Gut-brain connection, anxiety and digestion...How it Works and The Role of Nutrition. sensations emanating from your belly suggest that your brain and gut are connected.

The gut-brain connection is no joke; it can link anxiety to stomach problems and vice versa. Have you ever had a "gut-wrenching" experience? Do certain situations make you "feel nauseous"? Have you ever felt "butterflies" in your stomach? We use these expressions for a reason. The gastrointestinal tract is sensitive to emotion. Anger, anxiety, sadness, elation — all of these feelings (and others) can trigger symptoms in the gut.

 

The brain has a direct effect on the stomach and intestines. For example, the very thought of eating can release the stomach's juices before food gets there. This connection goes both ways. A troubled intestine can send signals to the brain, just as a troubled brain can send signals to the gut. Therefore, a person's stomach or intestinal distress can be the cause or the product of anxiety, stress, or depression. That's because the brain and the gastrointestinal (GI) system are intimately connected.

 

This is especially true in cases where a person experiences gastrointestinal upset with no obvious physical cause. For such functional GI disorders, it is difficult to try to heal a distressed gut without considering the role of stress and emotion.

 

Gut health and anxiety

 

Given how closely the gut and brain interact, it becomes easier to understand why you might feel nauseated before giving a presentation, or feel intestinal pain during times of stress. That doesn't mean, however, that functional gastrointestinal conditions are imagined or "all in your head." Psychology combines with physical factors to cause pain and other bowel symptoms. Psychosocial factors influence the actual physiology of the gut, as well as symptoms. In other words, stress (or depression or other psychological factors) can affect movement and contractions of the GI tract, make inflammation worse, or perhaps make you more susceptible to infection.

 

In addition, research suggests that some people with functional GI disorders perceive pain more acutely than other people do because their brains are more responsive to pain signals from the GI tract. Stress can make the existing pain seem even worse.

 

Based on these observations, you might expect that at least some patients with functional GI conditions might improve with therapy to reduce stress or treat anxiety or depression. And sure enough, a review of 13 studies showed that patients who tried psychologically based approaches had greater improvement in their digestive symptoms compared with patients who received only conventional medical treatment.

 

Gut-brain connection, anxiety and digestion

 

Are your stomach or intestinal problems — such as heartburn, abdominal cramps, or loose stools — related to stress? Watch for these other common symptoms of stress and discuss them with your doctor. Together you can come up with strategies to help you deal with the stressors in your life, and also ease your digestive discomforts.

 

www.health.harvard.edu/diseases-and-conditions/the-gut-br...

 

Have you ever had a gut feeling or butterflies in your stomach?

 

These sensations emanating from your belly suggest that your brain and gut are connected.

 

What’s more, recent studies show that your brain affects your gut health and your gut may even affect your brain health.

 

The communication system between your gut and brain is called the gut-brain axis.

 

This article explores the gut-brain axis and foods that are beneficial to its health.

How Are the Gut and Brain Connected?

The gut-brain axis is a term for the communication network that connects your gut and brain (1Trusted Source, 2Trusted Source, 3Trusted Source).

 

These two organs are connected both physically and biochemically in a number of different ways.

 

The Vagus Nerve and the Nervous System

 

Neurons are cells found in your brain and central nervous system that tell your body how to behave. There are approximately 100 billion neurons in the human brain (4Trusted Source).

 

Interestingly, your gut contains 500 million neurons, which are connected to your brain through nerves in your nervous system (5Trusted Source).

 

The vagus nerve is one of the biggest nerves connecting your gut and brain. It sends signals in both directions (6Trusted Source, 7Trusted Source).

 

For example, in animal studies, stress inhibits the signals sent through the vagus nerve and also causes gastrointestinal problems (8Trusted Source).

 

Similarly, one study in humans found that people with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or Crohn’s disease had reduced vagal tone, indicating a reduced function of the vagus nerve (9Trusted Source).

 

An interesting study in mice found that feeding them a probiotic reduced the amount of stress hormone in their blood. However, when their vagus nerve was cut, the probiotic had no effect (10Trusted Source).

 

This suggests that the vagus nerve is important in the gut-brain axis and its role in stress.

 

Neurotransmitters

 

Your gut and brain are also connected through chemicals called neurotransmitters.

 

Neurotransmitters produced in the brain control feelings and emotions.

 

For example, the neurotransmitter serotonin contributes to feelings of happiness and also helps control your body clock (11Trusted Source).

 

Interestingly, many of these neurotransmitters are also produced by your gut cells and the trillions of microbes living there. A large proportion of serotonin is produced in the gut (12Trusted Source).

 

Your gut microbes also produce a neurotransmitter called gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), which helps control feelings of fear and anxiety (13Trusted Source).

 

Studies in laboratory mice have shown that certain probiotics can increase the production of GABA and reduce anxiety and depression-like behavior (14Trusted Source).

 

Gut Microbes Make Other Chemicals That Affect the Brain

 

The trillions of microbes that live in your gut also make other chemicals that affect how your brain works (15Trusted Source).

 

Your gut microbes produce lots of short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) such as butyrate, propionate and acetate (16Trusted Source).

 

They make SCFA by digesting fiber. SCFA affect brain function in a number of ways, such as reducing appetite.

 

One study found that consuming propionate can reduce food intake and reduce the activity in the brain related to reward from high-energy food (17Trusted Source).

 

Another SCFA, butyrate, and the microbes that produce it are also important for forming the barrier between the brain and the blood, which is called the blood-brain barrier (18Trusted Source).

 

Gut microbes also metabolize bile acids and amino acids to produce other chemicals that affect the brain (15Trusted Source).

 

Bile acids are chemicals made by the liver that are normally involved in absorbing dietary fats. However, they may also affect the brain.

 

Two studies in mice found that stress and social disorders reduce the production of bile acids by gut bacteria and alter the genes involved in their production (19Trusted Source, 20Trusted Source).

 

Gut Microbes Affect Inflammation

 

Your gut-brain axis is also connected through the immune system.

 

Gut and gut microbes play an important role in your immune system and inflammation by controlling what is passed into the body and what is excreted (21Trusted Source).

 

If your immune system is switched on for too long, it can lead to inflammation, which is associated with a number of brain disorders like depression and Alzheimer’s disease (22Trusted Source).

 

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is an inflammatory toxin made by certain bacteria. It can cause inflammation if too much of it passes from the gut into the blood.

 

This can happen when the gut barrier becomes leaky, which allows bacteria and LPS to cross over into the blood.

 

Inflammation and high LPS in the blood have been associated with a number of brain disorders including severe depression, dementia and schizophrenia (23Trusted Source)

 

SUMMARY

Your gut and brain are connected physically through millions of nerves, most importantly the vagus nerve. The gut and its microbes also control inflammation and make many different compounds that can affect brain health.

 

www.healthline.com/nutrition/gut-brain-connection#section1

 

If you’ve ever “gone with your gut” to make a decision or felt “butterflies in your stomach” when nervous, you’re likely getting signals from an unexpected source: your second brain. Hidden in the walls of the digestive system, this “brain in your gut” is revolutionizing medicine’s understanding of the links between digestion, mood, health and even the way you think.

 

woman with a glass of orange juice

Scientists call this little brain the enteric nervous system (ENS). And it’s not so little. The ENS is two thin layers of more than 100 million nerve cells lining your gastrointestinal tract from esophagus to rectum.

 

What Does Your Gut’s Brain Control?

 

Unlike the big brain in your skull, the ENS can’t balance your checkbook or compose a love note. “Its main role is controlling digestion, from swallowing to the release of enzymes that break down food to the control of blood flow that helps with nutrient absorption to elimination,” explains Jay Pasricha, M.D., director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Neurogastroenterology, whose research on the enteric nervous system has garnered international attention. “The enteric nervous system doesn’t seem capable of thought as we know it, but it communicates back and forth with our big brain—with profound results.”

 

The ENS may trigger big emotional shifts experienced by people coping with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and functional bowel problems such as constipation, diarrhea, bloating, pain and stomach upset. “For decades, researchers and doctors thought that anxiety and depression contributed to these problems. But our studies and others show that it may also be the other way around,” Pasricha says. Researchers are finding evidence that irritation in the gastrointestinal system may send signals to the central nervous system (CNS) that trigger mood changes.

 

“These new findings may explain why a higher-than-normal percentage of people with IBS and functional bowel problems develop depression and anxiety,” Pasricha says. “That’s important, because up to 30 to 40 percent of the population has functional bowel problems at some point.”

 

New Gut Understanding Equals New Treatment Opportunities

 

This new understanding of the ENS-CNS connection helps explain the effectiveness of IBS and bowel-disorder treatments such as antidepressants and mind-body therapies like cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and medical hypnotherapy. “Our two brains ‘talk’ to each other, so therapies that help one may help the other,” Pasricha says. “In a way, gastroenterologists (doctors who specialize in digestive conditions) are like counselors looking for ways to soothe the second brain.”

 

Gastroenterologists may prescribe certain antidepressants for IBS, for example—not because they think the problem is all in a patient’s head, but because these medications calm symptoms in some cases by acting on nerve cells in the gut, Pasricha explains. “Psychological interventions like CBT may also help to “improve communications” between the big brain and the brain in our gut,” he says.

 

www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/th...

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