Dr. Amy Nett: When I see a low secretory IgA, I definitely think about gut pathogens. That will include yeast overgrowth, which produces toxins that suppress secretory IgA, so definitely look at the rest of the panel. Are you seeing a microbial imbalance, a dysbiosis? Are you seeing yeast overgrowth? That’s a likely cause. If you don’t see any dysbiosis in the makeup, the report on the bacteria and the yeast and the parasites is all completely normal, then think about genetics. Remember, we said you can run an immunoglobulin panel and look at total levels of IgA, or immunoglobulin A. So genetics, just a genetic predisposition to low IgA. You could also just have an imbalanced immune response. Maybe this is a toxicity, something throwing the immune system out of balance, and for whatever reason, it’s not producing much IgA. That would be aside from a genetic issue, and they might have a normal immunoglobulin panel in that case. Or stress. That’s another really big one. I see low secretory IgA levels in the setting of stress.
In terms of how to bring secretory IgA levels up, well, treatment for HPA axis. Get meditation and mindfulness in there. Find sources of stress. Are there refined grains? Are there sugars? Too much caffeine? What might the body be interpreting as stress? And, of course, treating the gut. What’s going on with the gut? Is there yeast overgrowth? Of course, bring the gut into better balance, but, yeah, trying to figure out what the causes if you can and then treating that.