Gut Bacteria: How They Influence Our Mood
Last month, numerous articles were published in the New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, and many websites detailing researchers' findings that further support our gut's connection to mood, behavior, and well-being. Clinically, it is always fascinating when a patient comes to see me, and I work with them to clean up their guts (by eradicating fungus, candida , parasites , etc.), and they report feeling more emotionally balanced and even-keeled. Science has proven why, and it is no longer just a nice side effect that people enjoy from doing my protocols. The key to why the gut affects mood lies in the enteric nervous system, which is embedded in the gastrointestinal walls. It consists of hundreds of millions of neurons and can operate separately from the brain and spinal cord. The enteric nervous system uses more than 30 neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin. 90 percent of serotonin and 50 percent of dopamine are produced in the gut. These are probably considered th...