Anxious? Depressed? Indigestion? Experts say kimchi or yoghurt can help
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Broken-hearted? Depressed? Indigestion? Experts say kimchi or yoghurt can help
The latest approach to improving your mood and retentiveness – including how some doctors are approaching autism – starts with paying attention to your gut.
Why foods such as kimchi and yoghurt are your gut's and brain'southward all-time friends. (Photograph: Pixabay)
13 Aug 2022 07:13AM (Updated: thirteen Aug 2022 03:24PM)
The expression "butterflies in the stomach" is more just that unsettling feeling in the stomach earlier you're upwards for a presentation – or pretty much anything that gives you anxiety.
And ever wondered why you'd feel hungry from scrolling through nutrient pictures on Instagram when you'd just eaten an 60 minutes ago?
For a while now, experts have more a gut feeling that there is a strong connection between the brain and the digestive system.
For starters, at that place are about 100 billion neurons in the brain that command your every single action and emotion, wrote Professor Ruairi Robertson on Healthline, and who is currently researching on gut microbiome at the University of British Columbia.
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Outside of the brain, the gut is the simply place in the trunk where you lot can notice the largest number of neurons. "Interestingly, your gut contains 500 meg neurons, which are connected to your encephalon through fretfulness in your nervous system," he wrote.
And the exact location of this 2d "brain"?
"This then-chosen enteric nervous system (ENS) is made upwards of a network of two thin layers of more than a hundred million nerve cells lining the gastrointestinal tract from the oesophagus to the rectum," said Dr Melvin Look, the director of PanAsia Surgery at Mount Elizabeth Hospital, Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital and Parkway East Infirmary.
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"It is simply recently that we are get-go to understand how the ENS mediates multiple signals to the brain from the gut and even the intestinal microbiota," added Dr Wait, who is also a consultant surgeon in gastrointestinal, laparoscopic and obesity surgery.
While this "brain" tin can't help yous remember your grocery list, split up the bill or write poetry, "it communicates dorsum and along with our big encephalon – with profound results," said Dr Jay Pasricha, the manager of the Johns Hopkins Heart for Neurogastroenterology.
"For decades, researchers and doctors thought that anxiety and low contributed to these issues. Just our studies and others show that it may also be the other way around," said Dr Pasricha.
MOOD, Retentiveness AND MENTAL HEALTH
Evidently, poor gut health tin affect your mood and emotions through the gut-brain connexion, said Dr Look.
"It can trigger or exacerbate feet and depression. Information technology tin also bear upon other psychiatric and neurologic disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, autism spectrum disorders and schizophrenia."
Mood-wise, there's also skillful reason to keep your gut happy for you to exist happy.
Prof Robertson said in a TEDx Talk episode that most of our neurotransmitters "are produced in our gut, none more than and then than serotonin, nature'due south antidepressant; 90 per cent of which is produced in our intestines and less than x per cent is produced in our brains".
Furthermore, if your gastrointestinal system is irritated, scientists are finding evidence that it "may send signals to the central nervous system that trigger mood changes," said Dr Pasricha.
"These new findings may explain why a college-than-normal percentage of people with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and functional bowel problems develop low and feet.
"That's important considering 30 per cent to twoscore per cent of the population has functional bowel issues at some point."
Cognitive decline could be some other consequence caused by your gut, a leaky ane, that is, said Dr Expect. A leaky gut is when the lining of the small intestine becomes damaged, causing undigested food particles, toxic waste products, bacteria, and in this case, pro-inflammatory mediators to "leak" through the intestines and flood the blood stream.
To date, experts aren't quite sure why a leaky gut occurs.
"This can crusade neuro-inflammation in the brain that results in cognitive decline. The microbiota-gut-brain centrality may be a novel therapeutic target to decelerate age-related reject," said Dr Look.
TREATING AUTISM THROUGH THE GUT
The latest discovery is the confirmed association that the gut-brain link has with autism, co-ordinate to research by RMIT scientists.
"Nosotros know the brain and gut share many of the aforementioned neurons and now for the kickoff fourth dimension, we've confirmed that they likewise share autism-related gene mutations," said Associate Professor Elisa Hill-Yardin from RMIT Academy's School of Health and Biomedical Sciences.
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The inquiry, published in Science Daily in May, noted that a gene mutation that affects neuron communication in the brain – and identified every bit a cause of autism – is also the cause of dysfunction in the gut.
"Up to 90 per cent of people with autism endure from gut issues, which can have a significant impact on daily life for them and their families," said Assoc Prof Loma-Yardin, the study'southward main investigator.
"Our findings suggest these gastrointestinal problems may stem from the same mutations in genes that are responsible for brain and behavioural bug in autism."
Assoc Prof Colina-Yardin said that a promising research path is how gene mutations in the nervous system affect microbes in the gut.
"We know these microbes interact with the brain via the gut-brain centrality, so could tweaking them ameliorate mood and behaviour?
While this wouldn't reverse the factor mutation, we might be able to tone down its furnishings, and make a real departure in the quality of life for people with autism and their families."
TAKING Intendance OF YOUR GUT
In his TEDx Talk, Prof Robertson mentioned that certain foods tin can drastically change the types of bacteria that reside in your intestines.
"We've shown that past feeding specific strains of bacteria, it tin heighten memory, stress behaviour, and stress hormone levels in animals," he said.
"And in add-on to a number of other researchers worldwide, we've identified lists of foods that can act as probiotics, or foods that tin can stimulate the growth of healthy bacteria inside our intestines."
Probiotics are typically constitute in fermented food and drinks such as yoghurt, kimchi, natto and sauerkraut. Simply only how much do you lot need?
"The recommended daily dosage is between ane billion CFUs (colony forming units) and 10 billion CFUs for adults," said Dr Wait.
"Only the type and diversity of the bacteria nowadays is important, too. That is why doctors sometimes prescribe dissimilar brands of probiotics for different situations."
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Can y'all consume also much probiotics if you're a fan of yoghurt and kimchi, or if you accept too much probiotic supplements?
"It is rare to meet probiotic overdose merely side furnishings of probiotics are possible even if you keep within the recommended dosage," said Dr Look.
"Probiotic-containing foods also have a high content of natural amines produced during the fermentation of proteins. This tin can cause headaches by exciting the encephalon in some people."
Probiotics aren't the only good stuff for your gut, according to Prof Robertson on Healthline.
For instance, omega-3 fats from oily fish such as sardines and seafood including oysters are benign for the gut-brain link.
High-fibre whole grains, nuts, fruits and vegetables are skilful sources of prebiotics, which are food for the good leaner in your gut to flourish. "Prebiotics tin reduce stress hormone in humans," said Prof Robertson.
Polyphenols, which besides come from institute-based foods such as cocoa, green tea, java and olive oil, are some other group of establish chemicals that "increase healthy gut bacteria and may improve cognition," said Prof Robertson.
To assistance the neurotransmitter serotonin along, tryptophan-rich foods such as turkey, eggs and cheese are practiced options.
This amino acid, said Prof Robertson, can be converted into serotonin past your body to help regulate mood, better memory and stave off depression.
Other than eating the right stuff, keeping your gut happy could also exist about managing stress levels and keeping your emotions in cheque.
"There are specific functional gut disorders which are due to problems of gut-brain interaction that leads to impaired motility of the bowel or hypersensitivity to hurting," said Dr Look.
"An case of this is IBS, which is common amongst young adults. Besides treating the gut, we too often care for aggravating factors such as stress and anxiety.
"Fifty-fifty elementary measures such equally meditation and do tin can sometimes help."
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