What Is IgG and Why Is It Important for Gut Health?

Author's Bio: Katie Bailey, MS, RD, LD, FNC

Hi everyone. Welcome back to our channel.

As we've mentioned many times before in our previous videos, a healthy digestive system influences everything from immunity, our mood, our energy levels, and inflammation. A key player in gut health that you may not be familiar with is Immunoglobulin G, which plays a critical role in the body's immune regulation as well as mucosal defense.

So in today's video, I'll be discussing what are immunoglobulins and how are they classified?

What is IgG and how does it function?

Why is IgG important for our gut health?

How do you support healthy IgG function?

And lastly, how do you incorporate IgG into your routine?

Hi, I'm Katie Bailey. I'm a registered dietitian at Flusso Nutrients where we provide supplement education and professional quality supplement options for you to make the world of nutrition supplements a little bit easier to navigate.

As always, be sure to check with your main nutrition healthcare provider before starting anything new. As we can't know your full medical history to provide a personalized recommendation.

So without further ado, let's jump into today's topic.

[Video Transcript Below + Supplement Links Discussed In Video]

What are immunoglobulins and how are they classified?

Immunoglobulins are also known as antibodies are proteins that recognize and bind to a specific antigen. An antigen is a substance that our immune system recognizes as foreign that can trigger an immune response. This binding helps to neutralize and eliminate harmful substances from the body. Immunoglobulins are classified into five main classes.

The first one is GA. Now this one is found in the body's mucosal areas as well as secretions. So in the gut, the respiratory tract, and the urogenital tract, and it helps to protect our mucus membranes. The second one is IGM, and it's the first antibody that is produced in response to infection. IGD functions as an antigen receptor on our B cells that have not been exposed to an antigen IgE you've probably heard of before. And this is associated with allergic reactions. And then lastly, IgG, which is what we're specifically going to be talking about in today's video.

What is IgG and how does it function?

Immunoglobulin G or IgG is the most abundant antibody circulating in our blood and our bodily fluids, and it makes up 75 to 80% of all the antibodies in our body. IgG is a y shaped protein that is produced by our immune system to identify and neutralize foreign invaders such as viruses, bacteria, and toxins. It consists of too heavy and two light chains that are connected by a diss sulfate bond with antigen binding sites that recognize specific pathogens.

There are four subclasses, IgG 1, 2, 3, and 4, which all have distinct roles in the body's immune response. Uniquely, IgG antibodies are the only type of antibody that has the capability of crossing the placenta, providing protection to a developing fetus. Essentially what IgG does is it binds to pathogens and mobilizes them and tags them for destruction by our immune cells.

It also binds and neutralizes toxins that are produced by bacteria and viruses in our system. IgG offers long-term protection as it remembers pathogens and helps our immune system respond more efficiently upon re-exposure. This helps to modulate allergic reactions and helps to prevent excessive immune activation. A deficiency in IgG can make individuals more susceptible to infections.

Why is IgG important for gut health?

Well, IgG is important for gut health as it plays a central role in immune protection, as well as maintaining the integrity of our gut lining. So in a healthy gut, IgG helps to neutralize harmful pathogens without triggering unnecessary inflammation. And this is going to really help to support a healthy gut microbiome and prevent infections in excess inflammation. So by neutralizing harmful substances and clearing pathogens, IgG helps to prevent the overgrowth of harmful bacteria and helps to strengthen that gut barrier, reducing the risk of harmful substances leaking into the bloodstream and causing systemic issues.

Another thing that IgG is helpful for is modulating immune activity. So in other words, keeping the balance between immune system overreaction, which is what we see in autoimmunity and under reaction, which we see in a suppressed immune system. This is going to help to keep inflammation under control and prevent damage to our gut lining due to inflammation. Now, this is also going to help to promote oral tolerance, which is the immune system's ability to not respond to harmless food antigens.

Now that we know more about the importance of IgG,

How do we support healthy IgG function?

Well, the first is through a balanced diet, so making sure that we're getting adequate amounts of protein and our micronutrients that are going to be important to support immune cell function as well as the production of our antibodies. Next is to balance the gut microbiome. So incorporating fermented foods, fiber-rich foods, polyphenols, resistant starches.

All these things are going to help to create a more diverse microbiome and reduce the burden on our IgG antibodies. Also to support the gut integrity. So this can be done through food or supplements, things like L-glutamine, zinc, carnasine, aloe, slippery elm, collagen, bone broth, all these nutrients are helpful for keeping a strong gut barrier.

The next thing you want to do is to reduce immune triggers. So things like processed foods, food sensitivities, environmental toxins, all these things can cause an immune response in our body, and we really want to try to keep that at bay, manage our stress levels so we know that chronic stress is going to impair our immune function as well as affect that gut barrier. And then lastly, you may want to consider IgG supplementation, which can really help to support mucosal immunity and reduce inflammation in the gut.

How do you incorporate IgG into your routine?

So IgG supplements are available in powder and capsule form. Common options include IgG, rich colostrum or serum derived bovine IgG. Now, both of these can be taken daily with or without food. Dosages are going to depend on the brand that you choose or the type that you choose, but generally dosages range from one to two grams a day, and IgG is generally well tolerated by most individuals, but some individuals do experience a mild digestive discomfort like gas, bloating, or diarrhea.

Now, it's also important to be aware that there is the potential for an allergic reaction depending on the IgG source. So for instance, IgG from colostrum that has dairy in it, and then the serum bovine IgG is from beef. So if you have a beef allergy, not a good idea to have the bovine IgG. And if you have an allergy to dairy, you may not tolerate the colostrum IgG. So just something to be aware of.

To wrap up a topic for today,

IgG is an antibody that not only defends against systemic infections, but also plays a pivotal role in our gut health by preserving our gut integrity, regulating immune system responses, and maintaining a healthy gut microbiome. If you're interested in trying IgG supplementation, I'll have a few quality options linked below in the description box.

That's it for today's video. If you like this video, please hit the like button and subscribe for more nutrition videos. Let us know in the comments if you've tried IgG before, if you have any questions. And if you're interested in working with our clinic, you can click the link here to schedule an initial appointment. We do take insurance that you can find more information about that on our website.

All right, thanks for watching. I'll see you next time. Bye.

Check out the high-quality supplements we discussed in this video - links below for your convenience!

1) Mega IgG 2000 powder and capsules by Microbiome Labs: create an account here, then search the name "Mega IgG 2000 powder and capsules by Microbiome Labs" - https://us.fullscript.com/welcome/flussonutrients

2) IgG Protect by Ortho Molecular Products: create an account here, then search the name "IgG Protect by Ortho Molecular Products" - https://us.fullscript.com/welcome/flussonutrients

3) ALL PROFESSIONAL QUALITY SUPPLEMENTS: https://flussonutrients.nutridyn.com & https://us.fullscript.com/welcome/flussonutrients