seen, only digestive. To correctly diagnose intestinal malabsorption, it is necessary to do several tests, which first identify it at a clinical level, and then some in-depth examinations. The first tests (blood, urine, faeces or breath test) evaluate how a certain food is digested, or if there are deficiencies characteristic of intestinal malabsorption (vitamins A and D for example).

The diets useful against intestinal malabsorption that I have already mentioned are the paleo autoimmune protocol , the GAPS diet (as an initial approach), the Fodmap diet . Today we see another protocol, similar to that of the autoimmune paleo, which was developed in the 1920s and then revised in recent years. It is called ” The Specific Carbohydrate Diet “.

Developed by doctors Haas against celiac syndrome and then revised by doctor Elaine Gottschal,  it is a diet that includes the exclusion of cereals, false cereals, a large part of legumes (with some exceptions), packaged products, dairy products and milk (apart from fermented yogurt to make at home), and cheeses on a daily basis (to be consumed in small portions, as long as they are seasoned or fermented, occasionally) but also of tubers and flours that contain too high a base of starches, sugar, malt, polyols, stevia, jellies, starches, insoluble fibers such as konjac, cocoa, oil seeds (chia, flax, etc., at least for the first few months), tubers and roots, beer, plane trees and bananas.

You can consume : fruit, most of the vegetables, olive oil, butter, ghee, coconut oil, aromatic herbs and spices, dried fruit flours such as almond or hazelnut or pistachio flour, chestnuts and related flour, fresh meat, fresh fish and canned fish only in olive oil, dried fruit in moderation, wine in moderation, coconut and its derivatives, coffee and butter, peanuts, eggs, honey, olives, coconut or almond milk , beets, legumes such as lentils, some types of white beans, dried peas, as long as they are soaked for no less than 12 hours, soaked, with the water changed frequently, and cooked for a long time, possibly past, cheeses provided they are occasional and seasoned.

Despite being restrictive according to the modern Western diet , the specific carbohydrate diet has proved very useful against intestinal malabsorption syndromes, and can be discussed with the doctor or with a nutritionist expert in these diseases for the regression of symptoms, and then revised. according to the specific needs of the patient.