How the Gut Microbiome affects the Brain and Mind

Aug 18, 2023

How the Gut Microbiome affects the Brain and Mind

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The gut microbiota is a huge topic and has some very significant implications for health and nutrition. Here I’ve explained just a tiny bit of the research.

A pdf with a transcript for the video and links to sources can be found here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/17115405
________
Books:
“The Good Gut” by Justin and Erica Sonnenburg - http://amzn.to/2ETThV2
“Missing Microbes” By Martin Blaser - http://amzn.to/2Hu43jh
“Brain Maker” By David Perlmutter - http://amzn.to/2sF5EiO (Not mentioned in the video, but another good book on the subject)

Will have the transcript with links up soon

Featured Music:
Broke for Free - Meiei
Chris Zabriskie - Mario Bava Sleeps in a Little Later than he expected to
Broke for Free - Breakfast with Tiffany
Chris Zabriskie - Divider
Kevin MacLeod - Rollin at 5

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Content

0.149 -> Thanks to Squarespace for sponsoring this video.

3.75 -> One summer afternoon when Doctor Martin Blaser was still a medical student, he went to see

7.921 -> an eleven-year-old boy who had suddenly become ill and was hospitalized. He was perfectly

13.07 -> fine until two days earlier when he suddenly developed a fever and an upset stomach. The

18.07 -> next day the fever worsened, and on the third day, the boy developed small purplish dots

22.919 -> on his body. The emergency room doctors quickly realized the boy had Rocky Mountain spotted

28.439 -> fever, something caused by a bite from a tick infected with a type of bacteria called rickettsia.

35.36 -> This bacterium multiplies within cells lining blood vessels, invoking an aggressive immune

40.71 -> response. Since this involves the brain’s blood vessels, it caused a form of encephalitis,

46.04 -> a swelling of the brain provoking a massive headache.

50.16 -> When Blaser accompanied doctors to see the boy, the room was darkened as the light hurt

54.41 -> his eyes, his body was covered with purple spots, and he was thrashing around in his

59.48 -> bed covered in sweat. He was yelling incoherently as loud as he could while hallucinating.

65.64 -> As Dr. Blaser explains in his book “Missing Microbes,” the boy was started on an antibiotic

70.39 -> called tetracycline and after just five days, he was discharged from the hospital.

76.25 -> Especially considering the Gut Microbiome is the big topic in health and science recently,

80.89 -> you may know that not all microbes are bad. While there are pathogenic microbes like these

85.56 -> just mentioned, at all times there are 500 to 1000 different species of bacteria in the

90.711 -> human body. And the importance of their function is becoming more apparent as we learn new

95.81 -> things about them.

97.159 -> However, it’s hard to picture how tiny microbes in our gut contribute to our day to day cognition

102.59 -> and brain function. In the case of rocky mountain spotted fever it may not be surprising that

107.34 -> the introduction of a deadly pathogen could induce drastic changes in a person’s mental

112.14 -> state. However, the relationship between the microbes normally residing in the gut and

117.26 -> how our brain operates becomes apparent when we take them out.

122.2 -> Scientists observing microbe-free mice living in sterile bubbles quickly noticed that these

126.31 -> mice have a personality that is distinct from mice with gut microbes. Microbe-free mice

132.139 -> were found to be more prone to taking risks and they freely explore their environment.

137.549 -> Risk taking might be good if you’re a young entrepreneur, but the kind of risk these mice

141.599 -> engage in is wandering further out in an open field. For a mouse, this is an excellent strategy

147.269 -> for quickly getting killed by a predator. Not only are the mice unusually reckless,

152.76 -> scientists also noticed that these microbe-free mice have memory-related defects.

157.879 -> The book “The Good Gut” by Erica and Justin Sonnenburg describes how a group of researchers

162.669 -> put normal and microbe free mice through some memory tests. First, the mice were given five

168.31 -> minutes to explore two new objects, a small smooth ring and a large checkered ring. Then

174.26 -> the objects were removed for twenty minutes. After that, the large checkered ring and a

179.069 -> new object, a star-shaped cookie cutter, were put in the cages. Predictably, the mice with

184.319 -> the normal microbiota checked out the cookie cutter and paid less attention to the checkered

188.59 -> ring because they already knew what it was. The microbiota free mice, explored the new

193.29 -> cookie cutter, but spent just as much time checking out the old object - the checkered

198.049 -> ring. It seemed that these mice had completely forgotten an object they had just seen twenty

203.51 -> minutes earlier.

205.37 -> The forgetfulness in these mice may be explained by the fact that the microbe free mice have

210.12 -> lower levels of BDNF. BDNF, brain-derived neurotrophic factor is a powerful protein

216.65 -> important for learning and memory. It stimulates the production of new brain cells and strengthens

221.919 -> existing ones. Low levels of BDNF are linked to depression and anxiety.

227.669 -> Since making microbe-free humans would be quite unethical, such experiments haven’t

232.219 -> been repeated in humans, but... you may have heard of the woman who, after receiving a

236.909 -> fecal microbiota transplant, became obese. The fecal microbiota transplant or FMT is

243.699 -> just as it sounds, it’s taking the poop from one healthy person and putting it into

248.189 -> another person, in order to share the healthy microbiota of the donor. FMT is not a common

253.98 -> practice, but it’s the most effective treatment for a Clostridium difficile infection, which

259.59 -> causes diarrhea and abdominal pain for weeks. In this case, the woman’s donor was her

265.16 -> 16 year old overweight but otherwise healthy daughter. The transplant went smoothly and

270.639 -> successfully cured the woman’s issues. But, over a period 16 months, the woman gained

276.31 -> 34 pounds. And this happened despite persistent diet and exercise efforts. She even went on

283.19 -> a medically supervised liquid protein diet and still could not get the weight off.

288.449 -> On the flipside of this, it’s been found that putting the microbiota of lean mice into

292.449 -> other mice protects them from gaining weight. So it looks like a microbiota transplant can

297.71 -> transplant body types, but what about personality?

303.32 -> In 2011, a research group at McMaster University did an experiment with two different types

307.699 -> of lab mice. One type had a personality that was the mouse equivalent of anxious and the

313.229 -> other type was sociable and extroverted. To set a metric for how nervous the mice were,

318.86 -> they put them on an elevated platform and recorded how long it took for them to step

323.36 -> down.

324.93 -> The mice with the anxious personality spent an average of four and a half minutes slowly

329.5 -> and carefully making their way off the platform. The “extroverted” mice jumped down in

335.39 -> seconds. Then, the scientists switched the microbiota of the two types of mice and did

340.699 -> the platform test again. The mice with the extroverted personality, after receiving the

346.09 -> microbes of the anxious mice, now took over a minute to get off the platform. On the other

352.09 -> hand, after getting the microbes from the extroverted mice, the “anxious” mice got

356.599 -> off of the platform a whole minute quicker. What this group showed was that in these mice,

362.37 -> behavior and levels of anxiety were dependent on which microbes were living in their gut.

368.58 -> One other thing: remember BDNF, the protein that we should like to have more of for better

373.33 -> brain function? Well, the microbiota switch that made the “anxious” mice more “confident”

378.9 -> also increased their levels of BDNF. The change in microbiota not only made observable changes

385.069 -> in behavior, but in brain chemistry as well.

388.34 -> In fact, there’s all kinds of chemistry going on in the gut that can affect the brain.

393.53 -> There’s even research identifying which specific microbes produce which neurotransmitters.

399.35 -> For example it’s estimated that 90% of our serotonin is produced in the gut, and it’s

404.43 -> been found that some of this serotonin is produced by these four microbes.

410.099 -> These two microbes produce gamma-Aminobutyric acid or “GABA” - our chief inhibitory

415.43 -> neurotransmitter which has relaxing and anti-anxiety effects.

420.36 -> And these two (Bacillus and Serratia) produce our motivation neurotransmitter, dopamine.

423.99 -> [R]

424.99 -> So we basically have this huge mass of little drug factories sitting in our gut pumping

429.789 -> out different substances that affect our brain. In fact the gut and its microbes appears to

435.389 -> affect the brain so much that preclinical research in rodents suggested that certain

440.12 -> probiotics have antidepressant and anti-anxiety effects. Probiotics are basically substances

446.68 -> you can take orally to stimulate the growth of microbes. One study even found that a Bifidobacterium

452.86 -> infantis probiotic had anti-depressive effects on par with that of the anti-depressant drug

458.33 -> citalopram.

459.33 -> I used to think that the only benefit of fiber was that it helped you poop. However, considering

466.039 -> dietary fiber isn’t food for us but for our microbes, a diet rich in fiber from a

470.999 -> variety of sources should also be good for our mental health.

475.719 -> This information about the gut microbiome makes you start to wonder how many mental

479.759 -> afflictions could be traced back to disruptions in gut health from, for example, diets rich

485.099 -> in fiberless processed foods and refined carbohydrates, or from the unmitigated use of antibiotics.

492.32 -> Antibiotics can be a life saver when absolutely necessary as we saw at the start of the video,

497.759 -> but the most commonly prescribed antibiotic - a wide-spectrum antibiotic doesn’t just

502.34 -> kill the offending bacteria, but all kinds of other bacteria get caught in the crossfire.

508.02 -> This is like poisoning your cat along with a bunch of cockroaches you’re trying to

511.949 -> kill.

513.07 -> In the United States alone, tens of millions of people are prescribed antibiotics for minor

517.76 -> afflictions. 60 to 80 percent of children taken to the doctor complaining of bad sore

522.94 -> throats or ear pain will walk out with an antibiotic. It’s estimated that people will

528.31 -> take 30 courses of antibiotics by the age of 40. But, the highest prescription rate

533.71 -> was for children under the age of two with 1,365 courses per 1000 babies.

540.31 -> So, could all these antibiotics affect the young gut microbiome and the brain development

545.46 -> of these children?

547.21 -> A 2012 paper by Dr. Derrick MacFabe describes what happens when rats are injected with something

552.79 -> called Propionic Acid or PPA. The PPA injection provoked peculiar changes in the rats’ brains

559.2 -> like neuroinflammation, increased oxidative stress, and glutathione depletion.The rats

564.81 -> also displayed abnormal movements, repetitive interests, cognitive deficits, and impaired

570.01 -> social interactions. Basically, the results of this injection were very similar to autism

575.69 -> spectrum disorders. And, PPA is a fermentation product of bacteria, namely Desulfovibrio,

583.94 -> Bacteroidetes and Clostridia. It was found that patients with autism have many more species

589.71 -> of the clostridium bacteria and have high levels of PPA in their feces.

595 -> It’s estimated that in one third of patients, autism doesn’t show up until around 18 to

600.48 -> 24 months. Several reports from parents say that their children were developing normally

606.2 -> until they received antibiotics for upper respiratory or ear infections. According to

611.58 -> Dr. Sydney Finegold, antibiotics wipe out or suppress several organisms in the gut,

616.77 -> but Clostridia is one of the ones that persists.

619.81 -> A CBC program titled “The Autism Enigma” features Ellen Bolte who explains how her

624.95 -> son Andrew’s behavior changed drastically after 6 courses of antibiotics over a 2 to

630.64 -> 3 ½ month period for an ear infection. After this, he was diagnosed with severe autism.

637 -> Digging into the research, Ellen came across information about the Clostridia bacteria,

641.27 -> so she started searching for a doctor who would be willing to try an antibiotic called

645.32 -> “vancomycin” on Andrew. Vancomycin is specifically designed to target the Clostridia

651.07 -> bacteria. After she finally found a doctor who agreed to test her theory, they tried

655.97 -> the antibiotic and it had impressive effects. "The results were astounding. Within a matter

662.51 -> of just a few weeks, he became calm. He was aware of his environment... he's putting puzzles

670.55 -> together..." The antibiotic brought out improvements in Andrew that were transient but drastic.

677.82 -> This case lead to a pilot study with Dr. Finegold and a Dr. R Sandler who found that out of

682.79 -> 10 autistic children treated with vancomycin, 8 of them had again transient but significant

688.52 -> improvements.

689.95 -> Now, jumping to conclusions about the cause autism has not been… helpful in the past...

696.07 -> but this idea that autism could be the result of a disturbed gut is gathering more and more

700.69 -> data. A disturbed gut ecosystem would also explain the very common gastrointestinal issues

706.42 -> autistic children suffer. Some estimates say that as high as 70% of children with autism

711.821 -> spectrum disorders also have gastrointestinal issues.

717.12 -> Autism is just one of the disorders that can be linked to a disruption in gut health, and

721.38 -> research on the gut microbiome is growing quickly. About 3600 related articles on this

726.35 -> topic were published between 2010 and 2015. At this point, saying the gut microbiome is

732.23 -> important to health is an understatement. Dr. Martin Blaser says that “losing your

737.18 -> entire microbiome outright would be nearly as bad as losing your kidneys or liver.”

743.1 -> Unlike the kidneys or liver however, you can change the makeup of your microbiome with

747.64 -> what you put into your mouth.

749.48 -> I guess Hippocrates knew what he was talking about when he said “All disease begins in

753.76 -> the gut,” and “Let food be thy medicine.”

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Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4CBy0uVqRc