Meet the naturopathic doctor

If you are used to burning the candle at both ends, the thought of slowing down, even to go to sleep, can be daunting. If you are one of those people, it’s time for a reality check. If you ever question whether or not it is important to get enough sleep, just ask yourself this question: Is your health FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE worth getting a few extra minutes or hours of sleep? If the answer is yes, or if you are just struggling to get some more ZZZZs use these techniques to give you the best sleep of your life!

Continue Reading »

We have all heard it time-and-time again – the number one reason to lose weight is not to fit into your ‘skinny’ jeans, but to protect your health. Every pound you shed can lower your risk for heart disease, cancer, and diabetes, amongst other diseases. Let’s outline exactly what you stand to gain by losing (weight).

Continue Reading »

Many of us added ‘losing weight’, ‘getting healthy’, or ‘getting in shape’ as a New Year’s Resolution.  Let’s face it, many of us add that resolution each and every year.  So now that you’ve bought that gym membership, how do you get the most out of it?

Continue Reading »

We see a lot of very complex and often times extreme cases at The Natural Path Health Center; many of our in-house clients need a complete overhaul of their health and lifestyle to achieve their health goals. However, a good number of our clients simply need to make some targeted changes in their lifestyle or dietary habits in order for them to achieve the health and vitality they desire. No matter your current state of health, there are a few things we all need to do everyday to establish a firm foundation for optimal health. Let’s look at the most important things everyone can do to dramatically improve their health.

Keep the Body (Chemistry) in Balance
We talk a lot about body chemistry (refer back to one of your first newsletters on Body Chemistry). What we are really talking about is balancing the acid forming foods and lifestyle habits we have with alkaline forming foods and habits.  The three most acid forming foods are coffee, soda/pop and sugar; the most acid forming lifestyle habits are smoking and drinking alcohol regularly. Almost no amount of alkaline forming foods can make up for these habits (especially since the average American consumes 175 lbs. of sugar every year!), so you should limit or eliminate these as much as possible.

Even when you minimize or eliminate these extremely acid forming foods and behaviors, you still need to incorporate plenty of alkaline forming foods, drinks and practices to counteract the hustle-and-bustle of everyday life. Eating plenty of vegetables and fruits and consuming fresh vegetable juices regularly is a great start. Go for as many colors as possible and change what you eat on a daily or at least weekly basis. Variety is the spice of life! Deep breathing is also very important, as is regular (aerobic) exercise.

Deep Breathing
Deep breathing is one of the most important lifestyle habits everyone can benefit from. There are several Deep Breathing and Stress Management Exercises you can do. You can also do something as simple as taking 10 deep breaths first thing in the morning and last thing at night before bed. I really like to use Post-It® notes or other reminders to help me remember to breathe deeply. For example, if you’re at your computer a lot, put a Post-It® note on your screen that says “Breathe” or use the word “Breathe” as your screensaver; if you’re on the phone a lot, every time you take a call, take a deep breath; every time you hang up the phone take a deep breath; every time you get into your car (as long as you don’t work in a polluted area) take a deep breath – get the picture. Find something that is repetitive in your day and use it to remind you to breathe deeply.

Get Moving
Another way to dramatically improve your health is through regular aerobic exercise – we all know this, but only 10-15% of Americans exercise regularly. We can change that, but motivation is the key. Don’t do something you don’t like – you’re pretty much guaranteed to quit at some point. The flip side of this is that you have to keep looking for things you do like (and hopefully find some things that you love) to do. You don’t have to run a marathon to enjoy the health benefits of regular exercise – 20-30 minutes a day is all you need.

Perform a variety of exercises that excite and invigorate you – have fun!!! Do one exercise for the entire time, or do a variety. If you don’t have 30 minutes, do something for 10 minutes three times a day. Many things count towards exercise, including:

Find a friend and catch up while you take a walk, or take a yoga class together. Make exercise fun and a regular part of your daily routine.

Chew Your Food
What? Did he say chew your food?? Doesn’t everybody chew their food??? The answer is yes, but most people do not chew their food nearly enough. For optimal digestion to take place, we need to chew our food 30-50 times per mouthful; that means the food should be a liquid before we swallow! How many people do you know that take a bite of food, chew it once or twice and then swallow? These are the same people that need antacids, get bloated, tired and/or irritable after eating and usually have gas. We need to slow down, relax while eating and chew our food so the body can digest it and absorb the nutrients correctly.

Here’s why: the simple act of chewing your food helps with digestion in three ways. First, chewing breaks up the food into smaller and smaller particles. This provides more surface area for your digestive enzymes to work on, so digestion is more efficient and takes less energy. Second, the act of chewing stimulates the stomach to produce more stomach acid, which will help digest foods more easily (note: most people that need to take antacids actually produce too little stomach acid or eat too quickly which causes the upset). Third, the act of chewing also stimulates the pancreas to produce more digestive enzymes, so we can get more nutrients out of the foods we eat. Think of digestion like buttoning a button-down shirt. Digestion starts in the mouth, so chewing is just like the first button. If the first button is not done correctly, you cannot button the rest of the shirt properly. In the same way, if we do not chew our food thoroughly, the rest of the digestive process cannot proceed correctly, and we will have problems.

Drink Water
Everybody knows that we are supposed to drink eight 8 oz. glasses of water (= 64 oz.) everyday. What most people don’t know is that the body can only utilize about 2-4 oz. of water every 20-30 minutes. That means that if you slam down four 16 oz. glasses of water throughout the day, you think you consumed the requisite 64 oz. (4 x 16 oz. = 64 oz.) but you really only got 16 oz. (4 x 4 oz. absorbed = 16 oz.) of water and at least four trips to the bathroom. Therefore, ideally you would drink about 4 oz. (or ½ cup) of water every half-hour. I like to have a water bottle on hand throughout the day and take sips from it every chance I get. Make it easy on yourself and have a water bottle at work, at home and in your car. Carry one with you when you travel so you can stay hydrated. Proper hydration is absolutely essential for optimal health.

I should note that most non-caffeinated herbal teas also count as water. In addition, you need to drink (and can absorb) more water during and after exercise. Need another reason to drop coffee and soda? Both are diuretics, which mean they cause you to lose more water. The more coffee and soda you drink, the more water you need to drink and the more time you will spend in the bathroom. Do yourself a favor and substitute water or tea for coffee and soda – your bladder will thank you!

Remember the 80/20 Rule
Rules, rules, rules! Relax. When it comes down to it, it is what you do a majority of the time that counts. That’s where the 80/20 Rule comes in – it states that it’s what you do 80% of the time that counts. That means you can (and should) indulge yourself in your favorite foods and drinks from time-to-time, even if they aren’t the most healthy thing for you. Literally speaking, this would translate into 3 meals a week or one entire day every week where you could stray from your normally healthy eating and living habits without much change in your overall health. Said differently, you can have your cake and eat it too, just make sure you have humble-pie most of the time and live as though you will be alive and vital for a good, long time.

Key Points

• Minimize/eliminate soda/pop, coffee and sugar
• Eat many vegetables, fruits, and vegetable juices
  • Eat as many colors as possible
  • Eat a variety of foods
• Breathe deeply throughout the day and/or perform deep breathing exercises
• Get 20-30 minutes of exercise daily – do something you love!
• Chew, chew, chew your food (until it is a liquid)
• Drink water throughout the day (shoot for ½ cup every ½ hour)
• Keep it in perspective and follow the 80/20 Rule

Illness and disease can be very complex with multiple symptoms and underlying root causes. Restoring health is a process that often requires professional guidance. Maintaining health is easy, as long as we follow some simple ground-rules. Heading into 2012, use these basics to set the foundation for lasting, life-long vitality and optimal health!

This picture doesn’t have much to do with this post, but it’s funny – and laughter is extremely important in living a healthy life!  Now moving on…..

These six keys for experiencing more happiness in your life were adapted from an interview with Christophe Andre, a French author, self proclaimed pessimist and expert on happiness.

1. Accept that there will be unpleasant things in life. All the time, every day, you’ll face hindrances: You’ll be too late or make a mistake or say something stupid. It’s the rent you pay to live in the house of life. It’s part of life. There’s no point in being disappointed when things don’t go your way.
2. Open your eyes and look around. There are more opportunities for happiness than you think, certainly for someone living in America. Embrace the moments. Try to remember them. Enjoy them.
3. Take time out. The ability to pause, mentally as well as in your actions, is important. Taking breaks is a prerequisite for experiencing happiness.
4. Pay attention to your family and friends. Social ties are important for happiness. Don’t let a day go by without thinking of, or seeing, someone you love.
5. Try to get in touch with nature every day. Take a walk in the park and spend a few minutes looking at nature.

Express your gratitude and respect for the good things you experience. Being thankful makes you happy and increases the change of social connection.  Live a happier life!

You are only as healthy as your body’s ability to digest and absorb the food you eat.  Except for typical cold symptoms, digestive issues are the most common reason people seek medical advice.  Every year, Americans spend 87 billion dollars on direct medical cost due to digestive issues. (Lipski xv)  These numbers demonstrate what an extreme issue our lack of digestive wellness is costing not only our pocket books but also our health and well being.

With that said, the following are a few simple steps we all can take to improve one of the most important keys to having health this year…..our digestion:

• Eat in a relaxed environment – Turn off the TV and sit down! Allow your body to focus on eating. Eating in a relaxed environment activates the parasympathetic nervous system and facilitates digestion.
• Chew your food!! – Carbohydrate digestion begins in the mouth and chewing your food completely before swallowing puts less stress on your digestive system. Hint: Put your fork down between bites and pick it back up after you have completely chewed and swallowed the previous one.
• Drink less fluid with your meals – drinking water throughout the day is a must, but with meals consider limiting intake because it dilutes important digestive juices and stomach acid that facilitates digestion.
• Choose whole organic foods – Whole foods are in the state nature intended. Whole foods are not processed and are nutrient dense. Also, avoid toxins and eat organically. This includes not only produce but also meat and dairy too.
• Eat a wide variety of nutrient dense whole foods – It is estimated that the average American consumes 75% of their foods from the same 10 foods. (Hass 29) It is important to mix it up because when we over eat one food, we start to limit our body’s ability to digest it.
• Eliminate refined fake foods – Heavily processed foods and fake foods like artificial sweeteners and trans-fat are void of nutrients and contain chemicals that the body can not properly metabolize.
• Identify problem areas – if you are having current digestive issues, such as low stomach acid or constipation do some research, and take appropriate steps to solve the problem. Visit the GI Disorders: Improper Digestion section of our website for more information. Digestive Wellness by Elizabeth Lipski is another wonderful resource.

Incorporating these simple tips can help you achieve digestive wellness and optimal health!

Resources:

The False Fat Diet: The Revolutionary 21-Day Program for Losing the Weight You Think Is Fat Hass, Elson. The False Fat Diet. New York, NY: Ballantine Books, 2000.

Digestive Wellness Lipski, Elizabeth. Digestive Wellness. 3rd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005.

The first two posts in this series detailed how the brain can become addicted to sugar and what happens if you try to stop eating sugar, even for a short period of time. Most people feel awful when they try to quit, so they end up consuming more and more sugar, which perpetuates the problem even further. This final installment of this three part series will detail several ways that we have used to help sugar-addicts the world over free themselves from this sometimes crippling affliction.

Breaking the Cycle

If you feel like you, or someone you know, is addicted to sugar take comfort in knowing this: you are not the first one. There have been thousands and thousands of people that have faced this addiction and beaten it. Here are a number of ways for you to begin to overcome your sugar addiction:

• Eat real food. Ideally, food shouldn’t need a label (i.e., fresh/frozen fruits and vegetables; raw nuts and seeds; grass-fed or organic meats, poultry and eggs; legumes (beans, peas and lentils); fresh fish and organic dairy products. If your food does have a label, make sure you can identify all the ingredients as real food. Studies have shown that the more you eat healthy food, the more you will crave it.
• Eat regularly – every 2-4 hours works best for most people.
• Eat balanced meals – this means when you look at your plate, roughly ½ of it should contain vegetables and/or fruit, ¼ should contain protein (meat, fish, poultry, eggs, beans, lentils, protein powder) and ¼ should contain a starchy vegetable (carrot, sweet potato, yams, potato, etc.) or whole grain (brown rice, quinoa, barley, etc.). This link provides great recipes and a searchable database for you to find exactly what you need, even if you have food allergies.
• Eat protein at every meal; if you are following the suggestion above this will help. This is especially important at breakfast and lunch to help curb cravings later in the day.
• Eat within 60 minutes of waking; this will help curb cravings. Smoothies work great!
• Eliminate sugar and artificial sweeteners. If you want to end cravings, you must reset your brain and the only way to do that is to give it new information. Clear anything that contains sugar (including corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup) in the first six ingredients out of your house and don’t buy it at the grocery store. Same goes for ‘diet’ goods and artificial sweeteners.
• When you have sugar craving, drink water and have a snack, like a piece of fruit along with a palm-full of nuts. Get active with something and the craving will pass.

• Determine if you have any underlying food allergies or intolerances. We often crave foods that we are allergic to. Specific laboratory testing can help you pinpoint your exact hypersensitivities. Eliminating your allergic foods can help reduce cravings immensely!
• Get more sleep. Lack of sleep intensifies cravings. Aim for 8 hours/night with as much before midnight as possible.
• Talk to a health care professional about supplements. There are many supplements that act as natural appetite suppressants and can reduce cravings or modulate dopamine receptor function to regulate appetite. This can make all the difference in the world to ease withdrawal, eliminate cravings and establish new habits that allow you to kick the sugar-habit.

Sugar addiction is very real and it can make achieving vibrant health seem almost impossible. Thankfully, there are a number of ways to break the sugar addiction cycle and retrain your brain to crave healthy foods. If you’d like more support and guidance, don’t hesitate to contact us – we’d love to help you free yourself from sugar addiction and lead the life you’ve always wanted.

Sources

1. “Can sugar be addictive?” foodnavigator.com. William Reed Business Media, 16 Jan. 2006.
2. Leutwyler Ozelli, Kristin. “This is your brain on food.” Scientific American Sep. 2007: 84-85.
3. Daniells, Stephen. “Food addiction: Fat may rewire brain like hard drugs.” foodnavigator.com. William Reed Business Media, 29 Mar. 2010.
4. Gardner, Amanda. “Compulsive Eaters May Have ‘Food Addiction,’ Study Finds.” healthday.com. Health Day, 4 Apr. 2011.
5. Gray, Nathan. “Food addiction has similar brain response to drug addiction: Study.” foodnavigator.com. William Reed Business Media, 5 Apr. 2011.
6. Hyman, Mark MD. “Stopping Addiction to Sugar: Willpower or Genetics?”
7. Scott-Thomas, Caroline. “Animal study suggests existence of sugar addiction, says scientist.” foodnavigator.com. William Reed Business Media, 11 Dec. 2008.
8. Scott-Thomas, Caroline. “Sugar addiction ‘unlikely in humans,’ says scientist.” foodnavigator.com. William Reed Business Media, 9 Jan. 2009.

Houston, we have a problem

Not only do sweet foods increase dopamine levels, but over-consumption of sweet foods can actually cause a breakdown in brain chemistry. According to a study published in Nature Neuroscience, “common mechanisms may underlie obesity and drug addiction.” (3) Researchers found that when animals were given a diet of high calorie foods, there was a significant reduction in the activity of their dopamine receptors. This is very similar to the affect that cocaine or heroin has on the brain. (3)

What does decreased receptor activity mean? It means that the brain becomes tolerant to dopamine signals. This is similar to what happens when you go to a concert. When you first get there, the music seems very loud. But as the concert goes on, you get used to the noise level, and it no longer seems as loud as it did when the band started playing – you become tolerant to the noise level. That’s exactly what happens with dopamine in the brain. If you are constantly eating or seeing sweet, high-calorie foods, your dopamine levels are always high, just like the music at the concert is always loud. Your brain gets used to the high dopamine levels and starts tuning them out. The signal does not seem as strong anymore. This means that you will need more dopamine to feel any effect, just like the music would have to be turned up for you to notice any change in volume.

For someone with constantly high dopamine levels, more and more sweet, high-calorie foods are needed to get the same kind of pleasure. This sets many people up for a catch-22 situation – they remember how great something a certain food made them feel and expect it to bring them the same amount of pleasure. However, when they eat the food they aren’t as satisfied as they expected to be, so they eat more and more in hopes of regaining that original feeling (or ‘high’). This often becomes a cycle of constantly elevated dopamine levels, leading to decreased dopamine receptor response, causing decreased pleasure and constant attempts to achieve more pleasure (by raising dopamine levels even higher) by eating more and more super-sweet, high calorie foods. (4) This should start to sound a lot like addiction.

Sugar addiction

Studies have shown that people with addictive-like eating behaviors – which includes addiction to sweet, high-calorie foods, insatiable cravings and binge eating – have greater brain activity in regions associated with substance dependence and abuse. They also have increased activity in their reward circuitry and less activity going on with inhibitory regions of the brain (5). This means that they are more prone to seek out pleasure-inducing experiences and less likely to be able to stop themselves in the process. Their reward systems are being triggered at a higher rate than people who don’t have addictive-like eating behaviors, and they are less able to keep themselves from acting on their desires.

Some professionals have questioned whether sugar addiction, and addictive behavior in general, is due more to willpower or genetics. We know that there are a decreased number of dopamine receptors in the brain in both drug addicts and in obese people. The question is whether the decreased number is due to the brain trying to compensate for the abnormally high levels of dopamine or just because those people were born with lower levels of receptors. (2) The evidence to date seems to indicate that it could be a bit of both, with the compensation piece playing a much larger role. For instance, research has shown that the more obese a person is, the fewer dopamine receptors they have (2). This seems to suggest that the brain has built up a tolerance to the high levels of dopamine. Regardless of cause, a person with a decreased number (or function) of dopamine receptors would require more stimulation than the average person to feel the same amount of pleasure, putting them at greater risk for addictive behaviors. (6)

Withdrawal

The final criterion for addiction is evidence of withdrawal. Withdrawal symptoms from sugar addiction can occur within a few hours to several days after discontinuation depending on the person and severity of sugar use. Carvings, often moderate to severe, are the most common withdrawal symptom; people often also have an increased appetite, especially for sweet foods. However, some people have much more severe symptoms, including depression, anxiety, mood swings and an extreme drive to continue eating sugar despite the significant harm it is causing them. People that experience these types of symptoms usually have very low levels (or very low functioning) of dopamine receptors due to years and years of sugar use. Once the sugar is discontinued, there is not enough dopamine to help them feel ‘normal’ and they can feel like their world is crumbling around them. This is why many people need guidance and support to help them break their sugar addiction.

The final part of this three part series will detail how you can break your sugar addiction and free yourself from the daily cravings and binges that can thwart even the best-laid intentions.

Sources

1. “Can sugar be addictive?” foodnavigator.com. William Reed Business Media, 16 Jan. 2006.
2. Leutwyler Ozelli, Kristin. “This is your brain on food.” Scientific American Sep. 2007: 84-85.
3. Daniells, Stephen. “Food addiction: Fat may rewire brain like hard drugs.” foodnavigator.com. William Reed Business Media, 29 Mar. 2010.
4. Gardner, Amanda. “Compulsive Eaters May Have ‘Food Addiction,’ Study Finds.” healthday.com. Health Day, 4 Apr. 2011.
5. Gray, Nathan. “Food addiction has similar brain response to drug addiction: Study.” foodnavigator.com. William Reed Business Media, 5 Apr. 2011.
6. Hyman, Mark MD. “Stopping Addiction to Sugar: Willpower or Genetics?”
7. Scott-Thomas, Caroline. “Animal study suggests existence of sugar addiction, says scientist.” foodnavigator.com. William Reed Business Media, 11 Dec. 2008.
8. Scott-Thomas, Caroline. “Sugar addiction ‘unlikely in humans,’ says scientist.” foodnavigator.com. William Reed Business Media, 9 Jan. 2009.

Many people feel like they are ‘addicted’ to sugar. New research is providing clues as to how this may happen and what can be done about it. In this three part series, we will look at the reasons why some people can’t seem to help themselves when it comes to sugar/sweets and exactly what you can do to break the sugar addiction cycle.

There has been a lot of research and disagreement in the health/medical world lately about sugar and whether or not a person could be truly “addicted” to it. Sure, we all like to eat sweets, and sometimes we find ourselves craving and overindulging in sweet treats. But there are people who have an insatiable sweet tooth; people who “can’t live without chocolate” or it ends up affecting how they feel, their mood and their actions. Could these people actually be addicted to sugar? New research indicates that they could.

Sugar Addicts

First, some background. Medically speaking, an addictive substance is something which induces a pleasant state or relieves distress, leads to adaptive changes in the brain that triggers tolerance, physical dependence and uncontrollable cravings and causes dependence to such an extent that abstaining is difficult (1). Using these criteria, it doesn’t sound so far-fetched that sugar addiction could exist. People are usually happy after they eat cake or some other treat. Some people will eat sweet things to relieve distress; think stress eating or eating chocolate to ease PMS symptoms. And, there are people out there who have such intense cravings for sweets that willpower is literally not enough to abstain – they have to have something sweet every day or they have a very, very bad day. So what are these ‘adaptive changes in the brain that trigger tolerance, physical dependence and uncontrollable cravings’? The answer lies with brain chemicals called neurotransmitters.

“I gotta have that!”

Before we get into the science of neurotransmitters and brain responses, we need to talk about some biology and evolution. Back when humans were hunter-gatherers, food was not always in abundance. You could go through a food-drought at any time, so our bodies were designed to build energy stores out of excess calories whenever possible. That way, when there was an unexpected period of time without enough food, we could survive off of what our bodies had stored as fat. Sweet, sugary foods are often high-calorie foods. So when we are presented with something sweet our body says, “That tastes good. Eat a lot of that so I can build up energy stores for the food-drought.” We are biologically wired to enjoy and seek out sweet, high calorie foods because from an evolutionary standpoint, they provided us the best chance to survive a food-drought. We can’t help it.

However, in today’s world we very seldom (never!) experience a food-drought, as there is an abundance of food (and processed goods that slightly resemble food) wherever we go. This causes our own instincts to lead us astray and be drawn to sweet, high calorie foods when we, from a biological standpoint, don’t need them.

Now, on to brain chemistry. When we eat sweets, our brain levels of dopamine increase. (1) Dopamine is a neurotransmitter in the brain that controls the brain’s reward and pleasure centers. In essence, when our dopamine levels are high we feel happy. Dopamine also tells you to get into action to achieve a goal that will bring a reward or pleasure (such as eating a cookie). It motivates us to do things that bring us pleasure and it is a very powerful neurotransmitter. This means that the signals it sends can be very hard to overcome with willpower. (2)

It gets worse. Research shows that we don’t even have to eat these high-calorie foods to rev up our motivation to have them; all you have to do is see a high-calorie food and your dopamine levels will rise. (2) This means that just looking at a picture of an ice cream sundae will get you thinking about how much you want to eat it and wondering where you can get one – right now. For others, simply thinking about a food can elicit a rise in dopamine and increase their desire for immediate gratification. For many people, this urge is enough to make them feel like they have to act on it, so they run out and get the food or some other high-calorie alternative.

Marketers know this; why do you think that every TV, billboard or magazine ad has beautiful pictures of tantalizing high calorie foods? They know that just by seeing those ads, you’ll want that food, and want it now. This is also the reason so many fast food ads run at night and during sporting events – people see them and order.

This is just part of the story however; the next post will detail how eating sugar and highly sweetened foods can actually change how your brain processes information, making you crave and eat more, setting up a cycle that is hard to break.

Sources

1. “Can sugar be addictive?” foodnavigator.com. William Reed Business Media, 16 Jan. 2006.
2. Leutwyler Ozelli, Kristin. “This is your brain on food.” Scientific American Sep. 2007: 84-85.
3. Daniells, Stephen. “Food addiction: Fat may rewire brain like hard drugs.” foodnavigator.com. William Reed Business Media, 29 Mar. 2010.
4. Gardner, Amanda. “Compulsive Eaters May Have ‘Food Addiction,’ Study Finds.” healthday.com. Health Day, 4 Apr. 2011.
5. Gray, Nathan. “Food addiction has similar brain response to drug addiction: Study.” foodnavigator.com. William Reed Business Media, 5 Apr. 2011.
6. Hyman, Mark MD. “Stopping Addiction to Sugar: Willpower or Genetics?”
7. Scott-Thomas, Caroline. “Animal study suggests existence of sugar addiction, says scientist.” foodnavigator.com. William Reed Business Media, 11 Dec. 2008.
8. Scott-Thomas, Caroline. “Sugar addiction ‘unlikely in humans,’ says scientist.” foodnavigator.com. William Reed Business Media, 9 Jan. 2009.

We work with a lot of people that suffer from disorders relating to neurotransmitter imbalances, including depression, anxiety, ADD/ADHD, OCD, trichotillomania, migraines, insomnia, additions, cravings, obesity and fibromyalgia.  Most of the time, we find that the gut plays a role in their overall health in one way or another. However, I just came across an interesting article that may provide additional insight into the causes of neurotransmitter imbalance and the how probiotics may be useful in correcting the problem.

Probiotics and mental health

Probiotics are the “good” bacteria that normally reside in a health gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Different formulations are available in many health food stores containing one or more strains of different bacteria. Recently, Professor Mark Lyte and associates at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center have come up with a radical new concept: that you may be able to affect your neurotransmitter levels – and therefore your psychological health – by taking and establishing the right blend of probiotics.

What these researches found was that several neurotransmitters (normally produced in the brain) are also produced by various probiotic strains in the gut. For instance, they found that bacillus and serratia strains of bacteria produce dopamine; streptococcus, Escherichia and Enterococcus strains produce serotonin; Escherichia, Bacillus and Saccharomyces produce norepinephrine; and Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium strains produce GABA.

The Second Brain

This has potentially startling implications. First, it provides another pathway to help explain why a person’s neurotransmitter levels become imbalanced in the first place. If the microbial environment of the gut is abnormal from birth, let’s say, this research suggests that over time, neurotransmitter imbalances could result. In addition, many people experience an exacerbation of symptoms or entirely new symptoms after being treated with antibiotics; this research could help explain this as any shift in the microbial environment in the gut could lead to alternations in neurotransmitter levels.

In addition, it provides other possible avenues to correct those underlying imbalances. This research suggests that altering the bacteria in the gut could dramatically affect a person’s overall neurotransmitter balance.

More research needs to be done, but if this hypothesis is confirmed, probiotics could prove to be a valuable adjunctive therapy to help those who suffer from disorders relating to neurotransmitter imbalance.