Terms like “gut-brain connection,” “good gut bacteria,” and “gut microbiome” have become household terms, and for good reason. It’s been discovered that our gut health is not only largely responsible for our overall health, but that an unhealthy gut can have serious consequences in terms of our mental health.

Is the Gut a Second Brain?

It’s true that the gut contains trillions of bacteria, both good and bad, but the millions of neurons located in gut walls and an independent nervous system have led many to call it the second brain.

However, those aren’t the only reasons the gut has been termed this; it was discovered that even when the vagus nerve, the body’s longest and primary neural conduit to the brain, was severed, the gut’s independent neural network continued to function.

The Many Roles of Gut Bacteria

Different communities of bacteria consisting of several strains exist in each part of the GI tract. Each strain has a different role but, in general, your good gut bacteria:

  • Program your immune system
  • Extract nutrients and make vitamins from the foods you consume
  • Regulate your metabolism and digestion
  • Regulate the production of “feel good” chemicals
  • Prevent harmful microbes from remaining in your gut
  • Produce chemicals to kill harmful microbes

In addition to accomplishing all of the above, good gut bacteria produce neurochemicals. They are necessary to the brain, as it uses them to regulate physiological and mental processes like learning and mood. As such, good and bad bacteria can have a serious impact on mental health.

What Does a Diagnosis of Poor Gut Health Mean?

Poor gut health is typically the diagnosis when there’s a higher population of bad bacteria in the gut than good bacteria. This balance can be checked and confirmed by testing the stool, but there are also symptoms that can point to an unhealthy gut, a few of which are:

  • Digestive issues like gas, diarrhea, and constipation
  • Weight gain or loss with no dietary or lifestyle changes
  • Difficulty sleeping and resulting chronic fatigue
  • Skin conditions like eczema and acne
  • Depression, anxiety and intolerance to stress

How Gut Health Affects Mental Health

The gut-brain axis is the term used to describe the link between the gut and the brain. This link, consisting of several pathways, sends messages from the brain to the gut, and vice-versa.

When we feel joy, pleasure, or happiness, it’s because our serotonin and dopamine levels are where they should be. Both of these are neurotransmitters communicate with and influence the brain.

The production of both serotonin and dopamine occurs in the gut, to the tune of 90%1 and 50%2 respectively. When gut bacteria is out of balance, the optimal production of dopamine and serotonin is not able to occur. However, that’s only the beginning.

The fact that the gut-brain access is bidirectional means that a vicious cycle can be easily created; experiencing chronic stress, for example, can cause an imbalance of gut bacteria. This imbalance can cause sleeping and other issues, which, in turn, can result in further gut bacteria imbalance, and so on.

Factors That Contribute to Poor Gut Health

Sad man hiding his face and sitting alone in the black room

In addition to a nutrient-deficient diet and lack of exercise, there are several factors that contribute to poor gut health, including substance use disorders. The abuse of alcohol, for example, encourages bad gut bacteria to thrive and reduces good gut bacteria populations. When this occurs, inflammatory molecules, called cytokines, increase.

Cytokines significantly affect the function of the brain. Too many cytokines can lead to depression and anxiety and problems with memory and learning, among other cognitive issues.

As stated previously, chronic anxiety and depression can also contribute to poor gut health; the hormone cortisol—produced when the body experiences stress—weakens the gut wall, making it more permeable. This increased permeability means that pathogens and toxins can more easily make their way into the bloodstream and cause serious illness.

The abuse of oral medications like opioids can cause significant and direct disturbance to gut bacteria balance and, ultimately, other symptoms of gut dysbiosis, including indigestion, constipation, and nausea.

Can Mental Health Be Improved by Fixing the Gut?

Yes; many studies have proven that when the gut is healthy, the symptoms of anxiety, depression, and other mental health conditions also improve. In fact, it’s because of the overwhelming evidence derived from these studies that the practice of nutrition therapy is now an integral component of substance abuse treatment programs.

What Is Nutrition Therapy?

Nutrition therapy is the use of food to treat, prevent, and/or reverse disease. When the body’s nutritional balance is optimized, its innate ability to heal itself can be supported. Nutrition therapy involves providing the body with a great variety of nutrients to diversify the strains of beneficial bacteria that are responsible for overall mental and physical health.

Practicing Nutritional Therapy Independently

The good bacteria in your gut benefits from prebiotics and probiotics. Prebiotics provide existing beneficial bacteria with nutrition. Examples of prebiotic foods include leeks, garlic, onions, asparagus, and dandelion root.

Probiotics deliver beneficial bacteria to the gut. These bacteria can be found in fermented foods like raw apple cider vinegar, kefir, sauerkraut, and kimchi, as well as unsweetened yogurt.

High-fibre foods can also support gut health. Insoluble fibre like flax and wheat are not digested; rather, this type of fibre travels to the colon, where good gut bacteria feed on it. It also increases the movement of stool through the intestinal tract.

Soluble fibre can be digested, and gut bacteria ferment it to create short-chain fatty acids like butyrate and acetate, both key metabolism regulators. Soluble fibre can be found in foods such as beans, lentils, nuts, and seeds.

Probiotic supplements can also be used to repopulate good gut bacteria. As well, liver damage caused by alcohol can also be improved with probiotics.

Those who abstain from substance use will often see a reduction in the symptoms associated with poor gut health, but those in treatment for addiction often need a more intensive form of nutritional therapy to restore gut biome health.

The Holistic Nutritional Therapy Program

Fruits and vegetables

The Canadian Health Recovery Centre offers a ground-breaking addiction treatment for men that includes holistic nutritional therapy. While in treatment, clients not only receive a diet rich in nutrients; they also receive education about healthy eating and living, as well as orthomolecular supplementation.

Orthomolecular supplementation helps to improve the function of neurotransmitters, rebalancing the brain and body’s biochemistry, to reduce cravings or eliminate them completely. These benefits are important to addiction treatment. Once the right messages can be sent through the gut-brain axis and cravings reduced, the client can be more receptive and ready for other treatments to take place.

Nutrition education is delivered via weekly groups, where clients gain practical knowledge about nutrition and how it affects not only their health but their lifelong recovery.

Addiction Treatment That Addresses the Whole Person

If you are a man who is ready to begin your journey to sobriety, Canadian Health Recovery Centre’s residential treatment programs may be for you. All of the treatments we offer are administered by a highly skilled team whose only goals are to support your health and help you transform your life.

Our specialists are able to create a treatment program that’s focused on your individual needs. Our 22,000 square foot facility, located on 14 wooded acres, provides proven world-class addiction treatment and many amenities, including a fully equipped gym and sports areas. Call 1-705-535-0636 to learn more.

Sources:

  1. https://cen.acs.org/biological-chemistry/microbiome/Serotonin-helps-gut-microbes-thrive/97/i35#:~:text=Up%20to%2090%25%20of%20the,about%2050%25%20of%20that%20production
  2. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2018.02398/full#:~:text=About%2050%25%20dopamine%20is%20produced,demonstrated%20by%20plenty%20of%20studies.