A fascinating article on the gut's power

[Frederick Foresight]

An excerpt:

Q: An experiment at McMaster University in Hamilton, virtually switched personalities between two populations of mice.

A: This was very exciting: two types of mice, one more curious, more exploratory, and the other one more shy. The researchers made them flora-free with a cocktail of antibiotics. Then they fed each group with the bacteria typical of the other type. The mice altered their behaviour in a way that flipped their roles—the timid grew bold, the bold more timid—and you could also see on a neurological level that a brain transmitter had been altered by this swap. In the same way, the depressed mice [made to swim] for their lives in a bucket of water don’t try very hard, but give them enhanced gut flora and they swim harder and longer and show fewer stress hormones in their blood. All this raises the question of how much we can change human behaviour with bacteria.

http://www.macleans.ca/society/health/the-interview-scientist-giulia-enders-on-the-guts-power/

 

[Baron]

Last year, I saw this TED talk and was pretty fascinated to learn that there are more neurons in the gut than there are in the brain, hence the practice of calling the gut "The Second Brain" and the basis for phrases of intuition that we use often like having "a gut feeling".

The number of ailments that can be traced back to a problem in the intestinal tract is pretty staggering. I started taking a daily probiotic last year basically because my wife, who is a certified wellness coach, wouldn't stop talking about it, and let me tell you, it did wonders for me. Before I started taking it, my midsection would often feel bloated and weird at times when there didn't seem to be any basis for it at all. And I would often have certain skin issues that just seemed to randomly come and go, along with the usual bouts of getting sick a few times per year. After I started taking that probiotic, my stomach started to feel normal again within a matter of days and I haven't stopped taking it since. I also haven't been sick even once since I started that probiotic and my skin issues cleared up completely as well.

 

[Banjo]

Everything changes everything. Quantum entanglement is infinite. I spend most of my time in southern California, when I go to Canada, Australia, South America, in a week I feel better due to simply breathing cleaner air. The difference is very apparent.
Everybody should be taking a probiotic, 2-3 billion active cultures. We in the west, especially the U.S. imo are eating a basic diet of garbage and poison. Animals are fed hormones/ antibiotics that pass through to us. Agriculture is a Monsanto loaded pesticide time bomb for the entire population. I've noticed Walmart is selling hydroponic lettuce.
Some info you may find interesting re: the future of food.
http://impossiblefoods.com/about/

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-30915785
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/28/mega-indoor-vertical-farm_n_2971328.html

 

[Frederick Foresight]

Interesting TED talk. So more cooking and less fiber, if I understood correctly. (His accent was rather thick.) It rather flies in the face of what health devotees have been preaching lately. Baron, what kind of probiotic are you taking, and in what form?

 

[Baron]

I'm taking a capsule-based probiotic called Pro-Bio5, which is a combo of 5 strains of bacteria plus a variety of digestive enzymes as well. I had previously tried a couple other brands of the refrigerated probiotics but I never really felt a noticeable difference and the inconvenience of having to refrigerate the stuff made it impossible to travel with.

 

[Frederick Foresight]

Thanks. I'll have to look into it.

 

[nitro]

The gut has tons of power:

http://www.elitetrader.com/et/index.php?threads/the-broncos-have-a-farting-tax.292037/

 

[Clubber Lang]

I'm taking a capsule-based probiotic called Pro-Bio5, which is a combo of 5 strains of bacteria plus a variety of digestive enzymes as well. I had previously tried a couple other brands of the refrigerated probiotics but I never really felt a noticeable difference and the inconvenience of having to refrigerate the stuff made it impossible to travel with.

I've been taking ALIGN for almost 5 years. I swear by it.

 

[Frederick Foresight]

I'm taking a capsule-based probiotic called Pro-Bio5, which is a combo of 5 strains of bacteria plus a variety of digestive enzymes as well. I had previously tried a couple other brands of the refrigerated probiotics but I never really felt a noticeable difference and the inconvenience of having to refrigerate the stuff made it impossible to travel with.

Have you noticed any difference in your emotional set point? I ask because I was very surprised by the result of the mouse experiment as noted in the opening post. I had no idea that the implications could be so far reaching.

 

[Baron]

In terms of mental effects, I've noticed that I've become more level headed. I don't seem to get the emotional swings that I used to get in times of stress. That could also be due to the fact that I'm just getting older, so I can't say for certain that effect is due to the probiotics for sure. On the bottle it says you can take up to four caps per day, but I usually take two. Maybe if I jacked it up to a higher dosage I would notice more pronounced mental and behavioral effects.