Do I Recommend Dr. Zach Bush's Ion Gut Health to Protect Your Gut Against Glyphosate?
More Blogs to Come, Researching Dr. Zach Bush
A commonly recommended supplement ION Gut Health (Restore) aims to protect your microbiome and gut junctions from glyphosate. ION Gut Health (Restore) is a supplement claiming to relieve leaky gut and improve digestive health. ION Gut Health is supposed to alleviate gluten insensitivity, leaky gut, heartburn, restore the immune system, relieve SIBO (small intestine bacterial overgrowth [https://www.fixyourgut.com/sibo-information-and-protocols-for-relief/]), renew the microbiome, and improve overall digestive health. ION Gut Health is well known and likely for sale at your local health store. Could it contribute to improving your digestion? Is there enough research to establish its safety and efficacy? Should you try the supplement, or is it a waste of money?
What is ION Gut Health, and How Does it Work?
ION Gut Health (Restore) is a United States-based supplement manufactured by Ion Biome (Biomic Sciences, originally New Earth Dynamics[1] [https://www.newhope.com/natural-products-expo-east-2014/new-earth-dynamics]). The ION Gut Health supplement contains a liquid lignite extract (Terrahydrite), a mineral amino acid complex, and purified water (the previous formula contained castor oil). Lignite is the lowest grade of coal (low carbon content); it is not traded extensively on the world coal market. Terrahydrite contains trace soil amino acids and minerals. ION Gut Health is sold in a BPA-free (bisphenol a) plastic bottle and does not need to be refrigerated. Finally, the mineral amino acid complex used to be listed in a prior formulation as containing alanine, glutamic acid, glycine, histidine, serine, threonine, isoleucine, valine, gold, chloride, lithium, sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, manganese, sulfur, zirconium, tungsten, nickel, zinc, and copper.[2]
How does ION Gut Health (Restore) help improve one’s digestive health? Here is an answer that comes from ION Biome’s (Biomic Sciences) website:[3]
“It is important for people to know that ION GUT HEALTH produces a significant outcome for gut health. I use it in my Virginia clinic as a foundation for helping to create a strong immune system and gut biome. Microbiome balance and tight junction integrity are widely recognized to constitute a major portion of the human immune system, and directly affect DNA transcription of human cells to promote optimal health and prevent a leaky gut, improving gut intelligence. The well-proven biology of ION Gut Health demonstrates its role as a foundational resource in your pursuit of optimal health.”
Says Zach Bush, MD, CEO and co-founder of Ion Biome (Biomic Sciences), LLC. Dr. Bush is board-certified in Internal Medicine, Endocrinology and Metabolism, and Hospice Care.
“Seventy percent (70%) of our immune system is found in our gut. We need tens of thousands of different strains of probiotic gut bacteria to support a healthy immune system. Clinical experience, in addition to cell culture studies, supports the theory that ION GUT HEALTH’s proprietary formula creates the optimal environment in the gut to create a tight junction barrier and maintain our health and wellness. ION GUT HEALTH is a daily liquid supplement designed to support the protection of the entire gastrointestinal (GI) tract against agricultural herbicides, antibiotics, GMOs, gluten and food-borne toxins by helping to create an environment where between 20,000-30,000 different strains of good gut bacteria thrive. Most probiotics on the market contain fewer than 24 different strains of good gut bacteria.”
ION Gut Health (Restore) sounds unique; it relieves increased gut permeability (leaky gut) and revitalizes the microbiome. How does ION Gut Health technically work to help improve your digestive health?[4]
“ION GUT HEALTH nurtures the body’s protective membranes in the gut and the blood/brain barrier, enabling these membranes to keep us healthy. A diet loaded with highly-processed foods may cause the tight junctions of the intestinal wall to open from the gut into the bloodstream. Through state-of-the-art scientific studies conducted at prestigious universities and compelling anecdotal evidence from people who use ION GUT HEALTH, data suggest that by keeping the gut healthy and functioning optimally, one can block gut sensitivity to gluten and other chemicals and address GI health. In short, ION GUT HEALTH nurtures the body’s protective membranes in the gut and the blood/brain barrier, enabling them to work, to keep the body healthy.”
Notice something odd about the above statement? The statement does specify how the supplement works to help us recover proper gut health. However, the website provides a few studies to help us better understand how ION Gut Health (Restore) functions and reassure us that it is safe, but is the information accurate?
Is There any Evidence of ION Gut Health’s Efficacy, and if it is Safe?
What evidence we have is scarce at best. ION Gut Health (Restore) states that lignite extract is composed of carbon redox molecules that are supposed to help our microbiome communicate, enhance our microbiome health, reinforce our GALT (gut-associated lymphoid tissue), and restore proper gut permeability (relieve leaky gut) by improving the integrity of our intestinal junctions. We do know that similar extracts from the Earth can enhance our overall health, including humic acid, fulvic acid, and shilajit, but we have more studies to back up those specific extracts and their supposed positive effects on our health.[5] [6] [7] [8] [9]
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