This week’s article is way longer than normal, but there’s a reason. I want you to be aware of the things that you will very likely never hear at your Medical Doctor’s office (unless you specifically seek out one practicing Functional Medicine) or on mainstream media. Big Pharma wants us all on as many medications as possible because it drives the entire machine. The more drugs you take, the more side-effects you suffer and the more drugs can be prescribed. As a holistic practitioner, I want to help you navigate the very muddy waters of trying to HEAL…because I believe your body is made to HEAL. Our bodies were created fearfully and wonderfully and creation of man came from the dirt of the ground originally (Genesis 2:7, Psalm 139:14).
It’s fascinating to read the quote below from a Medical Dr. who has completely changed his entire practice of Medicine based on finding out about the importance of the connection between our brains & our guts…specifically the use of Glyphosate on our soil (commonly known as “Round-Up”), which come to find out is classified not as an herbicide but as an antibiotic, and the massive toll it’s taken on the mental health of Americans.
Our bodies have been so inundated for so many years with our soils being depleted of the life-giving good bacteria we so desperately need to function and thrive. The more you know, the better decisions you can make!
Next time we’ll talk about how to truly restore the gut. But, for now let’s lay the groundwork of the importance of your brain and gut communication.
-Dr. Zach Bush, M.D.
Listen to the entire podcast here: https://drmindypelz.com/ep178/
“There’s a series of cells that are called the enteric endocrine cells, they represent
10- 15%, of all of the cells that make up your gut lining. Remember, your gut is not just your stomach, your gut starts at your sinuses includes the entire upper GI tract, I would include the respiratory tract there too, but that’s probably controversial, but at least the upper GI system, the stomach, the small intestine, and its huge entirety, and the massive colon. And so from nose to rectum, you are this one digestion track … and the tube is protected from your body by a single cell layer. And that single cell layer is half the width of a human hair. And so picture a layer of cellophane that’s half the thickness of a human hair and covers two tennis courts of surface area. That’s your gastrointestinal membrane, or barrier system to the outside world. Now you put on top of that all your food and the chemicals you ingest, and everything else. And you have to absorb what you would like to absorb and keep out what you would like to keep out. So that barrier system is an intelligent membrane that will try to be that selective barrier to keep the good stuff in and/or bring the good stuff in and keep the bad stuff out.
About 10 to 15% of those cells are not just barriers, they’re actually the manufacturer for your neurotransmitters. These are the enteric endocrine cells. 10 – 15% of that giant cellophane layer produces 90% of the serotonin that gets produced in your body, and over 50% of the dopamine produced in your body. At that point, some say, well, at least the brain makes 50% of its dopamine. And of course we’re wrong again. 40% of your body’s dopamine gets made by your kidney tubules. Between your kidneys and your gut, they make 90% of your dopamine, your gut alone makes 80% of your serotonin. So you start to realize these two major transmitters that have been blamed for your anxiety and depression actually are not at all related to your brain’s disease nor any disorder process.
If you have depression or anxiety, you have a deficiency of workhorses in the gut.
Well, how did that happen? Here’s where the data out of these universities gets kind of trippy. As in recent three dimensional imaging at the molecular level, we’ve been able to show that the human neurons are extending past that cellophane layer and actually listening directly to the bacteria and fungi in your gut. It completely bypasses your barrier system, so that your brain can talk directly to bacteria. Simultaneous to that anatomical discovery, it was being discovered since 2014, that if you remove certain bacteria from the gut, those enteric endocrine cells can no longer make serotonin and dopamine. So, you cannot produce the neurotransmitters and your brain cannot listen directly to the full gamut or the full ecology of a healthy ecosystem.
When you take an antibiotic, you decimate that microbiome. Amazing studies coming out recently show that 1 single course of antibiotics for an upper respiratory infection or something like a urinary tract infection, your chance of a major depressive episode goes up by 24% in the next 12 months, and the chance of a generalized anxiety disorder developing goes up by 17%. In taking just 1 round of antibiotics. If you now go back to your doctor within that 12 month-period to get a second round of antibiotics, you had your UTI treated six months ago and now you go in for your bronchitis or sinusitis. That 2nd course of antibiotics now raises your risk of major depression by 54%. And your risk of anxiety disorder by 44%. And so we are having massive decimating effects on mood disorder through our antibiotic prescription behavior.”