'Knowing it in your gut' is real

McMaster University ^ | March 23, 2011 | Unknown

[decimon]

'Cross-talk' between bacteria in our gut and our brain

HAMILTON, ON (March 23, 2011) - A lot of chatter goes on inside each one of us and not all of it happens between our ears.

Researchers at McMaster University discovered that the "cross-talk" between bacteria in our gut and our brain plays an important role in the development of psychiatric illness, intestinal diseases and probably other health problems as well including obesity.

"The wave of the future is full of opportunity as we think about how microbiota or bacteria influence the brain and how the bi-directional communication of the body and the brain influence metabolic disorders, such as obesity and diabetes," says Jane Foster, associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences of the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine.

Using germ-free mice, Foster's research shows gut bacteria influences how the brain is wired for learning and memory. The research paper has been published in the March issue of the science journal Neurogastroenterology and Motility.

The study's results show that genes linked to learning and memory are altered in germ-free mice and, in particular, they are altered in one of the key brain regions for learning and memory – the hippocampus.

"The take-home message is that gut bacteria influences anxiety-like behavior through alterations in the way the brain is wired," said Foster.

Foster's laboratory is located in the Brain-Body Institute, a joint research initiative of McMaster University and St. Joseph's Healthcare in Hamilton. The institute was created to advance understanding of the relationship between the brain, nervous system and bodily disorders.

"We have a hypothesis in my lab that the state of your immune system and your gut bacteria – which are in constant communication – influences your personality," Foster said.

She said psychiatrists, in particular, are interested in her research because of the problems of side effects with current drug therapy.

"The idea behind this research is to see if it's possible to develop new therapies which could target the body, free of complications related to getting into the brain," Foster said. "We need novel targets that take a different approach than what is currently on the market for psychiatric illness. Those targets could be the immune system, your gut function…we could even use the body to screen patients to say what drugs might work better in their brain."

[decimon]

The voices in your head are bacteria? ;-)

[decimon]

Ping

[dblshot]

Horsemen know that anxiety can cause horses to colic.

[muawiyah]

We've known for thousands of years that human beings are quite multi-dimensional. First, there's the traditional body, mind, soul array. We can easily add to that heart and spirit, and maybe even spleen.

Now, we have GUT! As in "I feel it in my gut".

It's quite a remarkable extension.

[CaptainK]

Brenda Watson has been teaching about the connection for years and the part probiotics play

http://www.brendawatson.com/

[BitWielder1]

My first gut reaction was: Oh No! Billions of new little Democrat voters...

[daisy mae for the usa]

Amazing information! Thank you for adding me!

[Blood of Tyrants]

She said psychiatrists, in particular, are interested in her research because of the problems of side effects with current drug therapy.

I could tell them a BOATLOAD. If you look up side effects of florquolones like Cipro, Levaquin, and Avelox, you will find that some common to all three are depression, anxiety, sleeplessness, hallucinations, and a feeling of impending doom. And since they are powerful antibiotics, the kill a great deal of the good bacteria in your gut and that is why you get diarrhea and loose stool when you take antibiotics.

Just recently I went to the doctor with a sinus infection and he put me on Avelox ($15 PER PILL). By the second day, I was feeling bad. By the 7th day, I was feeling AWFUL with many of the symptoms listed above (except hallucinations) and then I read the side effects. I quit taking the Avelox and within 24 hours I was feeling MUCH better, but since I haven't had time to regrow a health bacterial culture in my gut, I still feel like something is amiss.

I had a similar but much more serious event a few years ago that put me in the hospital and I started talking to my wife (a pharmacist) about it and she remembered that I was on Cipro then, too!

Coincidence? No way in hell!

[daisy mae for the usa]

Cipro is rough stuff.

[Blood of Tyrants]

No more for me. There are plenty of other antibiotics that are still pretty good. And cheaper, too.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Also, the whole time something literally in my gut was telling me that something was wrong.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

This is turning into a big field of research. Here’s the situation.

The typical human GI tract has between 300-1000 different kinds of bacteria, other microorganisms including fungi and protozoa, and a vast (and unknown) number of different kinds of viruses, most of which are the dominant form of viruses on Earth, called “bacteriophages”, that prey on bacteria, not us.

Of these bacteria, only 30 or 40 different kinds take up almost all the space, so they are what we typically think of as our “gut flora”.

These 30 or 40 kinds of bacteria vary considerably between people, but they are very interactive with our immune system, each other, and even many of the parasites that used to, and some still do, live in us.

We are even learning now that our immune systems are so tuned to interact with many of these things, that they become imbalanced when they are absent, and our immune systems turn on us, producing a number of severe diseases.

For example, it has been shown that some individuals with severe, life threatening asthma, can become nearly asthma free if they become infected by hookworms, which used to be common in the US but today have been almost eradicated. Other worms have been shown to stop other diseases.

Some protozoa, such as Toxoplasmosis, which are typically found in house cats and undercooked meat, are known to establish themselves in the brains of rodents, and alter their behavior to make them self destructive, because they reproduce in the guts of cats.

However, it also infects about 11 million Americans. And because our brains are not entirely different from those of rodents, people who are infected may suffer from indeterminate mental illness.

[Cold Heart]

Horses want to colic.
Cows get mastitis.
And sheep are just looking for excuses to die.

[daisy mae for the usa]

I second that!!!!!!

[Talisker]

We've known for thousands of years that human beings are quite multi-dimensional. First, there's the traditional body, mind, soul array. We can easily add to that heart and spirit, and maybe even spleen. Now, we have GUT! As in "I feel it in my gut". It's quite a remarkable extension.

Studies trying to trace "chi flow" in traditional Chinese acupuncture body diagrams have discovered that while the nervous system is a part of this interconnected web, a much greater alignment is found by including the lymph system and even intercellular fluid gaps.

EM resonance has been traced along these various pathways as well, leading to a much greater "awareness mapping" of the body that was ever before realized as existing. As feedback cycles are slowly identified that make use of this previously unknown infrastructure, the link betwen modern science and ancient healing arts is coming much, much closer together.

Who knows where it will lead?

[Daffynition]

[Blood of Tyrants]

My wife is a firm believer that all medicines have unintended side effects and even though she is a pharmacist, she suggests taking as few as possible.

[daisy mae for the usa]

Sounds like good advice!

[Blood of Tyrants]

I either read a story or saw a show where the beings of a planet were asking for help. The doctors went down and couldn’t find anything wrong except an “infection” in the host. Turns out that the “infection” in the host was a collective bacteria that WAS the intelligence in the being and without the bacteria, the host was a dumb animal. What the bacteria needed was a way to suppress the immune system so that they could live in the host better.

Were the author writing about humans? ;^)

[ottbmare]

Horses want to colic.

So true. Sometimes I think they do it on purpose to make us prove we love them and are prepared to spend enormous amounts of money on them. You'll notice they always pull this kind of thing when the owner is broke: it means she has to make a bigger financial sacrifice for the horse, proving she loves him even more. I have spoken to my horse about this and warned her that I do not have money for major veterinary surgery so she had just better not entertain any ideas about developing a major illness.