Gut health has been a hot topic amongst many as science is slowly realizing that our hyper-sanitized and “clean” world is actually causing real gut issues for the majority of us. Many factors come into play when we consider gut health for eg. how many times do we wash our hands? Do we have pets? Are we always dousing ourselves in antibiotic/antibacterials (ahem, hand sanitizer, toothpaste, Listerine)?
Is this not leading us to become less immune to diseases? And why we hail ‘doctors’ as magical and healers?
Gut health is important because healthy bacteria and fungi aid our immune cells to combat infections, disease, and other harmful bacteria/fungi. Moreover, 90% of our serotonin is produced in our gut. This explains why gastrointestinal issues like IBS, IBD, and acid reflux all cause emotional and psychological distress.
Gut-Brain axis
The gut-brain axis is essentially a bidirectional communication between the brain and gut that links emotional and cognitive parts of the brain – and this evidence was obtained with the association of dysbiosis and central nervous disorders such as autism and anxiety-depressive behaviors.1
Suddenly, autism being related to diet doesn’t sound so crazy anymore. The microbiota in the gut influences neuroendocrine systems associated with stress response, anxiety, and memory.2
This also explains why intuition is such a huge thing; especially in spiritual and psychological circles – because it is true. Your body truly does know what’s good for you and what isn’t, this also explains how we choose our partners, and who we feel attracted to via pheromones. But of course, if you feed your body bad food, it will give the wrong signals, eventually leading people to distrust their bodies and dishonor their true feelings, (and marry the wrong person).
Don’t believe me? Here’s a study that shows how timid and scared mice became bold when they were given some antibiotics which made them become bold and adventurous, however, when they stopped the antibiotics, the mice returned to their ‘old’ selves and became cautious again.
This explains the saying of the Prophet Muhammad which says “The parable of the believers in their affection, mercy, and compassion for each other is that of a body. When any limb aches, the whole body reacts with sleeplessness and fever.”
It’s amazing how detached we have all become from the idea that what we eat affects not only how we feel, but what we become, what we endorse, and how it affects our personality. Many people are shocked when I suggest to them that it “might have been that burger that you had last night” that makes them feel crappy because they think “Well, I enjoyed myself eating it, so it’s clearly not that”.
And that is the difference between dopamine and serotonin. But that’s a discussion for some time later.
Brain-gut axis
Remember how we established that the microbiota in your gut can influence your brain? Well, since it is a bidirectional relationship, the brain equally exerts profound influences on the gut microbiome. For example, psychological stress suppresses beneficial bacteria. In a study with students experiencing exam stress, they found that the poop samples of students contained fewer lactobacilli than the rest of the semester – where they were more relaxed. Explains the ‘anxiety poop’ that some people get, huh?
In another study with mice, they found that if the mice were in a cage with more aggressive mice: they showed decreased beneficial bacteria, decreased microbiome biodiversity, and promoted harmful bacteria growth. This resulted in them being more susceptible to infection and caused inflammation in the gut. In a follow-up study, the scientists established that bacteria can be affected by stress and administered antibiotics to the mice – this led to a reduction in the stress response. Moreover, the mice that had more lactobacilli in their gut than their counterparts, passed the ‘forced swim’ test, which is used to measure some aspects of depression, and were less likely to give up and just start floating.
However, could the greater antibiotic use in the Western world, that’s given out like Panadol, be causing issues too?
Depression, anxiety, and Alzheimer’s Disease – how does gut health help here?
So, if the gut can affect the brain and the brain can affect the gut… does that mean that when the brain affects the gut, that in turn affects the brain?
Yes. Inflammatory cytokines which accumulate when the body is fighting infection, disrupt brain neurochemistry making people more vulnerable to anxiety and depression.
Many studies have also established a connection between AD and the gut and concluded that probiotics can increase learning and memory and decrease the plaques that are associated with AD patients. The Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium species of bacteria have shown exceptional effects on mental health.3 However, only one study on the ongoing effects of probiotic supplementation improves synaptic activity and memory deficit.4 In the control group, however, they did not observe any memory or learning improvement in those with optional brain function. Probiotics, by decreasing Coliform counts and increasing Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium counts could prevent memory deficits in AD patients.
SSRI’s or probiotics for depression?
As we know, the current climate of psychiatric medicine provides anti-depressants or Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors which block the reuptake of serotonin so that there is more serotonin in the synaptic cleft, thus ‘raising’ serotonin levels in the body. However, depression is complex and SSRIs are not super effective and have shown to cause dependency or as the medical field likes to undermine it, ‘discontinuance symptoms’.
Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium have anti-inflammatory effects for both anxiety and depression, and while it leads to an improvement in MDD symptoms – it does not solve them. Depression is complex.
Moreover, fermented foods vs fiber has been hotly debated for some time now. Many people/doctors prescribe a high-fiber diet to see differences or a ‘diverse’ gut microbiome, but when vegetables are hardly bioavailable, how can we see a diverse gut microbiome? Whereas, fermented foods have live bacteria that can easily start changing your gut microbiome in a matter of days to weeks.
This study showed how daily administration of GABA-producing lactobacilli improved insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance in mice who were metabolically unhealthy. Although there was no body weight difference at the end of the 12-week study, there were changes in the distribution of the fat. More than that though, was the GABA-producing L.brevis strain that increased GABA in the intestine (gut).
You might be wondering what is GABA? Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is a calming neurotransmitter which is why its role in anxiety and depression is key. Decreased GABA activity is also associated with autism, schizophrenia and even epilepsy.
Lactobacillus administration has found positive effects on hippocampal serotonin, and norepinephrine and increases hippocampal and prefrontal N-acetyl-aspartate GABA and glutamate (excitatory neurotransmitter – basically the opposite of GABA) which are all biomarkers that are associated with depression. Mixed with Bifidobacterium longum, improved episodic memories. An effect of the microbiota on amygdala sensitivity to negative emotions (e.g. fear) has been observed in rats and in humans with irritable bowel syndrome (but no effect on inflammatory markers). It is again, uncertain which affects which in the case of depression – but interestingly, inflammation has shown to impair perspectives of people. Gut dysbiosis has been found in autistic individuals, too.
The study concluded that there is a strong relationship between Lactobacilli and self-judgment – it is important to note that this was not a clinical sample, and such experiments on MDD have been subpar. Still interesting to note though, that different bacteria strains can affect our mood, our thinking, and our memory. And perhaps, when coupled with psychological therapy, patients would see better outcomes.5
This is why a holistic view of health is so important. Gut health is not simply only to prevent disease and how bloated we feel; it affects how we feel about those around us and those that we interact with. Changing your gut microbiota could be the difference between living a happy life and a miserable one.
So…where do I get GABA and these bacterias from?
Simple answer. Fermented foods. That includes
- kombucha (without sweetener, or sugar)
- kimchi
- yogurt, (would be better to have kefir, as yogurt has dead bacteria, so unless you can find yoghurt with added live bacteria, kefir is a better option)
- kefir (best source of live bacteria, both Lactobacilli and Bfidobacteria) (yogurt and kefir are important to produce GABA)
- pickles,
- apple cider vinegar, (not the best form of fermented foods, but it has other benefits, like alkalizing effects on our bodies)
- aged cheeses
Where do you get GABA from?
- Spinach
- Kale
- Brussels sprouts
- Broccoli
- sweet potatoes
- brown rice
Since the blood-brain barrier exists, you are better off getting this stuff in food than in supplementation form. Until next week, my fellow health-carers!
References
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4367209/#:~:text=The%20gut%2Dbrain%20axis%20(GBA,microbiota%20in%20influencing%20these%20interactions.
- https://www.apa.org/monitor/2012/09/gut-feeling#:~:text=Gut%20bacteria%20also%20produce%20hundreds,both%20mood%20and%20GI%20activity.
- https://neurosciencenews.com/alzheimers-gut-genetics-21058/; https://cdnsciencepub-com.simsrad.net.ocs.mq.edu.au/doi/pdf/10.1139/apnm-2017-0648
- https://cdnsciencepub-com.simsrad.net.ocs.mq.edu.au/doi/pdf/10.1139/apnm-2017-0648
- https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0265928;https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00213-019-05230-2.pdf
- https://neurosciencenews.com/serotonin-depression-21074/
- https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-51781-x.pdf
