The Mind Gut Connection - Emeran Maye | Summarized Books

The Mind Gut Connection : How The Hidden Conversation Within Our Bodies Impact Our Mind, Our Choices, And Our Overall Health

The mind-gut connection is an innovative way to assess the health

Medicine and science are on a constant search in understanding fully the mechanism by which our minds are connected to our guts.

The author believes that the practice of the 1970s when medicine and surgery provided the ultimate measure to fix acute problems such as; infections, accidental injuries or heart disease can no longer suffice in this modern era. Unlike in the 70s, where a derail in health condition was associated to the malfunctioning of an organ or gene, the modern era considers the complex regulatory mechanism in assessing health.

This complex regulatory mechanism aids our adaptation to the constantly changing environment and it is in turn influenced by our changing lifestyle. One major component of the regulatory system are the microbes present in the gut – the gut microbiota, which constantly produces signaling molecules.

The author thinks there is a communication between the brain, gut and trillions of micro-organisms living in the gut. This communication has an enormous impact on the health of our brain and gut.

The traditional approach of medicine didn’t sit quite well with the author, as it amazed him that the possible influence of the brain on common diseases like; stomach ulcer, hypertension, and chronic pain was hardly mentioned. For decades, the general practice of medicine undermines the actual cause of any health-related problem. The practitioners believed then that as long as the problem is solved, there was no need to understand the cause. This practice led to the treatment of high blood pressure that involved the use of beta blockers and calcium antagonist to block abnormal signals from the brain to the heart and blood vessels. Medicine and science belittled the influence of the malfunctioning of the brain that was the primary cause of the aberration.

Just like the world of technology is constantly evolving, the practice of medicine is also evolving.

The author believes the old model of understanding the human body has shown a number of shortcomings which include; a failure in the effective treatment of chronic diseases, rapid rise in obesity and metabolic-related disease, autoimmune diseases and disease of the developing and aging brain such as; autism, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. This is so because the crucial role of the two most important systems responsible for the maintenance of whole body health has been ignored — the gut (digestive system) and the brain (nervous system).

You will be awed by the fact that the digestive system is not just some old fashioned device that functions based on the 19th century steam engine principles, it is much more delicate, complex and powerful; it is intricately connected to the brain. It has its own nervous system little wonder it called “the second brain”, it contains endocrine cells larger than the combined endocrine organs of the body, it is the largest storehouse of serotonin which plays a crucial role in gut-brain interaction.

The gut and the brain are intricately connected through a bidirectional signaling pathway, from which both gut sensation and gut reaction are processed. These interactions play a crucial role in the generation of emotions and optimal gut function.

The dawn of gut microbiome has led to findings which have great implications on health, its diversity and abundance vary over the life of an individual, its vulnerability is a strong implication for both neurodevelopmental disorders like autism and neurodegenerative disorders such as — Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. A fall in the balance of the gut microbiota can result in a drastic change in the body’s well-being — the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics which result in enormous loss of these diverse microbes can result in Clostridium difficile colitis that manifest as severe diarrhea and gut inflammation. The well-being of the gut microbiota depends on the food you consume, the microbiota is able to digest myriads of food consumed processing them into metabolite which travels through the bloodstream transmitting long-distance signaling influencing every organ including the brain.

The author thinks that this knowledge of an integrated gut microbiota-brain system and its intimate relationship with the food we consume reveals how the mind, brain, gut and gut microbiota interact. Hence, this new understanding creates a more demanding world for the healthcare system as the old concept of medicine can no longer suffice.

How your mind communicates with your gut

We generally experience an emotional facial expression which could be anger, fear, happiness or sadness depending on the situation at hand. These expressions are responses from signals being transmitted from the brain to the face. The author believes that the gut also has a mirror image of our facial expressions, even if we can’t see the manifestation these emotions.

Emotions are closely reflected in a person’s facial expression, a similar expression of our emotions occurs in different regions of our gut. Anytime your stomach ties up in knots, or you feel butterflies in your stomach or a gut-wrenching feeling, it is the emotion-generating circuits of your brain that are responsible. Hence, emotions, brain, and guts are uniquely connected.

The author gave an analysis that nearly 15% of the US population suffers a range of abnormal gut reaction including; irritable bowel syndrome, chronic constipation, indigestion and functional heartburn, which all fall into brain-gut disorders. They suffer from symptoms such as; queasiness, gurgling, bloating and unbearable pain, many of which have no idea that these abnormal gut reactions are a reflection of their emotional state.

He narrates the story of a patient named Bill, who suffered episodes of cyclical vomiting for about eight years before his encounter with him. He explains that this condition could go symptom-free for years but when stressful life event could spark up cascade of events in the guts, due to imbalance which eventually leads to a recurrence of symptoms. This is basically associated with an increase in the stress molecule called corticotropin-releasing factor or CRF for short, which is located in the brain and functions as a master switch that sends the brain and body into stress mode. Hence, in response to any stressful event that perturbs the normal balance of the body, the brain responds by releasing the CRF, which switches all organs of the body including the gut to stress mode. This process stimulates gut reactions that influence the composition and activity of gut microbiota.

In Bill’s case, the episodes present after about fifteen minutes of intense stress; anxiety, sweating, cold hands and pounding of his heart during which he was being given narcotic pain killers in the emergency room just to keep him calm but the actual problem was ignored during the previous eight years occurrence. His meeting with the author was a great turning point for Bill because he came to a full understanding of the situation and he was given the desired treatment. Bills condition improved by the day.

The author explains that the gut coordinates the entire activities of digestion following all the intricate process with little or no help from the brain. However, the actions of the emotional brain have great influence on the automatic functions of the gut — the reason your mood influences your appetite.

The brain acts as an overseer, hence it can overrule the automatic functions of the gut even if it works perfectly on its own.

How the gut communicates with the mind

The author believes that a myriad of sensations are released daily in our gut based on our different activities. However, we are only aware of sensations that requires our physical response; a sensation of hunger which urges us to eat, a sensation of satiety which prompts us to stop eating, or a sensation of fullness in our belly that makes us feel the urge to use the toilet. On the other hand, we remain unaware other myriad of sensations in the gut until there is a perturbation in our gut such as; stomach ache, heartburn, nausea, persistent bloating, or even viral gastroenteritis or food poisoning. These unpleasant sensations then urge us to seek help and avoid future occurrence by steering clear of the causing agent.

He further explains that more than 90% of sensory information collected by your gut never reaches conscious awareness. Many of your gut sensations are quietly directed the little brain in your gut through a complex sensory mechanism. 90 percent of signals conveyed in the vagus nerve travel from the gut to the brain while just 10 percent travel from the brain to the gut. This further explains that the gut can run most of its activities without any interference from the brain. However, the brain tends to depend greatly on vital signals from the gut.

There are sensory nerves present in the guts that are in constant communication with the brain throughout your lifetime. The gut-brain communication channel involves both endocrine cells and immune cells which are both present in out guts send signals to nearby neurons called the vagus nerves through which various gut sensations reach the brain.

The author also gives an insight that there is an ultimate gut-brain signaling molecule called serotonin. These serotonin signaling cells are intricately connected to both the small brain in the gut and to the big brain. It serves to link events in the gut related to food, intestinal microbes and certain medications to the activity of our digestive system. It also plays a crucial role in regulating peristalsis as well as sending signals to most regions of the brain to influence some vital functions such as; appetite, mood, pain, and sensitivity.

The author states that “when we consider the dense distribution and the vast area gut sensory receptors occupy in the lining of the gut wall, it is clear that our gut is transmitting the immense amount of information to our brain at any given time”. Hence, we can deduce from all these findings that our gut and brain are in constant connection. We would learn further subsequently how this connection influences how we feel, our health and what we eat.

Influence of gut microbiota on the gut-brain dialogue

The author believes that humans have used various non-scientific explanations and rituals to allay their fears and anxiety over health threats beyond their control. Hence, the use of dietary cleansing rituals including juicing and special diet aimed at cleansing the gut, which in itself is a negation from the truth. However, from scientific studies, there is the truth that some microbes are harmful because they don’t play by the rule, so they hack into the brain to use its emotional operating programs for their selfish gain. These microbes are; parasites and viruses.

Parasites and viruses are not the only microbes that have a remarkable influence on the brain. There are other microbes with a positive influence on our brain and gut. Our gut microbes play an integral role in the interaction between the gut sensations – signals from the gut to the brain, and the gut reactions — signals from the brain to the gut.

How do the gut microbes communicate with the brain?

A variety of signals including hormones, neurotransmitters and myriads of small compounds called metabolite are in constant communication with the brain. The metabolite is products of indigestible leftovers what we consume which the gut microbes feed on. The gut microbiota is involved in an extensive dialogue with the brain using sophisticated biochemical languages which the author calls — Microbes speak.

The author explains that in ancient times, microbes developed a symbiotic relationship with animals, and they found ways to transfer vital genetic information to their host animals. This made the host animals have access to a wide range of molecules that they lacked. Some of these molecules became hormone, neurotransmitters, gut peptide, cytokines and other signaling molecules used by the body, most of which triggered a range of emotions as well as gut control. All these were built up and regulated in the gut — the enteric nervous system of the primitive animals. However, in more complex animals like humans, the central nervous system controls the management.

The communication with the brain occurs through different modes of transmission including; molecules that can communicate as inflammatory signals, travel through the blood like hormones or communicate in form of nerves. The gut microbe listens to the brain’s ongoing conversation and communicates in a very dynamic manner. The amount of information communicated depends on the thickness and integrity of the thin mucus lining of the gut surface, its leakiness, and the blood-brain barrier.

The author further explains that factors such as; stress, inflammation and high-fat diet, as well as certain food additives, can reduce the integrity of the barrier. Hence, from these facts, it is clear that the gut microbiota plays an indispensable role in gut-brain communication.

Influence of early life experience on our gut-brain dialogue

Our early life experience goes a long way in building our entire being.

The author expresses that it makes intuitive sense that growing up in a harmonious and protected family environment has a positive effect on a person’s development. So does certain restrained and adverse childhood experience result in psychological problems later in life? Most parents put their best to work to give their wards an optimal setting for children. However, some situations are beyond parental control.

He further explains that in the current practice of medicine, exploring a patient’s first eighteen years has become an essential part of medical history.

The author illustrated his experience in 2002 at a conference he co-organized with Charles Nemeroff, a prominent psychiatrist then at Emory University. The conference was aimed to explore the role of early life trauma in a range of chronic medical and psychiatric disease. During the conference, one of the speakers, Ghislain Devroede a renowned Canadian psychiatrist spoke on how he used psychoanalysis to surface the repressed pain and shame of sexually abused individuals. Nemeroff, however, challenged this view as he stated that “we’ve learned that psychoanalysis is not very effective in treating mental and physical consequences of early life” because no amount of psychoanalysis would ever reverse the trace in the patient’s brain of early abused. Many participants agreed to this view.

The author believes science had shifted their thinking and that profound evidence that stressful experiences in early life like a compromised interaction between the primary caregiver and his or her child can leave a long-lasting trace in the brain of the child.

Stressful events have different effects on the brain, gut and gut microbiota. Stress can stimulate the release of stress factors from brain — CRF, which switches the organs of the body including the gut into stress mode. It can also cause a drastic decrease in gut microbiota due to its effect on the gut.

Also, the effect of stress can be transmitted from one generation to another. It is well known that babies born to highly stressed mothers develop more slowly, have low birth weight and are more vulnerable to infections. On the other hand, the delivery of a healthy pregnancy keeps the baby in a more healthy state. One major reason this happens is because the baby of a healthy mother is naturally exposed to the mother’s vaginal microbiota including Lactobacillus species which provides a key source of microbes to colonize the gut of the baby but in a stressed mother, the vagina microbiota is greatly reduced which also affects the build of the child’s gut microbiota, hence, the implication above.

An innovative understanding of emotions

The author expresses that what makes us human is our emotional feeling. Philosophers, psychologists, and neuroscientists traced the origin of emotions to our brain, body, and mind. They suggested in recent years there might be an unexpected source influencing our emotions. The author thinks this source is the gut microbiota because it plays a crucial role in the interactions between the brain, mind, and gut.

How then does the gut microbiota influence our emotions?

The author made an illustration of its role in depression — if you’ve ever been depressed, you probably recall how sad, discouraged and hopeless you felt. Also, when you felt nervous or irritated, did you have a hard time concentrating? — These are the symptoms of anxiety disorders. Hence, almost half of those diagnosed with depression have anxiety disorders, while people that are chronically anxious have depression.

Patients could be classified as suffering from depression by simply observing the composition of their gut microbiota. There is usually a change in the composition of the gut microbiota of a depressed or anxious individual. There are speculations on how probiotic could alleviate depression or calm anxiety. However, there is no profound scientific prove to this claim.

Much emphasis has been made on how chronic stress detrimentally affects brain-gut-microbiome. What then is the effect of positive emotions like happiness? Emotions and their underlying operating system trigger arrays of chemical signals such as; endorphins — when happy, oxytocin — when we feel closure and dopamine — when we long for something. These chemicals stimulate respective operating system in the brain that leads to lots of distinct gut reaction ranging from contraction, secretion and intestinal blood flow. These emotion-related signaling from the brain to the gut may alter the behavior of microbes in a way that it benefits our health, protect us from gut infections and also increases gut microbial diversity.

The author believes that since gut microbe can influence our emotions, and gut feelings and emotions alter how we behave, then it suffice to say that gut microbe can alter our behavior. They act on our emotions primarily through the metabolite they produce.

As earlier explained the bidirectional communication between the brain, gut and gut microbes has brought to light the fact that gut microbes influences the activities of the brain and also influences the signals the brain sends to the gut based on a particular emotional state. This process in its entirety is being controlled by the brain and the gut.

Gut feeling and its influence on decision making

Generally, our decision making is influenced by well-grounded logic after carefully processed considerations. However, there are choices made without processed considerations. Such choices are made without conscious awareness — when to eat or what to wear.

The author expresses that our daily conversation we frequently use the expression “gut feeling” without realizing the enormous work of cumulative scientific evidence provides the biological basis for this term.

The gut-brain dialogue varies for different individuals in terms of quality, accuracy and underlying biases. Also, certain individuals have shown to be more sensitive than the others because they are usually aware of all signals coming from their gut. This sensitive nature helps them make an informed decision about the food they can consume and more so, they can tell you how sensitive they are to certain food, medication and will even feel butterflies in their stomach when anxious.

Our gut feeling is entwined with our previous experience, hence it helps us makes informed decision when such situations present later in life.

The author thinks that if we can get in touch with our gut feeling and fully understand the role that gut-based memories plays in our intuitive decision making bearing in mind that our actions influence the activities of our gut microbes — through our diet or medication intake, may influence our emotions and predictions about the future.

He strongly believes that once we gain a better understanding of the biological basis of intuitive decision making and we can aim at faithfully improving these skills, there is a range of strategies we can follow to improve our ability and inclination for gut feeling based decision making in life.

How to optimize the brain-gut health

A healthy being is a happy being, and an emotional state of happiness helps you to reflect a beautiful life to the world. Hence to keep our health at peak levels, we need to consider optimizing the brain-gut health. To optimize the brain-gut health, comprehensive knowledge of the role of food on brain-gut connection and the gut microbiota is needed.

The author expresses that food is central to human’s social experience — we meet new friends over dinner, hold breakfast meetings, award luncheons, and pot luck dinners. All these events involve dining together.

The eating habits of humans have evolved overtime and the choices of our meals have become worsened in terms of its detrimental effect on our health. However, many are coming to this realization. On this account, there has been lots of effort channeled towards restoring the good healthy and natural diet that was the core of our sustenance.

The author expresses some of his experiences with the Yanomami and their prehistoric eating habit which kept them and their offspring in a very healthy state — Their diet was rich in a variety of plant produce with little or no lean healthy animal produce and completely salt-free. Hence, no record of high blood pressure and this lean diet profoundly supported gut microbiota thereby keeping them in a very healthy state. They passed this healthy state on to their offspring because of the long period of breastfeeding, which helps in shaping the gut microbiota of the child.

Another healthy diet, which the author explains, is the Mediterranean diet, which is wholesomely beneficial to gut-brain health. The diet contains — 5 servings of vegetables, 1-2 servings of legumes and beans, 3 servings of fruits, 3-5 servings of grains, 5 servings of plant fats, 2 to 4 times per week consumption of seafood and not more than one-time consumption of red meat per week.

From this, we can clearly see that the lean diet rich in plants can enhance the health of the brain and gut because of its ability to build a health gut-microbiome.

He further expresses that high-fat diets are unhealthy because they can numb the satiety response, both at gut and brain through low-grade inflammation, hence reducing your ability to tell you’ve eaten enough. Other unhealthy diets are — artificial sweeteners and food emulsifiers, which can also cause inflammatory changes to the gut-brain axis.

Conclusion

The author wrapped up by expressing that brain-gut-microbiome axis links our brain health to what we eat, how we grow and process our food, what medications we take, how we come into this world and how we interact with microbes in our environment throughout our life. Also that this innovative knowledge will move our focus from just mere treatment of disease to achieving optimal health.

Try this:
A few steps to help you build a healthy gut microbe — take naturally fermented food and probiotics, cut down fatty meal, eat smaller servings, be mindful of prenatal nutrition, enjoy the secret pleasures and social aspect of food, reduce stress and practice mindfulness, avoid food when stressed, sad or angry, become an expert in listening to your gut feelings.