3 Things That Happen To Your Brain With Leaky Gut

Gut health is essential for overall health. That connection is fairly easy to make. But what about your brain? Can the health of your gut really affect your brain? The answer is a resounding yes! Here are three things that happen to your brain when you have a leaky gut.

1. Depression – the bacteria that naturally exist in our GI tract are mostly beneficial. However, if metabolic byproducts and cell constituents are able to escape the gut they cause a potent inflammatory response. This happens through a “leaky gut.” The resulting response alters levels of inflammatory hormones called cytokines. These cytokines have the ability to communicate with the brain and eventually change neurotransmitter levels. This change in neurotransmission actually begins to rewire the brain leading the changes in how we think and feel. Most often, people begin to feel depressed. 
2. An Inflamed Brain – through the mechanisms just mentioned, not only do your neurotransmitters and thoughts/feelings change, your brain becomes inflamed. This signals the immune cells within the brain, called glial cells, to become very active. This may sound like a good thing, but it’s not. As a result of being activated glial cellsgenerate more inflammation and create oxidative stress. This means the glial cells begin breaking down the brain. This may increase your risk of brain fog, fatigue, depression, anxiety, cognitive decline, and possibly even neurodegenerative disorders like Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease.
3. Blood Brain Barrier Breakdown – there is a barrier than exists that separates what is circulating in our blood from our brain. Only things that are beneficial for the brain are supposed to have access to it. The blood brain barrier is an exceptionally important structure. With increased inflammation from a leaky gut and glial activation, the blood brain barrier breaks down. Now toxic byproducts, inflammatory hormones, and other noxious chemicals have free access to the brain. This is a disastrous consequence that interferes with brain function leading to a multitude of symptoms which include depression, brain fog, anxiety, and more. Leaky gut leads to a leaky blood brain barrier!

Gastrointestinal health is essential for brain health. Knowing how to fix the gut can lead to dramatic improvements in how you feel cognitively and emotionally.

For much more information and strategies to improve your gut and brain health join me for a FREE webinar on Tuesday, November 10th at 7:30PM called “The Gut-Brain Connection – Mood, Food, and More!” We’ll explore the amazing connection between gut health and brain health and give you tips and tricks to make both healthy.

Dr. Vreeland is a nationally recognized expert and author in functional medicine and will present information that will be life changing! You don’t want to miss this event!

Click here to register: http://www.anymeeting.com/PIID=EC51D98085463A

The Gut-Brain Connection

A large body of evidence is accumulating to support a role between healthy gut function, brain development and function of the central nervous system. The organisms contained in the gut should be considered an inner organ with functions similar in importance to any other organ present in the body. Disruptions in this “organ” may alter many things including brain function and cause symptoms like depression, anxiety, ‘brain fog’ and more.

At birth the human gastrointestinal tract is sterile, however, it is quickly colonized and by the age of one year, the bacterial profile looks similar to that of an adult.¹ The connection between the gut and the brain is known to be bidirectional. This means messages from the gut affect brain function just as much as messages from the brain affect gut function.²

 The mechanism by which alterations in bacterial profiles of the gut affect how we feel, think and move is fascinating. It all begins with lipopolysaccharides (LPS). LPS are structures located on the surfaces of bacteria present in our gut. These LPS may actually get out of the gut and into the blood stream producing a very strong immune response. Normally, the gut does a very good job keeping these LPS from getting into the blood stream.³ However, when the barrier in the gut weakens (‘leaky gut’) LPS is more easily absorbed and enters circulation.  When this occurs, inflammation ensues. If the process continues, high levels of inflammation are generated and this begins to alter neurotransmitter levels in the brain. With enough change in neurotransmitter levels, mood, behavior and cognitive function suffer.

What causes leaky gut? There are a lot of factors, however, evidence points to a high fructose diet (sugary beverages), the Western diet (high in processed foods) and nutrient deficiencies like vitamin D, A, zinc and magnesium.These factors are also known to increase the ability of LPS to get into the blood stream.⁴

 Symptoms of depression, anxiety, ‘brain fog,’ or poor memory may not always be coming from your brain. The genesis of the problem might actually be in your gut! By maintaining a healthy diet and addressing potential nutrient deficiencies you may see many of your symptoms disappear without the need for expensive, mind-altering medications!

¹Palmer C, Bik EM, DiGiulio DB, Relman DA, Brown PO. Development of the human infant intestinal microbiota. PLoS Biol. 2007 Jul;5(7):e177.

²O’Mahony SM, Hyland NP, Dinan TG, Cryan JF. Maternal separation as a model of brain-gut axis dysfunction. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2011 Mar;214(1):71-88.

³Bested AC, Logan AC, Selhub EM. Intestinal microbiota, probiotics and mental health: from Metchnikoff to modern advances: Part II – contemporary contextual research. Gut Pathog. 2013 Mar 14;5(1):3.

⁴Teixeira TF, Collado MC, Ferreira CL, Bressan J, Peluzio Mdo C. Potential mechanisms for the emerging link between obesity and increased intestinal permeability. Nutr Res. 2012 Sep;32(9):637-47.