Understanding Intestinal Inflammation
When Your Gut's Defense System Goes Wrong
Your intestinal lining is one of the most important barriers in your body. It's supposed to be a selective gate - letting in nutrients while keeping out dangerous substances. The gut lining cells are held together by tight connections called tight junctions.
In inflammatory bowel disease, something goes dramatically wrong. Your immune system becomes hyperactive and starts attacking the intestinal lining itself. This breaks down the tight junctions, creating what's called intestinal permeability or 'leaky gut'. Once the barrier is compromised, bacteria and bacterial fragments can slip through into the bloodstream, triggering more inflammation in a vicious cycle.
The chronic inflammation damages the intestinal tissue, causing bleeding, preventing nutrient absorption, and eventually scarring that can require surgery. Patients often become dependent on increasingly higher doses of immunosuppressants, which bring their own risks.
"Your gut isn't just processing food - it's the biggest immune organ you have, and when it's inflamed, nothing works right."
Peptide therapy approaches this problem differently. Instead of just suppressing immunity broadly, specific peptides can actually heal the damaged intestinal lining, reduce targeted inflammation, and restore the barrier function your body depends on.