It must have been something I ate. Gut Microbiology part 2

 We have all had that nagging feeling in our stomach at the base level, some people talk about a gut feeling. No not the gut feeling you hear about in cop shows or in Elementary when Holmes has a hunch. Today we are looking at the gut, its influence on behavior, mental state and food selection.  Specifically our gut flora, a subject we had broached earlier in an article about the gut and the immune system. This is an extension of the subject matter in that article, a subject matter I have been waiting to write about. It’s wonderful to have subjects to be passionate about but its a double edged sword as you invariably find a dearth of information and need to shape and mold it.  If you have not seen Supersize Me its a documentary where the director Morgan Spurlock eats only McDonalds food for 30 days. The result that interests me over all of his post film health issues, is how eating this way affected his appetite and behavior. After a few days of the new “diet” he was craving the McDonalds, his gut was signaling to him more burgers, fries, McNuggets, and more shakes.  If you have started a new meal plan with foods that are new to you, more often than not you will seek those foods out once your gut flora adjusts. I found this to be the case with myself after doing a detox or a modified elimination diet, your cravings will change with your gut bacteria. As part of today’s article we are looking at a theory, one that I subscribe to, we have multiple intelligences in the mind and body. Specifically what I want to explore is intelligence in the microbiology of the gut. Does the gut affect the choices the brain makes for food? Does it affect our emotions? Is there a chance of it affecting our decisions on a whole? The theory of multiple intelligences was introduced by Professor Howard Gardner Phd a graduate of the Harvard school of education at Harvard University. He created the nine different intelligences:

Linguistic Intelligence involves sensitivity to spoken and written language, the ability to learn languages, and the capacity to use language to accomplish certain goals 

Logical-Mathematical Intelligence consists of the ability to analyze problems logically, carry out mathematical operations, and investigate issues scientifically. 

Musical Intelligence involves skill in the performance, composition, and appreciation of musical patterns. 

Body Kinsethetic Intelligence entails using one’s whole body or parts of the body to solve problems. It is the ability to use mental abilities to coordinate body movements

Spatial Intelligence the potential to recognize and use the patterns of wide space and more confined areas.

Interpersonal Intelligence is concerned with the capacity to understand the intentions, motivations and desires of other people. Allowing people to work well with others. 

Intrapersonal Intelligence entails the capacity to understand oneself, to appreciate ones feelings, fears and motivations. 

Naturalist Intelligence enables human beings to recognize, categorize and draw upon certain features of the environment

Existential Intelligence: is the capacity to tackle deep questions about human existence, like the meaning of life, why do we die, and how did we get here.

I believe there needs to be an expansion of these intelligences to add gut intelligence, the criteria used by Dr. Gardner would not be completely applicable as the basis for his theory is psychological. A new set of criteria would need to include neuro-biological, neuro-psychological and gastroentorological benchmarks. This is a subject that has been studied in mice extensively, the first study in humans was at UCLA in May 2013.  In this article we will take a look at some of the studies in mice, as well as the studies in humans. We will also look at my own self-experimentation with gut function, and how it affects my mood and eating. 

Some of you may have noticed I like to use medical based evidence and research in my articles.  According to the February 2011 study by Pettersson, Forssberg, Hibberd etal1the bacteria that inhabits our intestines has an impact on brain development and subsequent adult behavior. The researchers found that brain directed behaviors, which influence interaction with the external world, may be profoundly influenced by the micro-organisms in the gut flora. The major discovery is the gut bacterias influence on the brain during developmental stages this may have implications for developmental brain disorders. Another study published in February 2011 by Cryan, O’Mahony 2  looked at the connection between disruption in gut bacteria and changes in behavior with a link to increase in brain derived neurotrophic brain factor which has been linked to depression and anxiety. One of the most notable results was that when the antibiotics were discontinued, bacteria in the gut returned to normal. One of the researchers was quoted as saying: “This was accompanied by restoration of normal behavior and brain chemistry”.  The study used mice as the test subjects. They went so far as to “colonize” the germ-free mice with bacteria taken from mice with a different behavior pattern.  After this they found that when the germ-free mice with a genetic background associated with passive behavior were colonized with bacteria from mice with higher exploratory behavior, they became more active even more daring. Similar results were found by colonizing mice who were normally active the received bacteria from passive mice, they became passive.  Professor and associate dean of research of the Michael G Degroote School of Medicine Stephen Collins stated “ this latest research indicates that while many factors determine behavior, the nature and stability of bacteria in the gut appear to influence behavior and any disruption, from antibiotics or infection, might produce changes in behavior.”   Similar results were found when humans with chronic fatigue took a potent pro-biotic had reduce anxiety but not depression.  

Fire up the human trials! Finally we have a study on the human gut from UCLA. A study from June 2013 Tillisch, Labus Kilpatrick etal 3 found that some of the contents of yogurt may actually change the way our brain responds to the environment. The brain signal gut connection has been made by researchers previously with stress contributing to GI distress.  This is the first study on humans looking at the brain gut communication, and it showed that the communication is a two way street. They found that the patients never felt depressed or anxious until they had problems with their gut. The test subjects were 36 women between the ages 18 and 55, they were divided into three groups. One group ate specific yogurt containing a mix of several probiotics twice a day for four weeks. Another group consumed a dairy product that looked and tasted like yogurt but contained no probiotics at all and the third group ate no product at all. The researchers took FMRI’s of the women's brains at rest and during an emotion response task. Looking at pictures of angry or frightened faces to measure different regions of the brain.  They found that the women who ate the probiotics had a decrease in activity in the area of the brain that processes and integrates internal body sensations during the emotion reactivity test. When they tested the resting brain scan the group who ate the probiotic showed a greater connectivity between a key brainstem region periaqueductal grey and cognition-associated areas of the prefrontal cortex. The group who consumed nothing showed greater connectivity at the periaqueductal grey to emotion and sensation related regions, the group who consumed no probiotic dairy showed results in between. The results from this test opens up new avenues of research into the treatment of digestive, mental and neurological disorders.  I have done much research to put this article together and a gem fell into my lap today! A study published September of 2013 from Science 6 from Ridura, Faith ,Rey, and Chang Etal 4 studied the effect of human gut bacteria on obesity in mice. The researchers found human twins  who had one thin and one obese twin, they took gut bacteria samples from them and implanted the bacteria into germ free mice.  Approximately five weeks after they got human gut bacteria, the mice with bacteria from the obese twins had about 15 to 17 percent more body fat than those that had bacteria from the thin twins. They also exhibited some metabolic changes associated with obesity.  Next they took mice with the gut bacteria from the obese twins and from the thin twins in the same housing together. They may eat one another’s droppings and cross contaminate gut bacteria, so as a control they added germ free mice. The result was the lean twins bacteria took over in mice that had originally gotten the obese twins bacteria this resulted in weight loss and a correction of the metabolic abnormalities they had developed. One caveat is that the mice ate low fat food. This lead to the last part of the experiment, the researchers created pellets consisting of the standard american diet and a diet high in fruits ,vegetables and low in fat. They repeated the experiment housing the fat and lean mice together in a cage and giving them one of the two types of food. The fat mice that got the standard american diet kept the gut bacteria from the fat twins and remained fat. The twins the got the high vegetables, fruits and low in fat the thin twins gut bacteria took over.  The results of this study are very telling in that the proper diet can influence gut bacteria and weight loss even in an environment that is not seemingly well suited for fat loss. 

Onto my experimentation with gut bacteria appetite, mood and brain function. Last summer like a good son I offered to detox the same time as my mother. She needed to do the detox to reset her gut as it was giving her trouble on and off for some time. Luckily for both of us, she took me up on the offer. After the detox leading into the modified elimination diet I never felt better.  It increased my energy, efficiency in which I converted food to energy, stabilized my mood, my mind was clear and focused. The only thing I could attribute it to was the change in gut bacteria from the detox and maintaining proper gut bacteria with the modified elimination diet.  This experiment yielded similar results in my mother, clearing up any ongoing stomach issues she had, giving her greater clarity and focus. The other benefit was the change in foods my body wanted to eat, I no longer wanted unhealthy foods. Sometimes even when you “eat clean” you want to cheat, during this time I did not want to cheat my body craved proper nutrients making the detox almost easy. I attribute this to a positive change in gut bacteria. 

We have gone over a ton of information, I know it can be confusing. Your probably saying: What do we do? What can we eat? What do we avoid?  Eat a diet high in vegetables, high in fruits and low in fat. Organic if you can, local grown following the fresh fifteen and the dirty dozen. As far as animal protein sources free range chicken, eggs and grass fed meat. Also you will want to take in probiotic rich foods and supplements as listed in Gut Check TIme.  The research thus far about gut biology is in its infancy; however, we are starting to explore the role it plays in the body and mind, in our eating habits and behavior.  Please read and share this article. This coming week we will be looking at the toll sitting is taking on your health as well as fall list. 

1“Normal gut micorbiota modulates brain development and behavior” by Diaz Hejitz R, Wang S, Anuar F, Qian Y, Bjorkholm B, Samuelsson A, Hibberd ML, Forssberg H, and Pettersson S, of  the Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, 

2The microbiome-gut-brain axis: from bowel to behavior J.F Cryan, S.M. O’Mahony appearing in Neurogastroenterology & Motility published 8, Feb 2011.

3

“ Consumption of Ferment Milk Product with Probiotic Modulates Brain Activity”. Gastroenterology June 2013 Kirsten Tillisch, Jennifer Labus, Lisa Kilpatrick, Zhiguo Jiang, Jean Stains, Bahar Ebrat, Denis Guyonnet, Sophie Legrain-Raspaud, Beatrice Trotin, Bruce Naliboff, Emeran A. Mayer.

4 “Gut Microbiota from Twins Discordant for Obesity Modulate Metabolism in Mice” Science 6 September 2013 vol 341 no 6150 Ridaura V, Faith J, Rey F, Cheng J, Duncan A, Kau A, Griffin N, Lombard V, Henrissat B, Bain J, Muehlbauer M, Illkayeva O, Semenkovich C, Funai K, Hayashi D, Lyle B, Martini M, Ursell L, Clemente J, Van Treuren W, Walters W, Knight R, Newgard C, Heath A, Gordon J