If You Can't Beat Depression, This Could be Why

[Guest guest]

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/04/12/beware--bacteria-growing-in-your-gut-can-influence-your-behavior.aspx

If You Can't Beat Depression, This Could be Why

Posted By

Dr. Mercola | April 12

2011 | 82,617

views

Researchers examined the performance of germ-free mice, who

lack gut bacteria, on a kind of maze used to test anxiety-like

behaviors. The maze is in the shape of a plus with two open and

two closed arms; normally, mice will avoid open spaces to

minimize the risk of being seen by predators.

Normal mice, as expected, spent far more time in the closed

arms when placed in the maze. The germ-free mice, however,

entered the open arms far more often, spending significantly

more time there than in the closed arms.

According to the study in Neurogastroenterology & Motility,

when they examined the animals' brains, they found that:

"these differences in behavior were accompanied by

alterations in the expression levels of several genes in the

germ-free mice. ... Bacteria colonize the gut in the days

following birth, during a sensitive period of brain

development, and apparently influence behavior by inducing

changes in the expression of certain genes."

Sources:

Neurogastroenterology

& Motility March 2011; 23(3); 255–e119

Dr. Mercola's Comments:

Most people fail to realize that your gut is quite

literally your second brain, and actually has the ability to

significantly influence your:

Mind

Mood

Behavior

So while modern psychiatry still falsely

claims that psychological problems such as depression are

caused by a chemical imbalance in your brain,

researchers keep finding that depression and a variety of

behavioral problems actually appear to be linked to an

imbalance of bacteria in your gut!

Germ-Free Mice Engage in High-Risk Behavior

In the featured study published last month in Neurogastroenterology

& Motility, mice that lack gut bacteria were

found to behave differently from normal mice, engaging in

what would be referred to as "high-risk behavior." This

altered behavior was accompanied by neurochemical changes in

the mouse brain.

According to the authors, microbiota (your gut flora) may

play a role in the communication between your gut and your

brain, and:

"Acquisition of intestinal microbiota in the

immediate postnatal period has a defining impact on the

development and function of the gastrointestinal,

immune, neuroendocrine and metabolic systems. For

example, the presence of gut microbiota

regulates the set point for

hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity."

The neurotransmitter serotonin

activates your hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis by

stimulating certain serotonin receptors in your brain.

Additionally, neurotransmitters like serotonin can also be

found in your gut. In fact, the greatest

concentration of serotonin, which is involved in mood

control, depression and aggression, is found in your

intestines, not your brain!

So it actually makes perfect sense to nourish your gut

flora for optimal serotonin function as it can have a

profound impact on your mood, psychological health, and

behavior.

The authors concluded that:

"[T]he presence or absence of conventional intestinal

microbiota influences the development of behavior..."

This conclusion adds support to another

recent animal study, which also found that gut

bacteria may influence mammalian early brain development and

behavior. But that's not all. They also discovered that the

absence or presence of gut microorganisms during infancy permanently

alters gene expression.

Through gene profiling, they were able to discern that

absence of gut bacteria altered genes and signaling pathways

involved in learning, memory, and motor control. This

suggests that gut bacteria is closely tied to early brain

development and subsequent behavior. These behavioral

changes could be reversed as long as the mice were exposed

to normal microorganisms early in life. But once the

germ-free mice had reached adulthood, colonizing them with

bacteria did not influence their behavior.

According to Dr. Rochellys Heijtz, lead author of the

study:

"The data suggests that there is a critical period

early in life when gut microorganisms affect the brain

and change the behavior in later life."

In a similar way, probiotics have also been found to influence

the activity of hundreds of your genes, helping them

to express in a positive, disease-fighting manner.

The Gut-Brain Connection

When you consider the fact that the gut-brain connection is

recognized as a basic tenet of physiology and medicine, and

that there's no shortage of evidence of gastrointestinal

involvement in a variety of neurological diseases, it's easy

to see how the balance of gut bacteria can play a

significant role in your psychology and behavior as well.

With this in mind, it should also be crystal clear that

nourishing your gut flora is extremely important, from

cradle to grave, because in a very real sense you have two

brains, one inside your skull and one in your gut,

and each needs its own vital nourishment.

Interestingly, these two organs are actually created out of

the same type of tissue. During fetal development, one part

turns into your central nervous system while the other

develops into your enteric nervous system. These two systems

are connected via the vagus nerve, the tenth cranial nerve

that runs from your brain stem down to your abdomen. This is

what connects your two brains together, and explains such

phenomena as getting butterflies in your stomach when you're

nervous, for example. (For an interesting and well-written

layman's explanation of this connection, read through

Blakeslee's 1996 New York Times article Complex and Hidden

Brain in Gut Makes Stomachaches and Butterflies.)

Your gut and brain work in tandem, each influencing the

other. This is why your intestinal health can have such a

profound influence on your mental health, and vice versa.

As a result, it should be obvious that your diet is closely

linked to your mental health. Furthermore, it's requires

almost no stretch of the imagination to see how lack of

nutrition can have an adverse effect on your mood and

subsequently your behavior.

Have We Become Too Sanitized for Our Own Sanity?

Another study published

last year in the Archives of General Psychiatry

reviewed the evidence for signs that psychiatric

problems might be caused by lack of natural microorganisms

in soil, food, and the gut. And it did find such a link.

Rates of depression in younger people have steadily grown

to outnumber rates of depression in the older populations,

and one reason for this could be the lack of exposure to

bacteria, both outside and inside your body.

Quite simply, modern society may have gotten too sanitized

and pasteurized for our own good.

Fermented foods have been traditional staples in most

cultures, but modern food manufacturing, with its focus on

killing ALL bacteria in the name of food safety, has

eliminated most of these foods. You can still

find traditionally

fermented foods like natto or kefir, but they're not

the dietary staples they once used to be, and many people

don't like them when trying them out for the first time in

adulthood.

When you deprive your child of all this bacteria, her

immune system—which is her primary defense system against

inflammation—actually gets weaker, not stronger. And higher

levels of inflammation are not only a hallmark of heart

disease and diabetes, but also of depression.

The

authors explain it as follows:

"Significant data suggest that a variety of

microorganisms (frequently referred to as the "old

friends") were tasked by coevolutionary processes with

training the human immune system to tolerate a wide

array of non-threatening but potentially proinflammatory

stimuli. Lacking such immune training, vulnerable

individuals in the modern world are at significantly

increased risk of mounting inappropriate inflammatory

attacks on harmless environmental antigens (leading to

asthma), benign food contents and commensals in the gut

(leading to inflammatory bowel disease), or

self-antigens (leading to any of a host of autoimmune

diseases).

Loss of exposure to the old friends may promote major

depression by increasing background levels of

depressogenic cytokines and may predispose vulnerable

individuals in industrialized societies to mount

inappropriately aggressive inflammatory responses to

psychosocial stressors, again leading to increased rates

of depression.

… Measured exposure to the old friends or their

antigens may offer promise for the prevention and

treatment of major depression in modern industrialized

societies."

Researchers around the World have Linked Gut Problems to

Brain Disorders

Brain disorders can take many forms, one of which is

autism. In this particular area you can again find

compelling evidence of the link between brain and gut

health. For example, gluten intolerance is frequently a

feature of autism, and many autistic children will improve

when following a strict gluten-free diet. Many autistic

children also tend to improve when given probiotics, either

in the form of fermented foods or probiotic supplements.

Dr. Wakefield is just one of many who have

investigated the connection between developmental disorders

and bowel disease. He has published about 130-140

peer-reviewed papers looking at the mechanism and cause of

inflammatory bowel disease, and has extensively investigated

the brain-bowel connection in the context of children with

developmental disorders such as autism.

A large number of replication studies have also been

performed around the world, by other researchers, confirming

the curious link between brain disorders such as autism and

gastrointestinal dysfunction. For a list of more

than 25 of those studies, please see this previous article.

Other Health Benefits of Probiotics

Your body contains about 100 trillion bacteria -- more than

10 TIMES the number of cells you have in your entire body.

Ideally, the ratio between the bacteria in your gut is 85

percent "good" and 15 percent "bad."

In addition to the psychological implications discussed

above, a healthy ratio of good to bad gut bacteria is

essential for:

Protection against over-growth of other microorganisms

that could cause disease

Digestion of food and absorption of nutrients

Digesting and absorbing certain carbohydrates

Producing vitamins, absorbing minerals and eliminating

toxins

Preventing allergies

Signs of having an excess of unhealthy bacteria in your gut

include gas and bloating, fatigue, sugar cravings, nausea,

headaches, constipation or diarrhea.

What Interferes With Healthy Gut Bacteria?

Your gut bacteria do not live in a bubble; rather, they are

an active and integrated part of your body, and as such are

vulnerable to your lifestyle. If you eat a lot of processed

foods, for instance, your gut bacteria are going to be

compromised because processed foods in general will destroy

healthy microflora and feed bad bacteria and yeast.

Your gut bacteria are also very sensitive to:

Antibiotics

Chlorinated water

Antibacterial soap

Agricultural chemicals

Pollution

Because of these latter items, to which virtually all of us

are exposed at least occasionally, it's generally a good

idea to "reseed" the good bacteria in your gut by taking a

high-quality probiotic supplement or eating fermented foods.

Tips for Optimizing Your Gut Bacteria

Getting back to the issue of inflammation for a moment,

it's important to realize that an estimated 80 percent of

your immune system is actually located in your gut, which is

why you need to regularly reseed your gut with good

bacteria.

Additionally, when you consider that your gut is your

second brain AND the seat of your immune system, it becomes

easy to see how your gut health can impact your brain

function, psyche, and behavior, as they are interconnected

and interdependent in a number of different ways—several of

which are discussed above.

In light of this, here are my recommendations for

optimizing your gut bacteria.

Fermented foods are still the best

route to optimal digestive health, as long as you eat the

traditionally made, unpasteurized versions. Healthy

choices include lassi (an Indian yoghurt drink,

traditionally enjoyed before dinner), fermented milk such

as kefir,

various pickled fermentations of cabbage, turnips,

eggplant, cucumbers, onions, squash and carrots, and natto

(fermented soy).

If you regularly eat fermented foods such as these that,

again, have not been pasteurized (pasteurization kills the

naturally occurring probiotics), your healthy gut bacteria

will thrive.

Probiotic supplement. Although I'm not

a major proponent of taking many supplements (as I believe

the majority of your nutrients need to come from food),

probiotics are definitely an exception. I have used many

different brands over the past 15 years and there are many

good ones out there. I also spent a long time researching

and developing my own, called Complete Probiotics, in

which I incorporated everything I have learned about this

important tool over the years.

If you do not eat fermented foods, taking a high

quality probiotic supplement is definitely recommended.

[Guest guest]

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/04/12/beware--bacteria-growing-in-your-gut-can-influence-your-behavior.aspx

If You Can't Beat Depression, This Could be Why

Posted By

Dr. Mercola | April 12

2011 | 82,617

views

Researchers examined the performance of germ-free mice, who

lack gut bacteria, on a kind of maze used to test anxiety-like

behaviors. The maze is in the shape of a plus with two open and

two closed arms; normally, mice will avoid open spaces to

minimize the risk of being seen by predators.

Normal mice, as expected, spent far more time in the closed

arms when placed in the maze. The germ-free mice, however,

entered the open arms far more often, spending significantly

more time there than in the closed arms.

According to the study in Neurogastroenterology & Motility,

when they examined the animals' brains, they found that:

"these differences in behavior were accompanied by

alterations in the expression levels of several genes in the

germ-free mice. ... Bacteria colonize the gut in the days

following birth, during a sensitive period of brain

development, and apparently influence behavior by inducing

changes in the expression of certain genes."

Sources:

Neurogastroenterology

& Motility March 2011; 23(3); 255–e119

Dr. Mercola's Comments:

Most people fail to realize that your gut is quite

literally your second brain, and actually has the ability to

significantly influence your:

Mind

Mood

Behavior

So while modern psychiatry still falsely

claims that psychological problems such as depression are

caused by a chemical imbalance in your brain,

researchers keep finding that depression and a variety of

behavioral problems actually appear to be linked to an

imbalance of bacteria in your gut!

Germ-Free Mice Engage in High-Risk Behavior

In the featured study published last month in Neurogastroenterology

& Motility, mice that lack gut bacteria were

found to behave differently from normal mice, engaging in

what would be referred to as "high-risk behavior." This

altered behavior was accompanied by neurochemical changes in

the mouse brain.

According to the authors, microbiota (your gut flora) may

play a role in the communication between your gut and your

brain, and:

"Acquisition of intestinal microbiota in the

immediate postnatal period has a defining impact on the

development and function of the gastrointestinal,

immune, neuroendocrine and metabolic systems. For

example, the presence of gut microbiota

regulates the set point for

hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity."

The neurotransmitter serotonin

activates your hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis by

stimulating certain serotonin receptors in your brain.

Additionally, neurotransmitters like serotonin can also be

found in your gut. In fact, the greatest

concentration of serotonin, which is involved in mood

control, depression and aggression, is found in your

intestines, not your brain!

So it actually makes perfect sense to nourish your gut

flora for optimal serotonin function as it can have a

profound impact on your mood, psychological health, and

behavior.

The authors concluded that:

"[T]he presence or absence of conventional intestinal

microbiota influences the development of behavior..."

This conclusion adds support to another

recent animal study, which also found that gut

bacteria may influence mammalian early brain development and

behavior. But that's not all. They also discovered that the

absence or presence of gut microorganisms during infancy permanently

alters gene expression.

Through gene profiling, they were able to discern that

absence of gut bacteria altered genes and signaling pathways

involved in learning, memory, and motor control. This

suggests that gut bacteria is closely tied to early brain

development and subsequent behavior. These behavioral

changes could be reversed as long as the mice were exposed

to normal microorganisms early in life. But once the

germ-free mice had reached adulthood, colonizing them with

bacteria did not influence their behavior.

According to Dr. Rochellys Heijtz, lead author of the

study:

"The data suggests that there is a critical period

early in life when gut microorganisms affect the brain

and change the behavior in later life."

In a similar way, probiotics have also been found to influence

the activity of hundreds of your genes, helping them

to express in a positive, disease-fighting manner.

The Gut-Brain Connection

When you consider the fact that the gut-brain connection is

recognized as a basic tenet of physiology and medicine, and

that there's no shortage of evidence of gastrointestinal

involvement in a variety of neurological diseases, it's easy

to see how the balance of gut bacteria can play a

significant role in your psychology and behavior as well.

With this in mind, it should also be crystal clear that

nourishing your gut flora is extremely important, from

cradle to grave, because in a very real sense you have two

brains, one inside your skull and one in your gut,

and each needs its own vital nourishment.

Interestingly, these two organs are actually created out of

the same type of tissue. During fetal development, one part

turns into your central nervous system while the other

develops into your enteric nervous system. These two systems

are connected via the vagus nerve, the tenth cranial nerve

that runs from your brain stem down to your abdomen. This is

what connects your two brains together, and explains such

phenomena as getting butterflies in your stomach when you're

nervous, for example. (For an interesting and well-written

layman's explanation of this connection, read through

Blakeslee's 1996 New York Times article Complex and Hidden

Brain in Gut Makes Stomachaches and Butterflies.)

Your gut and brain work in tandem, each influencing the

other. This is why your intestinal health can have such a

profound influence on your mental health, and vice versa.

As a result, it should be obvious that your diet is closely

linked to your mental health. Furthermore, it's requires

almost no stretch of the imagination to see how lack of

nutrition can have an adverse effect on your mood and

subsequently your behavior.

Have We Become Too Sanitized for Our Own Sanity?

Another study published

last year in the Archives of General Psychiatry

reviewed the evidence for signs that psychiatric

problems might be caused by lack of natural microorganisms

in soil, food, and the gut. And it did find such a link.

Rates of depression in younger people have steadily grown

to outnumber rates of depression in the older populations,

and one reason for this could be the lack of exposure to

bacteria, both outside and inside your body.

Quite simply, modern society may have gotten too sanitized

and pasteurized for our own good.

Fermented foods have been traditional staples in most

cultures, but modern food manufacturing, with its focus on

killing ALL bacteria in the name of food safety, has

eliminated most of these foods. You can still

find traditionally

fermented foods like natto or kefir, but they're not

the dietary staples they once used to be, and many people

don't like them when trying them out for the first time in

adulthood.

When you deprive your child of all this bacteria, her

immune system—which is her primary defense system against

inflammation—actually gets weaker, not stronger. And higher

levels of inflammation are not only a hallmark of heart

disease and diabetes, but also of depression.

The

authors explain it as follows:

"Significant data suggest that a variety of

microorganisms (frequently referred to as the "old

friends") were tasked by coevolutionary processes with

training the human immune system to tolerate a wide

array of non-threatening but potentially proinflammatory

stimuli. Lacking such immune training, vulnerable

individuals in the modern world are at significantly

increased risk of mounting inappropriate inflammatory

attacks on harmless environmental antigens (leading to

asthma), benign food contents and commensals in the gut

(leading to inflammatory bowel disease), or

self-antigens (leading to any of a host of autoimmune

diseases).

Loss of exposure to the old friends may promote major

depression by increasing background levels of

depressogenic cytokines and may predispose vulnerable

individuals in industrialized societies to mount

inappropriately aggressive inflammatory responses to

psychosocial stressors, again leading to increased rates

of depression.

… Measured exposure to the old friends or their

antigens may offer promise for the prevention and

treatment of major depression in modern industrialized

societies."

Researchers around the World have Linked Gut Problems to

Brain Disorders

Brain disorders can take many forms, one of which is

autism. In this particular area you can again find

compelling evidence of the link between brain and gut

health. For example, gluten intolerance is frequently a

feature of autism, and many autistic children will improve

when following a strict gluten-free diet. Many autistic

children also tend to improve when given probiotics, either

in the form of fermented foods or probiotic supplements.

Dr. Wakefield is just one of many who have

investigated the connection between developmental disorders

and bowel disease. He has published about 130-140

peer-reviewed papers looking at the mechanism and cause of

inflammatory bowel disease, and has extensively investigated

the brain-bowel connection in the context of children with

developmental disorders such as autism.

A large number of replication studies have also been

performed around the world, by other researchers, confirming

the curious link between brain disorders such as autism and

gastrointestinal dysfunction. For a list of more

than 25 of those studies, please see this previous article.

Other Health Benefits of Probiotics

Your body contains about 100 trillion bacteria -- more than

10 TIMES the number of cells you have in your entire body.

Ideally, the ratio between the bacteria in your gut is 85

percent "good" and 15 percent "bad."

In addition to the psychological implications discussed

above, a healthy ratio of good to bad gut bacteria is

essential for:

Protection against over-growth of other microorganisms

that could cause disease

Digestion of food and absorption of nutrients

Digesting and absorbing certain carbohydrates

Producing vitamins, absorbing minerals and eliminating

toxins

Preventing allergies

Signs of having an excess of unhealthy bacteria in your gut

include gas and bloating, fatigue, sugar cravings, nausea,

headaches, constipation or diarrhea.

What Interferes With Healthy Gut Bacteria?

Your gut bacteria do not live in a bubble; rather, they are

an active and integrated part of your body, and as such are

vulnerable to your lifestyle. If you eat a lot of processed

foods, for instance, your gut bacteria are going to be

compromised because processed foods in general will destroy

healthy microflora and feed bad bacteria and yeast.

Your gut bacteria are also very sensitive to:

Antibiotics

Chlorinated water

Antibacterial soap

Agricultural chemicals

Pollution

Because of these latter items, to which virtually all of us

are exposed at least occasionally, it's generally a good

idea to "reseed" the good bacteria in your gut by taking a

high-quality probiotic supplement or eating fermented foods.

Tips for Optimizing Your Gut Bacteria

Getting back to the issue of inflammation for a moment,

it's important to realize that an estimated 80 percent of

your immune system is actually located in your gut, which is

why you need to regularly reseed your gut with good

bacteria.

Additionally, when you consider that your gut is your

second brain AND the seat of your immune system, it becomes

easy to see how your gut health can impact your brain

function, psyche, and behavior, as they are interconnected

and interdependent in a number of different ways—several of

which are discussed above.

In light of this, here are my recommendations for

optimizing your gut bacteria.

Fermented foods are still the best

route to optimal digestive health, as long as you eat the

traditionally made, unpasteurized versions. Healthy

choices include lassi (an Indian yoghurt drink,

traditionally enjoyed before dinner), fermented milk such

as kefir,

various pickled fermentations of cabbage, turnips,

eggplant, cucumbers, onions, squash and carrots, and natto

(fermented soy).

If you regularly eat fermented foods such as these that,

again, have not been pasteurized (pasteurization kills the

naturally occurring probiotics), your healthy gut bacteria

will thrive.

Probiotic supplement. Although I'm not

a major proponent of taking many supplements (as I believe

the majority of your nutrients need to come from food),

probiotics are definitely an exception. I have used many

different brands over the past 15 years and there are many

good ones out there. I also spent a long time researching

and developing my own, called Complete Probiotics, in

which I incorporated everything I have learned about this

important tool over the years.

If you do not eat fermented foods, taking a high

quality probiotic supplement is definitely recommended.

[Guest guest]

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/04/12/beware--bacteria-growing-in-your-gut-can-influence-your-behavior.aspx

If You Can't Beat Depression, This Could be Why

Posted By

Dr. Mercola | April 12

2011 | 82,617

views

Researchers examined the performance of germ-free mice, who

lack gut bacteria, on a kind of maze used to test anxiety-like

behaviors. The maze is in the shape of a plus with two open and

two closed arms; normally, mice will avoid open spaces to

minimize the risk of being seen by predators.

Normal mice, as expected, spent far more time in the closed

arms when placed in the maze. The germ-free mice, however,

entered the open arms far more often, spending significantly

more time there than in the closed arms.

According to the study in Neurogastroenterology & Motility,

when they examined the animals' brains, they found that:

"these differences in behavior were accompanied by

alterations in the expression levels of several genes in the

germ-free mice. ... Bacteria colonize the gut in the days

following birth, during a sensitive period of brain

development, and apparently influence behavior by inducing

changes in the expression of certain genes."

Sources:

Neurogastroenterology

& Motility March 2011; 23(3); 255–e119

Dr. Mercola's Comments:

Most people fail to realize that your gut is quite

literally your second brain, and actually has the ability to

significantly influence your:

Mind

Mood

Behavior

So while modern psychiatry still falsely

claims that psychological problems such as depression are

caused by a chemical imbalance in your brain,

researchers keep finding that depression and a variety of

behavioral problems actually appear to be linked to an

imbalance of bacteria in your gut!

Germ-Free Mice Engage in High-Risk Behavior

In the featured study published last month in Neurogastroenterology

& Motility, mice that lack gut bacteria were

found to behave differently from normal mice, engaging in

what would be referred to as "high-risk behavior." This

altered behavior was accompanied by neurochemical changes in

the mouse brain.

According to the authors, microbiota (your gut flora) may

play a role in the communication between your gut and your

brain, and:

"Acquisition of intestinal microbiota in the

immediate postnatal period has a defining impact on the

development and function of the gastrointestinal,

immune, neuroendocrine and metabolic systems. For

example, the presence of gut microbiota

regulates the set point for

hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity."

The neurotransmitter serotonin

activates your hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis by

stimulating certain serotonin receptors in your brain.

Additionally, neurotransmitters like serotonin can also be

found in your gut. In fact, the greatest

concentration of serotonin, which is involved in mood

control, depression and aggression, is found in your

intestines, not your brain!

So it actually makes perfect sense to nourish your gut

flora for optimal serotonin function as it can have a

profound impact on your mood, psychological health, and

behavior.

The authors concluded that:

"[T]he presence or absence of conventional intestinal

microbiota influences the development of behavior..."

This conclusion adds support to another

recent animal study, which also found that gut

bacteria may influence mammalian early brain development and

behavior. But that's not all. They also discovered that the

absence or presence of gut microorganisms during infancy permanently

alters gene expression.

Through gene profiling, they were able to discern that

absence of gut bacteria altered genes and signaling pathways

involved in learning, memory, and motor control. This

suggests that gut bacteria is closely tied to early brain

development and subsequent behavior. These behavioral

changes could be reversed as long as the mice were exposed

to normal microorganisms early in life. But once the

germ-free mice had reached adulthood, colonizing them with

bacteria did not influence their behavior.

According to Dr. Rochellys Heijtz, lead author of the

study:

"The data suggests that there is a critical period

early in life when gut microorganisms affect the brain

and change the behavior in later life."

In a similar way, probiotics have also been found to influence

the activity of hundreds of your genes, helping them

to express in a positive, disease-fighting manner.

The Gut-Brain Connection

When you consider the fact that the gut-brain connection is

recognized as a basic tenet of physiology and medicine, and

that there's no shortage of evidence of gastrointestinal

involvement in a variety of neurological diseases, it's easy

to see how the balance of gut bacteria can play a

significant role in your psychology and behavior as well.

With this in mind, it should also be crystal clear that

nourishing your gut flora is extremely important, from

cradle to grave, because in a very real sense you have two

brains, one inside your skull and one in your gut,

and each needs its own vital nourishment.

Interestingly, these two organs are actually created out of

the same type of tissue. During fetal development, one part

turns into your central nervous system while the other

develops into your enteric nervous system. These two systems

are connected via the vagus nerve, the tenth cranial nerve

that runs from your brain stem down to your abdomen. This is

what connects your two brains together, and explains such

phenomena as getting butterflies in your stomach when you're

nervous, for example. (For an interesting and well-written

layman's explanation of this connection, read through

Blakeslee's 1996 New York Times article Complex and Hidden

Brain in Gut Makes Stomachaches and Butterflies.)

Your gut and brain work in tandem, each influencing the

other. This is why your intestinal health can have such a

profound influence on your mental health, and vice versa.

As a result, it should be obvious that your diet is closely

linked to your mental health. Furthermore, it's requires

almost no stretch of the imagination to see how lack of

nutrition can have an adverse effect on your mood and

subsequently your behavior.

Have We Become Too Sanitized for Our Own Sanity?

Another study published

last year in the Archives of General Psychiatry

reviewed the evidence for signs that psychiatric

problems might be caused by lack of natural microorganisms

in soil, food, and the gut. And it did find such a link.

Rates of depression in younger people have steadily grown

to outnumber rates of depression in the older populations,

and one reason for this could be the lack of exposure to

bacteria, both outside and inside your body.

Quite simply, modern society may have gotten too sanitized

and pasteurized for our own good.

Fermented foods have been traditional staples in most

cultures, but modern food manufacturing, with its focus on

killing ALL bacteria in the name of food safety, has

eliminated most of these foods. You can still

find traditionally

fermented foods like natto or kefir, but they're not

the dietary staples they once used to be, and many people

don't like them when trying them out for the first time in

adulthood.

When you deprive your child of all this bacteria, her

immune system—which is her primary defense system against

inflammation—actually gets weaker, not stronger. And higher

levels of inflammation are not only a hallmark of heart

disease and diabetes, but also of depression.

The

authors explain it as follows:

"Significant data suggest that a variety of

microorganisms (frequently referred to as the "old

friends") were tasked by coevolutionary processes with

training the human immune system to tolerate a wide

array of non-threatening but potentially proinflammatory

stimuli. Lacking such immune training, vulnerable

individuals in the modern world are at significantly

increased risk of mounting inappropriate inflammatory

attacks on harmless environmental antigens (leading to

asthma), benign food contents and commensals in the gut

(leading to inflammatory bowel disease), or

self-antigens (leading to any of a host of autoimmune

diseases).

Loss of exposure to the old friends may promote major

depression by increasing background levels of

depressogenic cytokines and may predispose vulnerable

individuals in industrialized societies to mount

inappropriately aggressive inflammatory responses to

psychosocial stressors, again leading to increased rates

of depression.

… Measured exposure to the old friends or their

antigens may offer promise for the prevention and

treatment of major depression in modern industrialized

societies."

Researchers around the World have Linked Gut Problems to

Brain Disorders

Brain disorders can take many forms, one of which is

autism. In this particular area you can again find

compelling evidence of the link between brain and gut

health. For example, gluten intolerance is frequently a

feature of autism, and many autistic children will improve

when following a strict gluten-free diet. Many autistic

children also tend to improve when given probiotics, either

in the form of fermented foods or probiotic supplements.

Dr. Wakefield is just one of many who have

investigated the connection between developmental disorders

and bowel disease. He has published about 130-140

peer-reviewed papers looking at the mechanism and cause of

inflammatory bowel disease, and has extensively investigated

the brain-bowel connection in the context of children with

developmental disorders such as autism.

A large number of replication studies have also been

performed around the world, by other researchers, confirming

the curious link between brain disorders such as autism and

gastrointestinal dysfunction. For a list of more

than 25 of those studies, please see this previous article.

Other Health Benefits of Probiotics

Your body contains about 100 trillion bacteria -- more than

10 TIMES the number of cells you have in your entire body.

Ideally, the ratio between the bacteria in your gut is 85

percent "good" and 15 percent "bad."

In addition to the psychological implications discussed

above, a healthy ratio of good to bad gut bacteria is

essential for:

Protection against over-growth of other microorganisms

that could cause disease

Digestion of food and absorption of nutrients

Digesting and absorbing certain carbohydrates

Producing vitamins, absorbing minerals and eliminating

toxins

Preventing allergies

Signs of having an excess of unhealthy bacteria in your gut

include gas and bloating, fatigue, sugar cravings, nausea,

headaches, constipation or diarrhea.

What Interferes With Healthy Gut Bacteria?

Your gut bacteria do not live in a bubble; rather, they are

an active and integrated part of your body, and as such are

vulnerable to your lifestyle. If you eat a lot of processed

foods, for instance, your gut bacteria are going to be

compromised because processed foods in general will destroy

healthy microflora and feed bad bacteria and yeast.

Your gut bacteria are also very sensitive to:

Antibiotics

Chlorinated water

Antibacterial soap

Agricultural chemicals

Pollution

Because of these latter items, to which virtually all of us

are exposed at least occasionally, it's generally a good

idea to "reseed" the good bacteria in your gut by taking a

high-quality probiotic supplement or eating fermented foods.

Tips for Optimizing Your Gut Bacteria

Getting back to the issue of inflammation for a moment,

it's important to realize that an estimated 80 percent of

your immune system is actually located in your gut, which is

why you need to regularly reseed your gut with good

bacteria.

Additionally, when you consider that your gut is your

second brain AND the seat of your immune system, it becomes

easy to see how your gut health can impact your brain

function, psyche, and behavior, as they are interconnected

and interdependent in a number of different ways—several of

which are discussed above.

In light of this, here are my recommendations for

optimizing your gut bacteria.

Fermented foods are still the best

route to optimal digestive health, as long as you eat the

traditionally made, unpasteurized versions. Healthy

choices include lassi (an Indian yoghurt drink,

traditionally enjoyed before dinner), fermented milk such

as kefir,

various pickled fermentations of cabbage, turnips,

eggplant, cucumbers, onions, squash and carrots, and natto

(fermented soy).

If you regularly eat fermented foods such as these that,

again, have not been pasteurized (pasteurization kills the

naturally occurring probiotics), your healthy gut bacteria

will thrive.

Probiotic supplement. Although I'm not

a major proponent of taking many supplements (as I believe

the majority of your nutrients need to come from food),

probiotics are definitely an exception. I have used many

different brands over the past 15 years and there are many

good ones out there. I also spent a long time researching

and developing my own, called Complete Probiotics, in

which I incorporated everything I have learned about this

important tool over the years.

If you do not eat fermented foods, taking a high

quality probiotic supplement is definitely recommended.

[Guest guest]

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/04/12/beware--bacteria-growing-in-your-gut-can-influence-your-behavior.aspx

If You Can't Beat Depression, This Could be Why

Posted By

Dr. Mercola | April 12

2011 | 82,617

views

Researchers examined the performance of germ-free mice, who

lack gut bacteria, on a kind of maze used to test anxiety-like

behaviors. The maze is in the shape of a plus with two open and

two closed arms; normally, mice will avoid open spaces to

minimize the risk of being seen by predators.

Normal mice, as expected, spent far more time in the closed

arms when placed in the maze. The germ-free mice, however,

entered the open arms far more often, spending significantly

more time there than in the closed arms.

According to the study in Neurogastroenterology & Motility,

when they examined the animals' brains, they found that:

"these differences in behavior were accompanied by

alterations in the expression levels of several genes in the

germ-free mice. ... Bacteria colonize the gut in the days

following birth, during a sensitive period of brain

development, and apparently influence behavior by inducing

changes in the expression of certain genes."

Sources:

Neurogastroenterology

& Motility March 2011; 23(3); 255–e119

Dr. Mercola's Comments:

Most people fail to realize that your gut is quite

literally your second brain, and actually has the ability to

significantly influence your:

Mind

Mood

Behavior

So while modern psychiatry still falsely

claims that psychological problems such as depression are

caused by a chemical imbalance in your brain,

researchers keep finding that depression and a variety of

behavioral problems actually appear to be linked to an

imbalance of bacteria in your gut!

Germ-Free Mice Engage in High-Risk Behavior

In the featured study published last month in Neurogastroenterology

& Motility, mice that lack gut bacteria were

found to behave differently from normal mice, engaging in

what would be referred to as "high-risk behavior." This

altered behavior was accompanied by neurochemical changes in

the mouse brain.

According to the authors, microbiota (your gut flora) may

play a role in the communication between your gut and your

brain, and:

"Acquisition of intestinal microbiota in the

immediate postnatal period has a defining impact on the

development and function of the gastrointestinal,

immune, neuroendocrine and metabolic systems. For

example, the presence of gut microbiota

regulates the set point for

hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity."

The neurotransmitter serotonin

activates your hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis by

stimulating certain serotonin receptors in your brain.

Additionally, neurotransmitters like serotonin can also be

found in your gut. In fact, the greatest

concentration of serotonin, which is involved in mood

control, depression and aggression, is found in your

intestines, not your brain!

So it actually makes perfect sense to nourish your gut

flora for optimal serotonin function as it can have a

profound impact on your mood, psychological health, and

behavior.

The authors concluded that:

"[T]he presence or absence of conventional intestinal

microbiota influences the development of behavior..."

This conclusion adds support to another

recent animal study, which also found that gut

bacteria may influence mammalian early brain development and

behavior. But that's not all. They also discovered that the

absence or presence of gut microorganisms during infancy permanently

alters gene expression.

Through gene profiling, they were able to discern that

absence of gut bacteria altered genes and signaling pathways

involved in learning, memory, and motor control. This

suggests that gut bacteria is closely tied to early brain

development and subsequent behavior. These behavioral

changes could be reversed as long as the mice were exposed

to normal microorganisms early in life. But once the

germ-free mice had reached adulthood, colonizing them with

bacteria did not influence their behavior.

According to Dr. Rochellys Heijtz, lead author of the

study:

"The data suggests that there is a critical period

early in life when gut microorganisms affect the brain

and change the behavior in later life."

In a similar way, probiotics have also been found to influence

the activity of hundreds of your genes, helping them

to express in a positive, disease-fighting manner.

The Gut-Brain Connection

When you consider the fact that the gut-brain connection is

recognized as a basic tenet of physiology and medicine, and

that there's no shortage of evidence of gastrointestinal

involvement in a variety of neurological diseases, it's easy

to see how the balance of gut bacteria can play a

significant role in your psychology and behavior as well.

With this in mind, it should also be crystal clear that

nourishing your gut flora is extremely important, from

cradle to grave, because in a very real sense you have two

brains, one inside your skull and one in your gut,

and each needs its own vital nourishment.

Interestingly, these two organs are actually created out of

the same type of tissue. During fetal development, one part

turns into your central nervous system while the other

develops into your enteric nervous system. These two systems

are connected via the vagus nerve, the tenth cranial nerve

that runs from your brain stem down to your abdomen. This is

what connects your two brains together, and explains such

phenomena as getting butterflies in your stomach when you're

nervous, for example. (For an interesting and well-written

layman's explanation of this connection, read through

Blakeslee's 1996 New York Times article Complex and Hidden

Brain in Gut Makes Stomachaches and Butterflies.)

Your gut and brain work in tandem, each influencing the

other. This is why your intestinal health can have such a

profound influence on your mental health, and vice versa.

As a result, it should be obvious that your diet is closely

linked to your mental health. Furthermore, it's requires

almost no stretch of the imagination to see how lack of

nutrition can have an adverse effect on your mood and

subsequently your behavior.

Have We Become Too Sanitized for Our Own Sanity?

Another study published

last year in the Archives of General Psychiatry

reviewed the evidence for signs that psychiatric

problems might be caused by lack of natural microorganisms

in soil, food, and the gut. And it did find such a link.

Rates of depression in younger people have steadily grown

to outnumber rates of depression in the older populations,

and one reason for this could be the lack of exposure to

bacteria, both outside and inside your body.

Quite simply, modern society may have gotten too sanitized

and pasteurized for our own good.

Fermented foods have been traditional staples in most

cultures, but modern food manufacturing, with its focus on

killing ALL bacteria in the name of food safety, has

eliminated most of these foods. You can still

find traditionally

fermented foods like natto or kefir, but they're not

the dietary staples they once used to be, and many people

don't like them when trying them out for the first time in

adulthood.

When you deprive your child of all this bacteria, her

immune system—which is her primary defense system against

inflammation—actually gets weaker, not stronger. And higher

levels of inflammation are not only a hallmark of heart

disease and diabetes, but also of depression.

The

authors explain it as follows:

"Significant data suggest that a variety of

microorganisms (frequently referred to as the "old

friends") were tasked by coevolutionary processes with

training the human immune system to tolerate a wide

array of non-threatening but potentially proinflammatory

stimuli. Lacking such immune training, vulnerable

individuals in the modern world are at significantly

increased risk of mounting inappropriate inflammatory

attacks on harmless environmental antigens (leading to

asthma), benign food contents and commensals in the gut

(leading to inflammatory bowel disease), or

self-antigens (leading to any of a host of autoimmune

diseases).

Loss of exposure to the old friends may promote major

depression by increasing background levels of

depressogenic cytokines and may predispose vulnerable

individuals in industrialized societies to mount

inappropriately aggressive inflammatory responses to

psychosocial stressors, again leading to increased rates

of depression.

… Measured exposure to the old friends or their

antigens may offer promise for the prevention and

treatment of major depression in modern industrialized

societies."

Researchers around the World have Linked Gut Problems to

Brain Disorders

Brain disorders can take many forms, one of which is

autism. In this particular area you can again find

compelling evidence of the link between brain and gut

health. For example, gluten intolerance is frequently a

feature of autism, and many autistic children will improve

when following a strict gluten-free diet. Many autistic

children also tend to improve when given probiotics, either

in the form of fermented foods or probiotic supplements.

Dr. Wakefield is just one of many who have

investigated the connection between developmental disorders

and bowel disease. He has published about 130-140

peer-reviewed papers looking at the mechanism and cause of

inflammatory bowel disease, and has extensively investigated

the brain-bowel connection in the context of children with

developmental disorders such as autism.

A large number of replication studies have also been

performed around the world, by other researchers, confirming

the curious link between brain disorders such as autism and

gastrointestinal dysfunction. For a list of more

than 25 of those studies, please see this previous article.

Other Health Benefits of Probiotics

Your body contains about 100 trillion bacteria -- more than

10 TIMES the number of cells you have in your entire body.

Ideally, the ratio between the bacteria in your gut is 85

percent "good" and 15 percent "bad."

In addition to the psychological implications discussed

above, a healthy ratio of good to bad gut bacteria is

essential for:

Protection against over-growth of other microorganisms

that could cause disease

Digestion of food and absorption of nutrients

Digesting and absorbing certain carbohydrates

Producing vitamins, absorbing minerals and eliminating

toxins

Preventing allergies

Signs of having an excess of unhealthy bacteria in your gut

include gas and bloating, fatigue, sugar cravings, nausea,

headaches, constipation or diarrhea.

What Interferes With Healthy Gut Bacteria?

Your gut bacteria do not live in a bubble; rather, they are

an active and integrated part of your body, and as such are

vulnerable to your lifestyle. If you eat a lot of processed

foods, for instance, your gut bacteria are going to be

compromised because processed foods in general will destroy

healthy microflora and feed bad bacteria and yeast.

Your gut bacteria are also very sensitive to:

Antibiotics

Chlorinated water

Antibacterial soap

Agricultural chemicals

Pollution

Because of these latter items, to which virtually all of us

are exposed at least occasionally, it's generally a good

idea to "reseed" the good bacteria in your gut by taking a

high-quality probiotic supplement or eating fermented foods.

Tips for Optimizing Your Gut Bacteria

Getting back to the issue of inflammation for a moment,

it's important to realize that an estimated 80 percent of

your immune system is actually located in your gut, which is

why you need to regularly reseed your gut with good

bacteria.

Additionally, when you consider that your gut is your

second brain AND the seat of your immune system, it becomes

easy to see how your gut health can impact your brain

function, psyche, and behavior, as they are interconnected

and interdependent in a number of different ways—several of

which are discussed above.

In light of this, here are my recommendations for

optimizing your gut bacteria.

Fermented foods are still the best

route to optimal digestive health, as long as you eat the

traditionally made, unpasteurized versions. Healthy

choices include lassi (an Indian yoghurt drink,

traditionally enjoyed before dinner), fermented milk such

as kefir,

various pickled fermentations of cabbage, turnips,

eggplant, cucumbers, onions, squash and carrots, and natto

(fermented soy).

If you regularly eat fermented foods such as these that,

again, have not been pasteurized (pasteurization kills the

naturally occurring probiotics), your healthy gut bacteria

will thrive.

Probiotic supplement. Although I'm not

a major proponent of taking many supplements (as I believe

the majority of your nutrients need to come from food),

probiotics are definitely an exception. I have used many

different brands over the past 15 years and there are many

good ones out there. I also spent a long time researching

and developing my own, called Complete Probiotics, in

which I incorporated everything I have learned about this

important tool over the years.

If you do not eat fermented foods, taking a high

quality probiotic supplement is definitely recommended.