It takes Two to Tango
In the earlier posts, I had teased your interest about the famous Gut-Brain connection and promised to get back to this topic.
In starting to read about this, I simply didn’t know where to begin to unravel because there is so much information and each one is jaw dropping!
Imagine there is a secret underground pathway through which exchange of precious commodities has been happening for ages between 2 masterminds; And one fine day when it is discovered by a 3rd party, there are boxes and boxes of treasures hidden along the way leaving them awestruck as to where to begin to dig.
Well, that is how amazed the scientific community is by how the human brain and the gut — even referred to as the second brain — communicate through the Gut-Brain axis/connection by exchanging notes through chemical messengers, metabolites(final products of digestion) and other neuro transmission signals. Except that it was never meant to be a secret tunnel just that we never looked for it and even now science is simply scraping the surface on this matter.
The gut-brain axis is a strong concept in Ayurveda (Ayur — Life; Veda — Science/Knowledge) that is well-documented and practiced as well by integrated medicine practitioners to improve brain functions through food, herbs and lifestyle. The fact that gut health directly affects the mood is supported by one of the many interesting findings that gut bacteria manufacture about 95% of the body’s supply of serotonin, the Happy Hormone, which influences both mood and Gastrointestinal activity. On a related note, it seems it wasn’t a fluke after all that Turkey and mashed potato (carbs for the gut microbes because it digests slowly) are Thanksgiving staple food because they both together increase the tryptophan absorption (Sleepiness amino acid) which then increases the feel good serotonin/melatonin brain chemicals inducing the holiday grogginess post meal! May be a bit far fetched but it fits right ?
When I say gut, I am alluding not just to the organ in the lower part of our abdomen but the trillions of bacteria, virus, fungi that live there; Yes GERMS but good ones, well if you treat them right that is! Shocking but true that they colonize almost every part of our body including skin, mouth, gastrointestinal tract all the way down to large intestine. They are collectively called as Microbiota, microflora and their collective genes called Microbiome.
The more variety/diversity of them, the better it is; the more of the good than bad pathogens, the better it is; the more abundance of useful than silent partners, the better it is. The more the enriched the community structure is than monocultures, the better it is. Well you get the drift..
Of these guests, bacteria are the most studied but virus and fungi are getting attention as well recently as they may also be playing an important role in human health. We have always had a skewed perspective on bacteria because we see them as enemies and use antibiotics at the first sight of clinical infection. But as nature and evolution intended it to be, bacteria which are one of the first species to inhabit earth, found cozy nooks in many animals including humans that we are probably more microbes than human (comprising 90:10 ratio on genes respectively together termed as holobiome to say we are one organism ). This relationship is meant-to-be and an intentional part of survival selection, it seems. Why because these microbes don’t live quietly, neither do they harm us; instead they benefit us and feed off of our food to release nutrients back to us. There isn’t a more perfect example of mutually beneficial and in fact co-dependent existence like humans and microbes.
But where do they come from ? There are several factors determining how a newborn gets their first seed of microbial flora — from the mother through birth canal, milk and maternal contact in infancy through childhood. After that from food, environment, other people. Then in adulthood mostly diet and lifestyle makes or breaks the harmony we inherited at birth. Usage of antibiotics has a direct bearing on the culture in our gut and what survives the treatment, do the good bacteria come back or the bad bacteria take its place to further impact health in unknown ways. There are studies establishing overuse of antibiotics having a role in Autism spectrum disorder prevalence in children; they are not saying this is the cause but not ruling out the possibility either. Just being aware of this is important to make informed decisions when it comes to treating baby infections.
What are they doing in my gut, really, you may ask.
Beyond mood, gut microbes are being studied for their undeniable role in immunity, digestive health, nutrients absorptions, brain health, emotional wellness, reduce anxiety, prevent leaky gut that cause inflammation aggravated diseases like Irritable bowel syndrome/Disease (IBS/IBD), skin issues, obesity, diabetes and other disorders attributable to diet and lifestyle. The list is even longer….
And it is not a monologue where gut bacteria send messages to brain and that is it; It is a bidirectional channel. For example, when we are stressed and anxious, the brain increases adrenalin, cortisol levels in blood which are detrimental to the gut bacteria diversity and structure of their composition thereby sending the body down a vicious cycle of more mental health issues. On the other hand, there are positive effects on both gut and brain when we exercise, meditate and do other anxiety reducing activities. See how the tango has to keep going smoothly for everything to be alright ?
Individual scientists conduct their own interesting experiments to see how diet affects their gut bacteria ecosystem. When a subject is fed fast food/junk food like burger, fries and soft drinks for several weeks, the diversity of microbiota drops by 50% making it less conducive for wellness ; conversely when they reversed the diet to fiber rich, the inmates returned home and flourished, but it took some time (2–3 weeks of consistent high fiber diet to restore the gut composition back)
So where is science headed with all this discovery ?
There are several angles to it. Academic, Medical Prognosis and Diagnostics, Commercial, Personal. People are coming at it from everywhere to see how this knowledge could be put to real use.
Many of you may be familiar with the popularity of probiotics and Prebiotics lining up the shelves of wholesale stores, pharmacies , groceries and all of the health and wellness ecommerce sites. Well this is no scam, unless of course the product is not of quality or has unverified claims. The constituents individually are proven for their benefits although the most benefit comes from the community set-up and their complex interactions. Probiotics are the live culture of those beneficial microbes that are consumed as food or as supplements to seed our gut with the good guys; Prebiotics is the food for nourishing that good bacteria which found home in our lower gut; It is like throwing a party and inviting your closest friends over to your place and giving them yummy food, they will be super happy and thank you ; otherwise you will end up with a bunch of cranky hungry people at the party who will end up leaving soon and not come back. Now there is a special class of products made up of microbes or their derivatives (some metabolites) which when consumed orally confer a positive effect on brain health, termed Psychobiotics. Look them up, there is a huge market already out there and the research is still going on to tap into this further.
Where do they end up ? Guess what is one of the richest sources of microbes? Feces. Without getting all graphic with words about it, let’s just say, it is a serious option that doctors, researchers and businesses are investing into to do Fecal Microbial transplantation (FMT) through colonoscopy, endoscopy and even Oral capsules. What it means is that the fecal material collected anaerobically(oxygen free environment) from a healthy individual is processed to be transplanted to an unhealthy individual to give them the richness of the microbiome that further colonize the recipient’s gut and helps fight inflammation, reduce depression etc. It has been proven in several studies in mice to treat obesity, Irritable bowel syndrome, autism, anxiety, depression, aggressive behavior and other psychiatric conditions. Mark my words, the future of this is huge and opens up a whole slew (no pun intended!) of possibilities to modern medicine in a way close to natural processes than trying to prove that synthetic alternatives stand a chance especially when it comes to multiple side effects.
There are several commercially available test kits from companies who have created successful businesses around these findings. You send in your sample and based on the mRNA, DNA and compounds in the excreta they tell you a reading of what’s happening in the gut, who are possibly there, what are they doing/releasing, what could that mean to your health and then proceed to recommend Pre- Pro-biotics to get it to a better state of balance.
The very good news is that you don’t have to pop a pill for this or consider FMT just yet, thankfully; Food and lifestyle are still the best means to directly influence what is going on in your gut with the microbes composition, diversity, harmony and have a sustainable effect on the overall health.
Without trying to be prescriptive about what you should and should not eat let me say that yogurt, soaked chickpeas(hummus), fermented vegetables are excellent sources of probiotics from vegetarian sources; Nuts, garlic, onion, beans, whole grains, high fiber fruits like oranges, banana, avocados are rich prebiotics that boost the probiotics and help them feed on it to grow.
These are just a few to name to give you an idea but the choices are so wide there is something for everyone’s palette which you can find easily and incorporate in your diet; Your gut and brain will thank you in less than 1 week :) I will try and post more on the food items as I come across them but feel free to explore them on your own as well; It is also a bit of personal discovery as to what makes your tummy tingle. Plenty of information resources are available — Buy a book, Read up online, Ted Talks, sign up for webcasts, podcasts, join a community. The information out there is limitless just like the microbes that call our body Home!
References:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7559905/
