On the other hand, the fact that 7 out of 10 Americans are now taking prescription drugs should not be taken lightly. If much of our disease burden is caused by leaky gut, prescription medicines can’t do anything to get to the root of the problem. This goes a long way to explain why having access to primary care does not improve outcomes.This situation is a disaster for both our economy and our health: pills and procedures are costly, but simple, inexpensive dietary changes can frequently fix a leaky gut.

The truth will come out eventually, of course. But let’s not wait another 30 years. Let’s simply declare today, “National Heal-Your-Gut Day.” Raise awareness, tell a friend, tell everyone who’s ever been told “it’s all in your head” or sent home in pain with an, “I’m sorry, I can’t find anything wrong.” Tell everyone with rheumatoid arthritis, or lupus, or MS, or depression, or bad digestion, or chronic fatigue: Leaky gut really might be causing your problems.

Then we can start healing ourselves—and the American health care system—this time, from the inside out.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/new-re...veral-diseases

The original term was called autointoxication, where bacterial toxins formed in the gut were theoretically formed, they passed through the intestinal wall to interfere with the body, causing disease and malfunction.

I originally thought it originated from a nobel prize winning scientist Elie Metchnikoff, but he may have only advanced the theory. Now it's just called microbiome science and the concept of fecal transplantation. The concept of intestinal permeability is the formal modernized concept of "leaky gut".

Another thing I recall is that bacterial endotoxins like lipopolysaccharide are really good at disrupting tight junction proteins the make the gut more permeable, and some good bacteria make substances that enhance the gi barrier making it less permeable, like butyric acid. Needless to say the concept of rebuilding a damaged microbiome with a fecal transplant has firm scientific grounding. This is not a complete description by any means though, I encourage more reading.