healthletter september 2011

in this issue:

• Digestion
• Psychology
• The GAPS Diet

Happy September!

Have you ever considered that your digestion may have something to do with your overall health, mood, and general wellbeing? It may surprise you to learn that our gut has its own nervous system, which has been called ‘the second brain’. This system is complex and has the same receptors for opiates as the brain does. What does this mean? Read on to find out how digestion and the second brain can impact much more than bowel movements, as the physicians of Bambú Clinic discuss digestion, psychology, and the GAPS diet.

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Have you ever felt nervousness in your abdomen? Stress in your intestines? The enteric nervous system of the gastrointestinal system reacts to stresses similarly to the brain, but the symptoms are felt in the abdomen and intestines. In addition, in people with compromised digestion, dietary proteins do not digest fully, instead many of them are broken down to chains of peptides, which in their structure are similar to heroin, morphine and other opiates.

These peptides absorb and bind to brain receptors, giving people many mental symptoms (this phenomenon has been well studied in autism and schizophrenia). The same peptides bind to the same receptors in the ‘second brain’ in the gut wall, where they have a lot to do with initiating the autoimmune attack on the gut, leading to inflammation and disease.

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Many neurotransmitters are needed for proper nervous system function. It surprises people to learn that those neurotransmitters are produced not just in the brain, but also in the gut! Serotonin and dopamine in particular are produced in large numbers in the digestive tract. Serotonin is responsible for control of appetite, sleep, memory and learning, temperature regulation, mood, behavior (including sexual and hallucinogenic behavior), cardiovascular function, muscle contraction, endocrine regulation, and depression. Dopamine has many functions in the including important roles in behavior and cognition, voluntary movement, motivation and reward, inhibition of prolactin production (involved in lactation), sleep, mood, attention, and learning. So, what happens if digestion is not running smoothly and efficiently? You guessed it – insomnia, memory problems, depression, anxiety, and other mood disorders are just a few of the results of poor digestive function. In addition, conditions such as autism, schizophrenia, and even criminal behaviour have been linked to poor digestion.

For many years, naturopathic physicians have used a diet called The Specific Carbohydrate Diet to heal the gut and improve digestion. Dr. Campbell-McBride set up The Cambridge Nutrition Clinic in 1998 in England. As a parent of a child diagnosed with learning disabilities, she was acutely aware of the difficulties facing other parents like her, and she has devoted much of her time to helping these families. She realized that nutrition played a critical role in helping children and adults to overcome their disabilities, and has pioneered the use of probiotics in this field. She modified the specific carbohydrate diet and began using it with patients to repair the gut. This diet has been termed GAPS, which stand for “gut and psychology syndrome,” and have become popular the world over. Over time, thousands of patients have used GAPS to heal their digestive systems and their psychological symptoms. For more information, speak to your physician at Bambú Clinic, and check out these resources:

Official GAPS website
Gut and Psychology Syndrome
GAPS blog

We hope you found this information helpful. We strive to help our patients find a healthy way in the world. If you have topics you’d like us to address in future issues please let us know. We are always available for questions and comments.

Warm Regards,

The Physicians of Bambú Clinic