Tuesday, June 07, 2011

Gut Problems Linked to Brain Disorders

New research now shows that gut health affects your mood and behavior. Improving the balance between bacteria in the gut can improve how your feel and how you act. Nourishing your gut flora is extremely important because in a very real sense you have two brains, one inside your skull and one in your gut, and each needs its own vital nourishment.

A study published in 2010 in the Archives of General Psychiatry found evidence that psychiatric problems can and are often caused by lack of natural microorganisms in soil, food, and the gut. Rates of depression in younger people have steadily grown to outnumber rates of depression in the older populations, and one reason for this could be the lack of exposure to bacteria, both outside and inside your body. Quite simply, modern society may have gotten too sanitized and pasteurized for our own good.

Fermented foods have been traditional staples in most cultures, but modern food manufacturing, with its focus on killing all bacteria in the name of food safety, has eliminated most of these foods. You can still find traditionally fermented foods like natto or kefir, but they're not the dietary staples they once used to be, and many people don't like them when trying them out for the first time in adulthood.

Your body contains about 100 trillion bacteria. That is more than 10 times the number of cells you have in your entire body. Ideally, the ratio between the bacteria in your gut is 85 percent "good" and 15 percent "bad."

In addition to the psychological implications, a healthy ratio of good to bad gut bacteria is essential for: protection against over-growth of other microorganisms that could cause disease; digestion of food and absorption of nutrients; digesting and absorbing certain carbohydrates; producing vitamins; and, absorbing minerals and eliminating toxins. Also, an estimated 80 percent of your immune system is located in your gut.

Your gut bacteria do not live in a bubble; rather, they are an active and integrated part of your body, and as such are vulnerable to your lifestyle. If you eat a lot of processed foods, for instance, your gut bacteria are going to be compromised because processed foods in general will destroy healthy microflora and feed bad bacteria and yeast. Your gut bacteria are also very sensitive to: antibiotics, chlorinated water, antibacterial soap, agricultural chemicals, and pollution. Because virtually all of us are exposed to these, it's generally a good idea to "reseed" the good bacteria in your gut by taking a high-quality probiotic supplement or, better yet, eating fermented foods.

Fermented foods are still the best route to optimal digestive health, as long as you eat the traditionally made, unpasteurized versions. Healthy choices include sauerkraut, lassi, kefir, tempeh, and kimchi and natto.

If you regularly eat fermented foods such as these that, again, have not been pasteurized (pasteurization kills the naturally occurring probiotics), your healthy gut bacteria will thrive.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/04/12/beware--bacteria-growing-in-your-gut-can-influence-your-behavior.aspx

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=%22Archives+of+general+psychiatry%22%5BJour%5D+AND+2010/12%5Bpdat%5D+AND+Raison%5Bauthor%5D&cmd=detailssearch

http://www.nytimes.com/1996/01/23/science/complex-and-hidden-brain-in-gut-makes-stomachaches-and-butterflies.html

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