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Post by Admin on Dec 29, 2015 18:10:06 GMT -4
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Post by Denise Ellis on Dec 30, 2015 11:08:16 GMT -4
Interesting article. I've always wondered if there was an association between our diet and our mood. It has been evident for many people who suffer from depression that they either eat too much or too little. When I feel sleep deprived or anxious, I have a tendency to want to snack on high fat "comfort" foods.These food chooices have been attributed to calmness and a sense of satisfaction. During holiday dinners, meals are associated with pleasurable experiences. Euphoric feelings are common after partaking in one's favorite post meal desert. Not only is food a necessity but it is a desire. It is quite possible that further research in the area of food influences on the brain will demonstrate a potential for food addiction similiar to that of drug addiction.
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Post by Peter Wahba on Dec 30, 2015 13:19:37 GMT -4
I thought this article brought to light a significant perspective about food and how it does more than just provide fuel for energy. I find it incredible that perhaps instead of just assigning medication to someone who suffers from anxiety or depression, we can alter their brain chemistry and body function simply by adjusting their diet. I think this works wonders for the doctor as well as the patient. The doctor and patient both benefit by not having to play the waiting game to see what serious side effects the patient might develop. Also, food is more accessible than drugs at a pharmacy that require constant doctor’s visits and refills. I believe this route would also help give the patient a sense of ease and control over what they are putting into their bodies as there are multiple sources for carbohydrates, proteins or fats that they are familiar with.
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Post by Rebekah Amarini on Dec 30, 2015 21:46:55 GMT -4
Most systems in our bodies work in unison; it makes sense that the gut and psyche can have such a close relationship. We have been taught (mind to gut) connection via the laws of fight or flight and rest and digest, when we are in danger our bodies don’t care that we digest our meals properly and when we are relaxed and resting our gut can go to work increasing secretions, gastric acid, and peristalsis. However there is less talk about the (gut to mind) connection having power over emotions, mental illness, and phenotypic personality traits.
What I found to be particularly interesting was the study done with mice, which swapped introverted and extroverted tendencies via means of fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) which was modified with probiotics and antibiotics. This exchange in behavioral phenotype brings to light the idea of the ego possibly being unconsciously controlled by specific gut bacteria. Certain personality traits may be related to a specific organism. Further looking into the study they mentioned that donor screening for fecal transplant would exclude donors with previous CNS and psychiatric illnesses. One interesting consideration is if a patient donates FMT and then develops schizophrenia due to its late onset, would the recipient patient then have a higher risk of developing the illness and would they attain personality traits of that person? This may be a study to follow for patients that have had fecal transplants already for post refractory C. Diff, have they felt any changes in their personality or emotions post-transplant?
Maybe the Mars company who produce the snickers commercials of hungry people who change into other angry hungry people until they eat their snickers bar are onto something more than they know.
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Post by Randy Lindgren on Dec 31, 2015 11:34:02 GMT -4
Very interesting article that confirms the amazing circuitry of the body, mind, and nervous system connection. While the findings in this article are fascinating to read initially, it really makes a lot of sense when you apply these study findings to our everyday eating habits and mood fluctuations that we experience. What I found most interesting about this article was the study done on newborns and the connection between the GI flora and behavioral traits. Through research like this I can't help but hope that maybe in the future we can develop therapies to prevent overly aggressive behaviors from developing based on manipulation of intestinal bacteria, along with other personality abnormalities. I think that diet and nutrition education should be more easily available to some people with fewer resources and also to those people with disorders in which dietary or nutritional modifications could play and integral role in improving their condition and/or quality of life.
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Post by Diana Khaw on Dec 31, 2015 13:16:09 GMT -4
The article is really interesting. I believe there should be more studies done to sort out these connections with evidence based medicine. It could possibly improve the way we practice medicine in the future. The article is a good reminder to see our body as a whole and keep it well balanced. When there is an imbalance in one organ system, other systems can be affected as well. When we are stress, it could lead to an imbalance in our neurotransmitters and chemicals in our body, an increase in cortisol level with possible weight gain, which eating sweets and fatty food doesn't help either. Also, there is a possibility of getting IBS and other GI related issues. So maybe if we eat and exercise properly that will promote a balance in neurotransmitters and natural gut floras in our bodies in a therapeutic and cost effective way, there might be less need for medications. People can be happy and healthy with a few lifestyle modifications.
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Post by Edak Ekere on Dec 31, 2015 15:41:38 GMT -4
It is always interesting to read on how different organ systems of the body, especially the gastrointestinal system, are related to anxiety, depression, and stress. I have always wondered about "stress eating", and the correlation between stress and the production of ghrelin. Also, the connection between bacteria in the gut and the temperament of toddlers is the most intriguing to me. According to the article, in boys, extroversion was associated with an abundance of particular types of bacteria, and in girls, self-restraint, cuddliness and focused attention were associated with a lower diversity of gut bacteria. However, most of these research are still in their early days, therefore, people shouldn't make drastic dietary adjustments as a means of improving their mental health. More research studies need to be conducted. I have always believed that mental illness isn't just all "in our heads". This article suggests the possibility of a new remedy for mental illness and achieving good mental health.
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Post by Esaias Jordaan on Dec 31, 2015 16:48:07 GMT -4
As with other articles on this topic, this writer uses hyperbolic language and illogical connections to inflate the importance of the gut in modulating mood and cognition. For example, the number of neurons in the enteric nervous system, the % of afferent fibres in the vagus and the amount of serotonin in the gut are all meaningless statistics without demonstrating a connection to the limbic system or other brain structures involved in mood and temperament. As such, even though she acknowledges the preliminary nature of this work, the writer is guilty of misleading her readers with suggestive pseudo-scientific language instead of simply conveying facts and quantitative data. This article does point to some interesting research, such as the correlation between gut microbe population makeup and temperament in toddlers (although a possible confounding factor is that increased curiosity and adventurous behavior may lead to different bacterial exposures and not the other way around), the stress-relieving effects of eating high-calorie foods and effect on temperament in mice. There is, however no quantitative data in the article and I suspect that these effects are not very large. If they were, would we not see dramatic mood swings and personality changes in patients treated with ablating antibiotics or with fecal transplants? This is an interesting subject area, and I look forward to seeing more research done on it so that we can add to the range of tools we have to influence psychiatric symptoms.
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Post by Robert Seminara on Dec 31, 2015 17:41:40 GMT -4
This article, similar to the previously assigned NYT article, reveals the multi-factorial nature required for addressing mental health concerns in medicine. Although the article does not include much depth with respect to clinical trials, or statistics, the association between diet and mood is a growing topic in medicine. Something so simple as sugar, can make someone appear hyper, feel good and think faster. Take it away, and it is almost like looking at a completely different person. It is hard to refute the effect a diet can have on energy levels and overall feeling of well being. I was unaware that 95% of the serotonin comes from the gut! If further studies showed (like the previous article suggested), that certain bacteria can actually make similar neurotransmitters to our own, that type of information can be of great value going forward. Even using case control studies to look back on the effects of antibiotics and mood, can offer more insight into the relationship between bacteria and mental health.
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Post by Pari Patel on Dec 31, 2015 17:54:52 GMT -4
Very interesting article. As most of our body systems work together it is intriguing to realize the connection between the brain, GI tract, and how it can affect our mood. I have been curious about stress eating and always being comforted by the high fat foods. The article provided more information on how stress and food are related through explaining the gut’s production of ghrelin, which sends messages to the brain around appetite and food choices. The study done on the extroversion and introversion via the gut was particularly interesting. The idea that the specific combination of bacteria in the gut can affect your temperament, mood, and learning is very unique. More studies should be done to correlate these findings. In the future we can use diet modification and nutritional changes in the treatment of depression, stress, and anxiety.
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Post by Vandana Yanamadala on Dec 31, 2015 18:30:32 GMT -4
This article highlights the influence of dietary habits on mental well being. It also sheds light on contributing factors to weight changes associated with depression. I am curious as to whether cultural differences in "comfort food" affects mood. It may just be the emotional bond with comfort foods or is it only based on fat content? As different cultures vary in their definition of comfort food. Also, since bacteria are shown to influence personality traits in children how permanent of an impact would altering gut flora make? It is very interesting to see evidence of why we are so prone to form emotional bonds to food.
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Post by Tuong Nguyen on Jan 5, 2016 19:51:36 GMT -4
This article is just another layer of proof is that the gut is the main factor contributing to all the layer of the human well beings. As Hippocrates stated that "all diseases do begin in the gut." What we know in our basic science is that most of human cells and genetic material belongs to the gut flora, so if they are damage in anyway our whole body will go toward the downslide whether it is physical or mentally. So, eat healthy and maintain those gut flora to protect your overall health.
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Post by Josie Asaba on Jan 5, 2016 22:21:07 GMT -4
The second brain or the brain in our gut is an interesting read. This article is one more evidence that the body and mind work together in every aspect of out being.The function of the vagus nerve explains it all, carrying information from the abdomen to the brain. It is absolutely fascinating to know that bacteria found in some ones gut can determine their temperament.So is accurate to say that introverted individuals have slow gut bacteria? Most people who are overweight have some kind of stress in their life. As mentioned in the article, stress causes an increase in grehlin,the hunger hormone, which sends a signal that we are hungry. Only 5% of serotonin in the brain? i really didn't know that the majority of it was in the gut. This is a great article and the connection between depression , anxiety and the gut is interesting. I guess i would pay more attention to my gut because it is my second brain.
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Post by Ravneet Dhaliwal on Jan 6, 2016 1:23:45 GMT -4
The article discussed the close association between our gut and brain, which was quite fascinating to read. We often hear about how GI issues can be aggravated by poor mental health, but this article depicted the reverse relationship. The author showed how our gastrointestinal tract could negatively impact our brain; therefore, leading to various mood disorders such as depression and anxiety. It was interesting to learn that the majority of serotonin is stored in our gut, which further provides evidence of how poor Gi health could lead to depression. This also gives merit to the concept of clean eating leading to a healthy mind and body. The article further discussed the impact of gut bacteria on the neurons of our brain and how a gut with genetically diverse bacteria was prone to better overall mental health. Overall, it was interesting to learn about the channel of communication between the brain in our gut and the one in the head.
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Post by Ali Rizvi on Jan 6, 2016 10:08:51 GMT -4
This article was a great read. I always believed in a mind to body connection in all aspects of life, and to read an article correlating our GI system and it's effects it has on our brains and mood goes to show there is something to that thought. As more research and time is put into learning about this connection I am interested to find out what other new information can be gathered from all of this. Personally, and I think others have felt the acute changes in there body when over eating or when someone has not had food for a while. For example when someone's mood changes because they are so hungry and can be referred to as someone being "hangry". On the other hand when overeating, which I'm sure we have all been guilty of (thanksgiving), we can be put into a coma-like state also know as having the "itis". Despite consuming so much energy, we are placed into a low-energy state where any actions or task become quite burdensome. Moving forward, I will be noting the foods I eat on a regular basis and see how I feel after eating them to see what works and what does not.
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