Boundaries are what define and identify one thing from another. They can be guidelines, rules, or limits. Relational and emotional boundaries establish dividing lines between you and everyone else. They aid in retaining individuality, mutual respect, and friendship. However, just like a country’s borders, boundaries are not impenetrable. They are to be protective. Boundaries’ permeability can often change depending on many factors such as the environment, who you are interacting with, peer pressure, or force. Physiological barriers are not much different.
It is physiological barriers that allow for distinction between liver and stomach, lung and heart, DNA and mitochondria, couch and gluteus maximus. It is with barriers that the body protects itself, functions healthfully, and can be selective about what enters or leaves any given location. The human body has multiple barriers that we often refer to as mucous membranes. They line digestive, respiratory, and reproductive tracts, and are the primary barrier between the external world and the interior of the body.
The intestinal wall is assigned the complex job of being the “TSA” of the body, meaning that it selectively allows certain things to pass through, but not others. Nutrients are transported in, while potentially harmful intruders, like harmful bacteria, are hindered. Daily, our gut barrier comes in contact with more potential disturbers of the peace and dangerous enemies than the internal immune system sees in a lifetime. For this reason, the intestinal mucous membrane not only serves as a physical barrier, but is also a vital part of our immune system. You could look at it as an immunological boundary. As such, it performs the important role of detecting what is friend or foe—warding off the bad guys, while maintaining peace with our own resident microbes. Actually, the majority of the immune system is stationed in the gut with various hubs and immune cells dispersed through the border.
A healthy intestinal barrier is critical to good health and disease prevention. Therefore, it makes sense that when the barrier is compromised, bad things can happen. This state of increased permeability is referred to as intestinal hyper-permeability, or leaky gut.
Several disorders and diseases have been associated with leaky gut. These include common conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease, colon cancer, arthritis, obesity, hypertension, hypothyroidism, autoimmune conditions, both type-1 and type-2 diabetes, and even depression. Next month we will continue our investigation into this important topic.
Scripture identifies the purpose of boundaries as peace. So whether physiological, psychological, or relational, may “Peace be within your walls. . .” Psalm 122:7.
