The Gut-Brain-Axis

Does your gut gurgle when you’re feeling nervous, or maybe you have to run to the toilet a few extra times? Or maybe you feel your gut and digestion is sluggish when you’re sad? Or the other way around; are you normally content with life, but notice you get down when you’ve eaten greasy or carb-heavy takeaway repeatedly? This is because there is a gut-brain connection!

The gut and brain ‘talk’ to each other through various channels, and influence each other’s health. This has now been coined as the ‘gut-brain-axis’. Ways that they talk to each other are through the vagus nerve which is bi-directional as well as the central nervous system, gut microbiome, cytokines in the immune system, and hormones in the endocrine system. It is so complex and a vast area of research which is constantly making new discoveries.

A lot of the gut-brain-axis research I have come across is extensive in the area of gut microbiome (also named microbiota, gut flora, or the bacteria that lives in your gut), which may explain why there seems to be a lot of marketing around probiotics of late.

Probiotics can be found in foods such as yoghurt, kefir, kombucha, sauerkraut, tempeh and kimchi. A supplemented probiotic (usually in the form of a capsule) contains a strain, or various strains of bacteria that may be beneficial to the current status of your own gut flora. These can be beneficial and provide temporary relief, however if the diet is not supporting probiotics with ‘prebiotics’, gut issues may certainly persist.

A prebiotic feeds your microbiome – it is a fibre that is part of most fruits, vegetables and legumes that passes through your digestive system undigested and stimulates the growth of the good bacteria in the large intestine.

One way I describe microbiome is that it is like your garden soil, and the more good-quality compost you give it (prebiotics), the better your garden thrives and produces healthier plants – you are the plant!

The bacteria in your gut is not all ‘good’, there are some non-beneficial or ‘bad’ bacteria, and these can have a negative impact on your health. When the balance of bad bacteria has surpassed the beneficial, this is called dysbiosis. If you are experiencing discomfort after eating, like abdominal pain, bloating, flatulence, these may be a sign of dysbiosis. Dysbiosis is also a sign there may be other gastrointestinal issues such as leaky gut, food intolerances, malabsorption and more.

How are you feeling mentally and emotionally right now? Do you have uncomfortable symptoms when you eat? You may be thinking ‘Where do I start?’. With so many factors in play, there is no simple answer to that question. There is no one-size-fits-all diet, because you are unique and live within a unique environment and other lifestyle factors. Talking to a naturopath can help identify what is going on for you, and what type of food, exercise or mental health support is best suited to you and how to introduce these things at a staggered rate, so that these changes are sustainable.

If you would like to read more about the gut-brain-axis, please click here: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/ebiom/article/PIIS2352-3964(22)00092-5/fulltext

and here: https://doi.org/10.1093/advances/nmaa181