What is the Gut-Brain Axis?
It is no wonder that the gut is considered the second brain! The importance of the gut brain axis cannot be overstated. There has been so much research done over the past decade which is showing more and more connection between the gut and the brain along with its effect on the immune system, hormonal balance and so much more. Most of us who have lived on the Standard American Diet (SAD), taken antibiotics and other medications, received immunizations, and lived with constant stress in our life have a very compromised gut microbiome.
“There’s so much that can go wrong in the gut, and our standard American diet doesn’t help,” says food scientist Laura Rokosz, PhD, founder of EgglRock Nutrition in New Jersey. “Overly processed foods and even seemingly ‘healthy’ foods can trigger inflammation in the body.”
There are many factors throughout our life which go into creating a healthy biome. In this article, we will look at what some of those factors are and what we can do to help bring everything back into balance.
Our microbiome starts with our birth when we were pushed through the birth canal and continued when our mother nursed us and we received her colostrum. Both of these events were designed to help get us started with a healthy mix of microbiome, so you can see that if a baby is born by caesarean section and then put on formula with a bottle, these first two critical steps have been missed. This can also lead to a ‘leaky gut’ since the colostrum/milk was also designed to seal up the digestive system after birth.
As we grow and develop, the foods we eat have a big impact on how our microbiome continues to develop. Eating fresh fruits and vegetables, fermented foods such as sauerkraut, and staying away from refined sugars and processed foods will all help to establish a healthy microbiome. Sunshine, fresh air, exercise and reduced stress also play an important part.
Now, why is it so important that we are mindful of creating a healthy gut? Research has shown so many connections between our health and the gut that I won’t have space here to touch on all of them, but we can cover a few in order to understand how important it is to take care of our body. Many of us fall victim to the idea that what goes wrong in our body is out of our control. Many believe it is God’s will or we are unlucky or we have caught something horrible, but the truth is we have much more responsibility than most of us know. Most of the diseases and chronic conditions we deal with are self-inflicted – either knowingly or unknowingly. When we understand this principle, it becomes much easier to take charge of our own health where we choose the path we want to take and then make the corresponding life-changes which will get us where we want to go.
As the backbone of the immune system, the microbiome is constantly mounting an inflammatory response to fend off invaders. How well the gut can do this is the difference between a healthy immune system and a weak one.
“What people don’t realize is that the gut in a sense is outside of the body”, says Lynn Wagner, MD, who runs an integrative medicine practice at Baycare Clinic in De Pere, Wisconsin. “The digestive tract is a hollow lumen, or cavity, running through the body, and its walls separate it from the organs, muscles and fluids of the body. It functions like a waiting room for anything coming in from the outside – a place to vet new arrivals and keep intruders from moving to the inner rooms. It constantly works to protect our internal environment from what’s coming in.”
So, just from Wagner’s comments we have found that the microbiome effects the immune system, the inflammatory response, autoimmune disease, chronic pain, obesity and mental health. Let’s see what else we are looking at:
In a 2019 study published in The Journal of Physiology, researchers found that changes in the microbiome over time can have an adverse impact on vascular health. The study provided the first evidence for the gut microbiome being an important mediator of age-related arterial dysfunction and oxidative stress. Another new study which was published in Cancer Research, found that a compromised microbiome resulted in inflammation within the mammary tissue and influenced the spread of breast cancer.
“Improving the microbiome, healing the trillions of gut bacteria, is your greatest ally,” says Raphael Kellman, MD, founder of the Kellman Center in New York City and author of The Microbiome Breakthrough and the Microbiome Diet. “Chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, metabolic disturbances such as diabetes, and autoimmune disorders are all linked to inflammation,” Kellman says, “and too often the medical profession has tried to treat those diseases without acknowledging the role of the microbiome.”
“Intuitively, we have known for years that our brain and gut are connected”, says Judith Scheman, PhD, director of behavioral medicine for the Cleveland Clinic’s Digestive Disease and Surgery Institute. “It’s reflected in our language in the way we describe our emotions. We say things like ‘gut-wrenching’, ‘that makes me sick’, or ‘I have butterflies in my stomach’.” The reason we use those terms is that a number of neurotransmitters (the signals that enable the nervous system to function and communicate) are produced in the gut. “Basically, the action is taking place in our gut, but our brain has a much better vocabulary so it puts words to what’s happening farther south,” says Scheman.
For years, doctors have tried to help people with depression by using antidepressants. Many of the side-effects of these medications have actually been worse than the depression leading to suicides and homicides. We now know that 80 to 90 percent of the body’s serotonin is synthesized in the gut along with 50 percent of the dopamine. The vagus nerve which runs from the brain stem to the colon is a connector between the gut and the brain. According to Scheman, Roughly 90 percent of the communication is going gut to brain and 10 percent from brain to gut. A recent study in Europe with two large groups of adults found that certain types of gut bacteria are missing in people with depression. The study also suggested that the vagus nerve is the pathway that carries the awareness of a compromised microbiome to the brain.
“Almost all forms of dementia share a common denominator: brain inflammation,” says William Li, MD, author of Eat to Beat Disease: The New Science of How Your Body Can Heal Itself. “Alzheimer’s – characterized by a buildup of protein fragments called beta-amyloid plaques and tangles of tau proteins inside the brain that disrupt neuronal function – is the most common and widely studied cause of dementia, accounting for up to 70 percent of all cases. Recent human studies have revealed distinct differences in the intestinal microbiomes of healthy individuals and those with Alzheimer’s disease.”
I’ve quoted a number of experts in this article who have researched and made connections between our health and the microbiome. According to the few I have quoted, the microbiome effects:
The immune system
Autoimmune disease
Obesity
Diabetes
Chronic pain
Mental health
Vascular health
Cancer
Chronic fatigue
Fibromyalgia
Depression
Alzheimer’s
Obviously, this article has hardly touched the surface of how important our microbiome is to our health. Over the past three decades of trying to encourage, council and help people with their health challenges in a holistic way, I have found that the ones who are the most successful are the ones who are willing to make the life-style changes necessary in order to bring homeostasis (balance) back to their body and their life. This can involve a clean plant-based diet full of fresh fruits and vegetables, getting enough pure water to drink in order to hydrate the cells, exercising to keep the muscles toned and the circulation moving along with as much fresh air and sunshine as possible. Ironically, these are also the things we need to focus on to help improve and strengthen our microbiome.
In order to help those who are on this path, we are excited to introduce three new formulas designed to help you feed and nourish the brain, the central nervous system and the gut biome. Each formula was created to support each of the three areas involved in the gut brain axis and to work in harmony with each other. Taken twice a day, they are designed to help you bridge the gap between where your health is now and where you would like it to be. The manufacturers of these products have done extensive research to make sure they are formulated with the best ingredients possible. We encourage everyone to choose to take the journey to optimal health and hope you will share your experiences with us.