THE BIOME BUZZ
BUGS AND WORMS AND OTHER GREAT STUFF
Category: stress
Feelings and the Microbiome: How Wisdom and Loneliness Affect Microbiota Health
I’ll lay off the prebiotics for today, and give you something completely different, to start off this new month. We all know by now about the bi-directional relationship between the brain and the gut. I’ve talked about it plenty of times on this blog,… Continue Reading “Feelings and the Microbiome: How Wisdom and Loneliness Affect Microbiota Health”
Prebiotics: What We Currently Know About Their Use in Neuropsychiatric and Neurodegenerative Diseases
One of the questions I get asked the most by my readers is “what prebiotic and/or probiotic is the best?” Unfortunately, there is no good answer to that because we just don’t have the research to know. To boot, everyone’s body is different. Still,… Continue Reading “Prebiotics: What We Currently Know About Their Use in Neuropsychiatric and Neurodegenerative Diseases”
A Probiotic to Reduce Physiological Effects of Stress and Anxiety: Clinical Trial Results
Today’s good news is brought to you by researchers in Finland and Germany who are looking for natural means of alleviating the development of mood and stress-related disorders.[i] I don’t know about the rest of you, but I sure as hell could use some… Continue Reading “A Probiotic to Reduce Physiological Effects of Stress and Anxiety: Clinical Trial Results”
Stress, Depression, the Microbiome: A Possible Mechanism of Action Revealed!
For years, I’ve covered the developing story about the relationship between the gut biome and depression and mood disorders. With a son diagnosed with autism, who has severe anxiety issues (like so many of my students with autism diagnoses), research into this is one… Continue Reading “Stress, Depression, the Microbiome: A Possible Mechanism of Action Revealed!”
Probiotics, Omega 3s and Chronic Inflammation: Part 2
In part 2 of this look at what we currently know about the benefits of probiotic and omega supplementation on chronic, low-grade inflammation, we’ll be looking at the most common and best studied probiotics, alone and in combination.[i] As I mentioned in Tuesday’s Part… Continue Reading “Probiotics, Omega 3s and Chronic Inflammation: Part 2”
Probiotics, Omega 3s and Chronic Inflammation: Part 1
As I am always on the lookout for things we can do now, I was particularly interested in reading a new paper just published in the journal Nutrients which reviewed what we know about using probiotics together with omega-3 fatty acids to reduce chronic… Continue Reading “Probiotics, Omega 3s and Chronic Inflammation: Part 1”
Anxiety Disorders in Autism (and Not in Autism) and Things You Can Do Now
On Thursday, I have an appointment with an orthopedist to look at a hand injury I sustained a couple of weeks ago, working with one of my adult students with autism. Unknowingly, I said a word which ended up triggering a massive attack of… Continue Reading “Anxiety Disorders in Autism (and Not in Autism) and Things You Can Do Now”
Maternal Stress, Autism and a Possible Preventative Probiotic Treatment?
A few weeks back, a study came out of the University of Colorado, Boulder, which is worth reporting.[i] It is one in a long line of similar studies which show that exposure to our “old friends” modulates the immune system in such a way… Continue Reading “Maternal Stress, Autism and a Possible Preventative Probiotic Treatment?”
Diet, Your Brain and Autoimmunity
By now, we all know that chronic and/or neurodegenerative diseases like MS, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, ALS, autism are all inflammatory and probably all derive from alterations to the gut biome. I’ve written about all of them many times now (some links provided in the previous… Continue Reading “Diet, Your Brain and Autoimmunity”
Gut Feelings=Brain Feelings: Discovery of Actual Neuronal Pathways
Today’s post is about an amazing piece of research out of the University of Pittsburgh, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.[i] We’re all familiar with “gut feelings” and know that our brain can influence our digestive system. Think of those… Continue Reading “Gut Feelings=Brain Feelings: Discovery of Actual Neuronal Pathways”
