Our gut bacteria produce many neurotransmitters such as dopamine, norepinephrine, acetylcholine, and GABA, which are critical for mood, anxiety, concentration, reward, and motivation. The gut microbiome can cause changes in how our brains react.
What we eat, especially foods that contain chemical additives and ultra-processed foods affects our gut environment and increases our risk of diseases. Ultra-processed foods contain substances extracted from food (such as sugar and starch), added from food constituents (hydrogenated fats), or made in a laboratory (flavor enhancers, food colorings). Some examples of processed foods are :
- canned foods
- sugar-coated dried fruits
- salted meat products
- soda
- sugary or savory packaged snack foods
- packaged breads
- buns and pastries
- fish or chicken nuggets
- instant noodle soups
When we consider the connection between the brain and the gut, it’s essential to know that 90% of serotonin receptors are located in the gut. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that is responsible for mood, cognition, reward, learning, and memory. If highly processed foods challenge the gut environment, the balance between the good and bad bacteria would be disrupted. Consequently, the production of neurotransmitters, such as serotonin, dopamine, etc., would be malfunctioning, and diseases may occur. Examples of such conditions include inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), asthma, obesity, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, and cognitive and mood problems. For example, IBD is caused by dysfunction in the interactions between microbes (bacteria), the gut lining, and the immune system.
The gut and the brain are prime examples of how changes in one can affect the other. An imbalanced gut microbiome, or dysbiosis, is associated with many diseases, including mood disorders like depression.
Many of us believe we eat healthily, and a little bit of “poison” every day would be ok. Well, it depends on your age, immune system, and gene expression. However, nobody is a superman, and sooner or later, the intake of a “little poison” on a regular basis would start to impact your wellbeing negatively. Our body is a unique and complex machine, and it can take a lot! Sometimes it takes decades till the struggles of your gut start to show up, and at this point, you will probably convince yourself: THIS IS AGING! This is not aging. This is what happens when you block your system. How much better it would be if you take better care of yourself from the beginning and thrive through your life instead of managing symptoms with medications. How many people do you know after forty years of age that are happy with their weight, the way they look and feel, their sleep, their physical and cognitive performance? It’s not the majority of us. However, it doesn’t have to be this way, and it should not be.
YOUR HEALTH IS YOUR WEALTH
