Screening of healthy, normal-BMI adults in their mid-20s showed that approximately 55% had elevated LPS levels indicative of profound leaky gut.
"when we did our leaky gut studies, we were doing it in people in their mid-20s who were by FDA standards healthy normals, right? So, they didn't have any conditions, they didn't have any issues, weren't on any drugs or management of any disease, and they were all a normal BMI and so on. But, about 55% of them had very profound leaky gut. Right? Very elevated levels of LPS." (said at 1:01:12)
The claim refers to a screening study conducted in healthy, normal-BMI young adults evaluating postprandial dietary endotoxemia (elevated lipopolysaccharide [LPS] levels, often framed as indicative of intestinal permeability or 'leaky gut'). In a trial by Campbell et al. (2017), healthy subjects were screened for postprandial dietary endotoxemia following a high-fat challenge meal, categorizing participants as 'responders' if their postprandial serum endotoxin increased significantly (at least 5-fold) over baseline. While elevated postprandial LPS levels were indeed found in a substantial subset of seemingly healthy, normal-weight individuals, framing transient postprandial endotoxemia after a high-fat meal challenge as 'profound leaky gut' requires context, as postprandial endotoxemia is a temporary physiological response to lipid absorption rather than definitive proof of chronic intestinal barrier breakdown.
- context: Oral spore-based probiotic supplementation was associated with reduced incidence of post-p… (World journal of gastrointestinal pathophysiology 2017)
"Apparently healthy men and women ( n = 75) were screened for post-prandial dietary endotoxemia. Subjects whose serum endotoxin concentration increased by at least 5-fold from pre-meal levels at 5-h post-prandial were considered "responders" and were randomized to receive either placebo (rice flour) or a commercial spore-based probiotic supplement" (abstract, methods, passage verified)
pubmedfull study (doi)