Awakening the Mind in the Gut: Gut Reactions

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Awakening the Mind in the Gut Gut Reactions

• Siobhain O Mahony PhD

Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre
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Overview

• The second brain the gut has a mind of its own
• Two brains???
• Development of the two brains
• How the 2 brains interact
• Bi-directional communication between the 1 brain
  and the gut
• Mind, body and SOUL?
• Psychonutrition???
• Can foods alter you frame of mind?
• What can go wrong!
• Stress
• Disorders of the gut

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The second brain

• The gut has a mind of its own literally. It
  has its
• own well-developed nervous system that acts
• independently of almost everything except your
  unconscious brain.
• The Enteric Nervous System contains neurons and
  neurotransmitters just like those found in your
  skull.
• Over half of the nerve cells in your body are
  located in the gut.
• Your gut brain is also able to learn, remember,
  and produce emotion-based feelings.
• The expression gut-level feeling isnt just a
  saying.
• We really do have feelings in our gut.

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Two brains???

• During early fetal development both your gut and
  your primary brain started to develop from the
  same clump of embryonic tissue.
• These become divided and one develops into your
  central nervous system and the other into your
  enteric nervous system (your gut brain)
• During later stages of fetal development, these
  two brains
• then became connected via a massive nerve -- the
  vagus
• nerve.
• The vagus nerve is the longest of all our cranial
  nerves,
• and creates a direct connection between your
  brain and
• your gut.
• Because of this direct brain-gut connection,
• the state of your gut has a profound influence
• on your psychological well being.

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Bi-directional communication

• Bi-directional brain-gut interactions play an
  important role in the regulation of many vital
  functions in health and disease.
• In health-regulation of digestive processes
  (including appetite and food intake), and the gut
  immune system.
• In disease, altered brain-gut interactions may
  underlie the symptom generation in functional GI
  disorders (FGIDs), and in the pathophysiology of
  various eating disorders.
• Routes of communication include
• neural (physical connection)
• immune system
• hormonal system

Psychological Stress
Infection
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Stress

• The hormonal stress system is one of the major
  routes of communication between the brain and the
  gut!
• Threat to homeostasis that evokes an adaptive
  response.
• Healthy individuals stress response systems are
  turned on and off quickly.
• Pathological stressors.
• Genetic or early life events can alter ability to
  adapt to stress.
• Stress is a major component in functional
  gastrointestinal disorders.

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Stress and the gut
Stress
Activation of the HPA axis (ie CRF,
ACTH, cortisol)

• Increase in gut permeability
• Increase in mucosal inflammation
• Changes in GI motor function
• Changes in gut flora

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Mind, Body and SOUL?

• Many mystical and natural healing practices
  consider the belly a major center of energy and
  higher consciousness.
• In China, the art of Tai Chi emphasise the lower
  abdomen as a major reservoir for life energy and
  health. The belly is considered the dantian, a
  key center for higher consciousness development.

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Gut feelings Chakras

• Subtle energetic system within each of us
• comprised of 7 vital energy centers and
• 3 interconnecting, parallel channels
• Govern specific aspects of our physical,
• psychological and spiritual being
• Third centre in our subtle system is called
• "nabhi" or "Manipur" chakra. Its physical
  location is at about the level of the navel
• Physically ,it deals with our organs of
  digestion, psychologically it deals with our
  sense of satisfaction and spiritually it deals
  both with our "prosperity", "generosity" as well
  as with our innate sense of right and wrong.
• Often that Gut Feeling is us being sensitive to
  the state of the Nabhi chakra

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Psychonutrition???

• Branch of medicine that deals with nutrition and
  its effects on the brain chemistry-orthomolecular
  psychiatry
• In the 1950s two psychiatrists, Dr. Abraham
  Hoffer and Dr. Osmond, discovered that certain
  people showed signs of mental illness if they
  were deficient in vitamin B3 (niacin)
• Other peoples mental illnesss could be helped by
• administering large amounts of certain nutrients
  that
• were either deficient in their diet for which
  these
• individuals had unusually high requirements
• 1976, Dr Mackarness published a book titled Not
  all in the mind-allergies in mentally ill
  patients may promote malabsorption leading to
  deficienies

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Psychonutrition???

• Serotonin is a neurotransmitter present in both
  the brain and the gut. It is involved in mood,
  sleep as well as gut motility
• Tryptophan is the precursor to serotonin and can
  be found in many foods such as turkey, soyabean,
  watercress ect.
• The chemical linked with the high of being in
  love is called
• phenylethylalanine. It is derived from
  phenylalanine an
• amino acid found in many common foods
  including, of course,
• chocolate
• Essential fatty acids are polyunsaturated and
  grouped into two families, the omega-6 EFAs and
  the omega-3 EFAs. Omega-3 is found in flaxseed
  oil, walnut oil, and fatty fish
• The predominant fatty acid found in fish oils are
  eicosapentaenoic
• acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). The
  human brain
• is one of the largest "consumers" of DHA.
• Low DHA levels have been linked to low brain
  serotonin levels which again are connected to an
  increased tendency to depression, suicide, and
  violence.

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What can go wrong?

• Some individuals are more prone to disorders than
  others-predisposing factors
• Disorders of the Gastrointestinal tract
• Leaky gut syndrome
• Infections
• Allergies
• Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
• Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)

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Allergies

• A food allergy is an immunologic response to a
• food protein.
• There are eight foods that account for 90 of all
  food-allergic reactions. These are milk, egg,
  peanut, tree nut (walnut, cashew, etc.), fish,
  shellfish and soy and wheat.
• There is no cure for food allergies. Treatment
  consists of avoidance diets, in which the
  allergic person avoids all forms of the food to
  which they are allergic.
• Food allergy is distinct from food intolerance,
  which is not caused by an immune reaction.
• Persons diagnosed with a food allergy may carry
  an autoinjector of epinephrine wear some form of
  medical alert jewelry, or develop an emergency
  action plan, in accordance with their doctor.

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Irritable Bowel Syndrome

• Most common GI functional disorder diagnosed by
  gastroenterologists affecting about 5-10 of the
  population with female predominance of 2-31
• Symptom complex including abdominal pain, altered
  bowel function, bloating, mucosal inflammation,
  exaggerated stress response, increases in plasma
  pro-inflammatory cytokines
• Stress (including early life stress) plays a
  major role in the onset
• and exacerbation of symptoms in IBS
• Recent studies have shown that there may be a
• brain-gut axis dysfunction involved in IBS
• Treatment options for IBS are symptom based and
  include
• Laxatives
• Loperamide (Imodium)
• Antispasmodics
• Antidepressants
• Serotonin receptor agonists/ antaginsts

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Inflammatory Bowel Disease

• Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a group of
  inflammatory conditions of the large intestine
  and, in some cases, the small intestine.
• The main forms of IBD are Crohn's disease and
  ulcerative colitis(UC)
• The main difference between Crohn's disease and
  UC is the location and nature of the inflammatory
  changes.
• Treatment includes
• Immunosuppression
• Steroids
• Surgery

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Probiotics

• Beneficial bacteria that can be
• introduced into the digestive
• system through food.
• Probiotic foods are a group of functional foods.
  Most commercially promoted products with
  probiotic properties contain strains of
  Lactobacillus bacteria or Bifidobacteria.
• Found to be effective in the treatment of some
  disorders of the gut that are associated with an
  imbalance in the gut flora.
• Illness, poor diet, stress, aging, infection by
  food poisoning and the use of medications can
  disturb the flora balance

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• Gillian McKeith- holistic nutritionist
• Empower people to improve their
• lives through information, food and lifestyle.
• Faeces analysis!!!!

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Keeping the balance right!

• This gut flora has incredible power over your
  immune system, which, of course, is your body's
  natural defence system that keeps you healthy
• Therefore maintenance of a healthy gut is
  essential
• Intelligent eating
• Know your own system

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Thanks for your attention