The Mind-Gut Connection: How the Hidden Conversation Within Our Bodies Impacts Our Mood, Our Choices, and Our Overall Health

by Emeran Mayer

different types of stress can temp...

the number of lactobacilli in the stool of st...

Several laboratories have shown that

norepinephrine

can stimulate the ...

bacterial pathogens that can cause serious ...

stomach ulcers, and ev...

chronic stress stimulates the growth of many pathogens,

It also causes the autonomic nervous system in our gut to release stress signals that can reduce the thickness of the mucus layer lining the colon wall and make your gut leakier,

I suspect that some of these gut reactions associated with positive emotions are also associated with the release of distinct chemical messages to our gut microbes.

We already know that

serotonin, dopamine, and ...

are released into the gut interior, and they would be good candidates for such positi...

series of studies in recent years has suggested that patients on the

autism spectrum

may have an altered mix of gut microbes relative to individuals without ASD symptoms, including proportionally more of a bacteria group known as Firmicute...

Jonathan’s analysis revealed that he had th...

Up to 40 percent of patients with a diagnosis of ASD suffer from gastrointestinal symptoms, mostly altered bowel habits and abdominal pain and discomfort,

They commonly have elevated blood levels of the brain-gut signaling molecule serotonin.

In one of the best and most influential animal studies done yet,

injected pregnant mice with a substance that mimics viral infection and activates their immune

system. Young mice born of such mothers exhibit a range of altered behaviors that resemble those of people with ASD, including anxiety-like behavior, stereotypic repetitive behaviors, and compromised social interactions.

the young mice exhibited changes in their gut and the gut microbiota: an imbalanced mix of gut microbes, a leakier intestine, and greater engagement of the gut-based immune system.

investigators identified a particular gut microbial metabolite that was closely related to a metabolite that had previously been identified in the urine of children with ASD.

when they transplanted the stool of the abnormal mice into germ-free mice that behaved normally, the transplanted animals behaved abnormally.

they could make several (though not all) of the autism-like behaviors disappear by treating the affected mice with human intestinal bacteria called Bacteroides fragilis.

Bud Craig,

proposed that every emotion has two closely connected components:

sensory component (including gut feelings)

a...

action component (...

gut reactions). The sensor...

the purpose of every emotion is to maintain balance of the entire organism.

Damasio

elegantly formulated the

somatic marker hy...

According to Damasio’s theory,

we have so-called body loops that consist of signals traveling from the brain to the

body and...

his pioneering work and publications fundamentally changed our biological understanding of emotions and emotional feelings.

insular cortex,

can and does retrieve this somatic marker information.

Our brains can retrieve the edited video clips of how we felt when we felt vivid emotions, including the motiv...

when we experience an emotion as an adult, the brain does not need to feel sensations that describe what’s actually happening in the body.

Instead, it simply responds to a cue by accessing its library of emotional videos to generate a feeling.

It is only in the last decade that the exponential growth in our understanding of the gut microbiota and their interactions with the gut and the brain has forced us to expand these modern theories and include the gut microbiota as an essential third component in an expanded theory of emotion.

This theory postulates that our basic

brain-based emotional circuitry is large...

determined, present ...

epigenetically modified during...