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Innovative healthcare & alternative remedies
6 OCTOBER 2019 • HEALTHCARE INNOVATIONS
Eat good, feel good
Burgeoning research continues to reveal the strong link between gut health and mental health, making what we eat even more important than once thought, finds Mattie Lacey-Davidson
HEALTHY EATING/GETTY I
n an unexpected turn of events, it seems you might be able to eat yourself happy — sadly this doesn’t include chocolate, ice
cream or any other indulgent items. Research indicates that gut health
is closely tied to both mood and mental health and the state of our gut depends heavily on what we put into our mouths.
WHAT’S THE GUT? Te gastrointestinal tract (gut) is the entire digestive system, from entrance to exit. However, when talking about the gut, most people are referring to the large intestine, which is where most of the body’s bacteria (microbiome) exist and two important hormones are formed. Shann Jones, founder of Chuckling
Goat, which produces a kefir from fermented goat’s milk that’s beneficial to gut health, says: “I tend to imagine it like the Amazon rainforest, with birds, bugs, lizards, and jaguars all running around in this complex natural ecosystem. Like anything, the gut is fragile, and it can be damaged. So feed it, love it, and don’t poison it.”
PHYSICAL CONNECTIONS Te links between the microbiome and our general health is a fairly new
field, with research informing new approaches in healthcare. Te overarching link between
the two lies in just 2% of the gut cells, which exist in the wall of the large intestine — enterochromaffin (EC) cells — because their job is to produce 90% of serotonin and 50% of dopamine, which the body needs. Both are neurotransmitters, meaning they allow messages to travel throughout the body, and both are absolutely vital to feelings of happiness and satisfaction. Often referred to as the ‘happy
hormone’, serotonin creates the experience of happiness and excitement, while dopamine is important for feelings of reward and motivation. Low levels mean low motivation for almost anything in life, because you’re not feeling the benefits or joy from achievements. Both hormones are important to
the body in a multitude of ways, from your bones to your heart, and this is why gut health can lead to health issues like autoimmune conditions — this is when your immune system attacks your body. Examples include Type 1 diabetes, psoriasis and multiple sclerosis. Another example of the link to physical health is that reactions in the gut can lead to inflammation in other parts of the
body and so restoring gut health can have a huge impact on chronic pain throughout the body, for example from arthritis.
MENTAL HEALTH Once you know the amount of these vital mood hormones which are produced in the gut, it’s easy to understand how an unhealthy tract might be detrimental to your wellbeing. However, it doesn’t stop there, and it isn’t all well understood. In February this year, research was
released from one of the first studies on the subject involving humans (not animals), in Belgium. It found participants who were diagnosed with depression or low quality of life also had low levels of Coprococcus and Dialister. How these two gut microbiomes interact with the brain remains unknown, but Dr Orli Rhodes Kendler at MyHealthcare Clinic is able to shed a little more light on how it’s all connected. “Tere are more than 100 million
nerve cells lining the gut. Tese cells communicate directly with our brain, we call it the gut brain axis/ connection, and there’s a direct feedback mechanism between the two. What we feel or think has a direct effect on how our GI tract functions, and any irritation in
the gut sends signals to our brain changing our mood. “We use the expression ‘gut
feeling’ as the GI tract is sensitive to emotions like anger, sadness, anxiety and stress — all of these emotions will have a direct effect on the gut through nerve connections that we have from our brain. Some will even experience functional disorders such as pain, diarrhoea or constipation.”
GUT HEALTH Sugar, stress, environmental toxins and antibiotics are what Shann refers to as “the four horsemen of the gut apocalypse”, with antibiotics seemingly the worse culprit. “It’s like pouring bleach into a river,” she explains, continuing with the Amazon metaphor. “It doesn’t just target the infection; it kills all the fish and everything else, and the bad bacteria will be the first to return.” Considering these four things are
difficult to avoid — stress is part of life and antibiotics are often the only option for infections — the outlook starts to look pretty bleak. However, Shann states it can all be restored with the live bacteria found is fermented foods. “Te fastest and easiest thing
you can do is drink unflavoured and unsweetened kefir that isn’t
made from cow’s milk, as that can irritate the gut. It has a multiplicity of strains, mirroring the number in your gut, making it more powerful than other probiotics because they’ll only have a few strains. Kefir puts the fish in the river, but you have to feed those fish well, and then the diverse microbiome can protect itself.” Her company is currently
assisting with medical research at Aberystwyth University on mood disorder and kefir. Tis treatment is referred to as psychobiotic, meaning live bacteria is used medicinally, and scientists believe it could lead to an entirely new form of medicine. So far, Shann comments, results have shown people start to feel calm and happy quite fast, but when it comes to physical health, the benefits are slower to appear. Modern medicines allow quick
relief to physical health and disease but, ending with another metaphor, Shann likens medicine to being given an apple, and fixing gut health like being given a seed — you have to wait for it to grow and then you’ll have plenty of fruit. “Tis isn’t a mindset that’s popular
in the modern world,” Shann says, but reiterates that all we need to do for gut health is to try to “feed it, love it, and not poison it”.
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