Most people have gallstones and liver stones, they just don’t know it! It’s common to begin acquiring this congestion during childhood, particularly if you were not born with healthy microflora or if you were given multiple courses of antibiotics as a child.

Gallstones compromise the ability of the liver to perform its many functions:

• They inhibit bile secretion so that cholesterol builds up in the blood (since it is not being excreted in the bile).

• They prevent hormones being broken down and detoxified, leading to conditions such as oestrogen dominance.

• They interfere with blood sugar regulation leading to insulin imbalances as well as mood swings and food cravings.

• They prevent sufficient antimicrobial bile from doing its important work to cleanse the entire GI tract of excess microbes and pathogens, which rebalances the microbiome and brings down inflammation.

THE GUT CONNECTION

Gallstones prevent proper digestion, since bile emulsifies fat, which is required by the body to digest proteins and carbohydrates.

When food is not digested properly, it encourages the growth of bad bacteria and yeast in order to putrefy and decompose it.

When large proteins are not broken down sufficiently they can pass through the gut wall (a condition known as 'leaky gut'), triggering the immune system to release inflammatory chemicals. This syndrome is at the heart of autoimmune disease.

Lack of bile can cause inflammation and leaky gut in the intestinal tract; in addition, healthy gut bacteria are required to synthesise secondary bile acids, which play a crucial role in protecting against pathogens, parasites, Candida infection and SIBO. So a healthy gut helps create healthy bile, and vice versa. If one link in that chain breaks, the other organ suffers too!