What Is Brain Gut Axis?

The relationship between the human gut microbiome to health and disease is strong. Human physiology, metabolism, nutrition, and immune function are all affected by the composition of the gut. If the composition of the gut microbiome is altered in a way that any of these functions are negatively affected, this can lead to disease. The developments of the microbiome, its complexity, and its functionality in health and disease have been extensively studied. In addition, the way in which it is altered has many implications in the cause of diseases, such as bowel disease, obesity, diabetes and cancer.

There are major effects in the United States and Europe to help identify the role of microbial communities in the human body. The colon requires a balance of microbial agents that assist with various functions of the body. An imbalance can lead to C.diff., irritable bowel disease (IBD), irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), neurological disorders, and obesity just to list a few. Many of these problems have grown to an epidemic proportion. Both the United States and Europe have started projects aimed at the microbial communities of the body and their roles in our health.

The first group that was dropped into the water was the group of mice that did not have lactobacillus, when dropped into water they began to swim for a couple minutes but gave up after. The group with the lactobacillus was also dropped into the water and had the same start swimming but that group half of mice never gave up they just kept on swimming. The scientists figured out that items we eat do affect how our brain acts most of the time. The link between the intestinal microbes and he brain at that these could send signals to the brain and affect how the brain itself reacts to certain situations. Based on the studies discussed on the podcast the intestines also have roles in our psychological wellbeing, like in the studies the French did with the lactobacillus as well but on human being. Persons that had ingested the lactobacillus felt less stressed while the group that did not take the lactobacillus felt stressed. The podcast also talked about how this might be implemented in the future to treat patients with mental illness. This could me in a form of a “medicinal yogurt” or even medication. I thought this part of the podcast was interesting because most people including me don’t think that the “gut” can have any impact on a human beings mental health but this section

The study intended to look at the gut microbiome that is naturally present within the gut. The research team of the Louisiana State University designed an experiment with lab rats to predict how the manipulation of the gut microbiome with a high fat diet would affect their brain

The hindgut is not only a fermentation vat, but it also stimulates immune responses, protects against pathogens, production and neutralization of toxins, and gene expression in host epithelial tissues (Milinovich et al., 2010). The cecal microbiome is extremely sensitive and can be affected by factors like gastrointestinal disease and dietary changes, which can lead to systemic consequences and even death (Costa et al., 2012). Therefore, healthy and balanced microbiota is vital for the overall wellbeing of the animal. By understanding external factors and how they affect the gut microbiota, this could help in diagnosing medical conditions and provide better treatment and prognosis of gastrointestinal diseases resulting in

Research was conducted comparing the intestinal bacteria of obese and thin people, which showed that microbes in the thin individuals intestines where much more diverse than that of an obese individuals. Studies showed that thin individuals

The gut microbiota encompasses trillions of microorganisms that inhabit the gastrointestinal tract (Carding et al. 2015). The composition of the gut microbiota is constantly evolving and can be susceptible to both endogenous and exogenous modifications (Carding et al. 2015). The microbiota

Although our second brain can’t gather thoughts like your actual brain it can communicate back and forth with it. The ability to communicate happens via the nervous system, our hormones and the immune system; even your microbiome can release neurotransmitters that speak to the brain and influence your perception of the world and alter your behavior. So whilst your gut bacteria affects the brain, the brain also influences the gut microbione and the feedback then reverts back to the brain to influences your behavior, going back and forth

Its our brain who responds to anything happening to our body. There is something that we all don't know and that is, there is a second brain in our body or we can also call it "Gut's Brain". There is a whole nervous system entirely dedicated to our gut and it is called, 'enteric nervous system'. Enteric nervous system is considered second brain. It is a vast network of neurons which are located in tissues lining gut from esophagus to colon. There are more than 30 neurotransmitters (resembling to the ones present in CNS) and proteins which take messages between support cells and neurons. That is why enteric nervous system acts independently. It links with central nervous system through sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system (through the vagus nerve). Enteric nervous system influences brain in a way that 90 percent of signals passing through vagus nerve are coming from enteric nervous system to brain. And most of the people consider enteric nervous system as a 'backup brain'. Vagus nerve serves as a gateway between two parts of autonomic system having impulses going in two directions. Now we can say that if in any way function of vagus nerve gets impaired, it can cause many different problems. If there is a problem in gut, it can impair function of vagus nerve. In this way, many neurological disorders can be caused by any disturbance in gut.

Eating healthy to stay healthy is a concept that conjures up images of a fit, well-functioning body, but how does this concept apply to our mental health and do we have a way to be proactive today in the hopes of diminishing our chances of mental illness as we age? Among all the research available in the area of gut health, the majority of the information available tackles physiological ailments like IBS, Leaky Gut, Asthma, Allergies, etc., as being caused by an imbalance in the gut. However, as more information becomes available, we begin to understand beyond the biological effects of these imbalances we see a shift towards researching the brain-gut axis. The brain-gut axis, broadly speaking, is looking at the connections between our guts,

The central nervous system is composed of our spinal cord and brain which consistently controls our mind and behavior. The complexity of our brain is not entirely deciphered, but with extensive scientific research it can be concluded that each specific section has its own specialized function. In reference to eating pizza, socializing, and playing a game of cards, it can be deduced that our central nervous system is always critically analyzing data using our Broca’s area for speech, hippocampus for memories, hypothalamus controlling internal body, and occipital lobe organizing visual stimuli.

Essential Cultures is known to offset the microbial balance in one’s digestive system. Any issue such as brain fog, fatigue, bloating or lack of concentration is easily fixed by this product.

The human ENS is estimated to have around 100MILLION neurons, maybe more than the entire spinal cord. It contains local sensory and motor neurons, as well as interneurons establishing local connections. The enteric motor neurons control the smooth muscle of the gut, local blood vessels, and secretion by the mucosa. The ENS also responds to changes in the gut and sends information to the spinal cord about the gut’s environment such as pressure or stretch, ischemia, or the presence of irritating chemicals, for example. This information is then conveyed to the brain.

In this study, the authors sought to examine the impact of certain gut microbes on body composition and metabolism. It has been previously reported that the microbial community composition is more similar between related individuals. Thus, the authors of this study used both monozygotic and dizygotic twin pairs that were “discordant” for obesity in that one of them was classified as obese while the other one was not, as a model for studying the correlation between gut microbiota and obesity and associated disorders. To do this, human fecal`microbes from each member of one of four discordant twin pairs was transplanted into mice that were germ-free. The authors also investigated which microbial taxa were more invasive, as well as the relationship between the phenotype of the host and invasiveness. They also examined how a human diet can impact on invasion and microbial niche. In order to examine this, mice that were coprophagic, meaning they consume fecal matter, were housed together.

In the abstract, Gut-brain axis: how the microbiome influences anxiety and depression, the abstract says that humans are colonized by commensal intestinal microbiota in the first few days of life. It also says that findings have shown that microbiota’s are important in normal healthy brain functions. Foster, J.A. and McVey Neufeld, K.A. (2013) discussed relations between stress and microbiota, and also how alterations influence stress-related behaviors.