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THE GUT AND BRAIN CONNECTION
(Thread)

Gut issues have plagued millions of people around the world
As gut issues have increased, our mental health has also declined
Let’s look at the link between gut health & brain function, and what you can actually do to improve symptoms👇🏼

The two are connected with what is referred to as the “gut-brain axis.” This consists of two-way communication between the central and enteric nervous system.
This links cognitive and emotional functions of the brain with intestinal functions.

For this reason, it is no coincidence that between 40-60% of patients with gastrointestinal issues have psychiatric issues, while 50% of psychiatric patients have IBS.

Interactions between gut microbiota (microorganisms that live in the digestive tract) and GBA (gut brain axis) are bidirectional, meaning they are both sending signals to and from one another.

Studies show that your brain contains about 100 billion neurons, while your gut contains about 500 million (which are connected to your brain through your nervous system).

An interesting study on mice showed that when giving them Lactobacillus (a probiotic), the amount of stress hormone in their blood was reduced.
When they cut the vagus nerve (one of the nerves connecting the gut & brain), the probiotic had no effect.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21876150/

Ingestion of Lactobacillus strain regulates emotional behavior and central GABA receptor expression in a mouse via the vagus nerve - PubMed

There is increasing, but largely indirect, evidence pointing to an effect of commensal gut microbiot...

Neurotransmitters (chemical messengers in the body that transmit signals from nerve cells to target cells) are a very important part of mental health.

Many people think that these are mostly produced in the brain, but it turns out a majority of these neurotransmitters, including dopamine, GABA and serotonin are actually produced in the gut.

Have you ever been stressed out to the point where it bothers your stomach? This is because it goes both ways!

When you are stressed, your body produces cortisol (stress hormone). This can impact your gut in a number of ways:
-Prevents blood flow to the gut
-Slows production of saliva which means less enzymes to digest food -Decreases prostaglandins which protect your stomach from acid

This is why stress can have a major impact on your digestion.
Poor gut health also plays a huge role in inflammation. Many studies show the link between inflammation and mental health issues like anxiety and depression.

“Leaky gut” is becoming extremely common, which is when gaps in the intestinal walls allow bacteria and toxins to be released into the bloodstream. This causes chronic inflammation, and can also be a major cause of brain fog.

Read more about the connection between depression and inflammation here:

Another common thing people do when they are stressed is make poor dietary choices, aka “stress eating.” Eating junk food while you’re stressed will only disrupt your gut health even more, resulting in a never-ending cycle of poor gut and mental health.

As you can see, gut health plays a huge role in your mental health. It is no coincidence that as processed, gut-disrupting foods have become more prevalent, so have mental health issues.

So, If you are dealing with these types of issues, it’d be wise to address the gut.
Starts with removing any potential gut disrupting foods:
-Gluten
-Corn
-Soy
-Artificial sweeteners
-Alcohol
-Raw vegetables
-Commercial dairy
-Coffee on empty stomach
-Industrialized seed oils

Then once all of the triggers are removed, it is important to start nourishing the gut with things that will heal the intestinal wall (preventing leaky gut):
-Bone broth
-Glutamine
-Gelatin

After that, it is time to repopulate the gut with friendly bacteria:
-Kefir (preferably goat)
-Sauerkraut
-Kimchi
-Kombucha
-Goat yogurt

Gut health is extremely nuanced and there is no one size fits all approach, but following these steps with zero cheating would drastically improve a lot of people's symptoms.

If you liked this thread, please do me a favor and RT the original tweet to help spread awareness!🙏🏼

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