Brain and neurological disorders connected to intestinal health? It may be surprising to many, but the health of the colon and intestine does seem to be directly linked to the health of the brain, mind, and mental health. Certain types of food allergies, malabsorption, poor diets and digestive issues have been found to contribute to foggy thinking, poor performance, and serious mental disorders like schizophrenia and bipolar behavior.
What We Eat Affects Behavior
If you’re skeptical, consider the effect of low blood sugar on mood. Most people find that when their blood sugar drops (feeling hungry for a prolonged period will do this to even a healthy non-diabetic) they start to feel cranky and irritable.
The opposite, of course, is the hyperactive blood sugar high of refined sugar or high-glycemic sweets. The food we eat has an undeniable impact on behavior and emotional/mental health - which explains why cleansing improves mental clarity.
Digestive Trouble and Mental Disorders
The connection between digestive tract health and the health of the mind is even more significant for those with allergies or digestive disorders like celiac, IBS or Crohn’s disease.
In Breaking the Vicious Cycle: Intestinal Health Through Diet, Elaine Gottschall describes the process of healing her daughter’s ulcerative colitis through diet. Once she began the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, the first symptoms to disappear were her episodes of hour-long nighttime seizures that had been occurring several times a week.
Gottschall later writes, “During the seven years of doing consultations with people diagnosed as having Crohn’s disease, colitis, and other form of chronic diarrhea, I observed that improvement for many started with a disappearance of long-standing mental disorders including epilepsy, schizophrenia, mental confusion, poor memory, and bizarre behavior.” (Gottschall, 2002)
In countless other cases, depression and attention deficit have been known to improve with changes in diet.
Gottschall cites Dr. H. Baruk, a researcher on mental disorders and schizophrenia, as saying: “Instead of considering these illnesses hopeless, it is preferable to consider the majority of psychoses or neuroses as reactions to biological factors which are very often digestive in origin.... These toxic factors are disregarded far too often.” (Gottschall, 2002)
More Cases of Brain Bowel Connection
In the early twentieth century, celiac specialists noticed that patients with the worst cases of chronic diarrhea and malabsorption displayed deterioration of the nervous system - including damage to the brain and spinal cord. It was theorized that essential nutrients needed by the brain were not being absorbed by celiac patients.
In the 1970’s and 80’s, it was noted that gastric bypass patients and others whose small intestines had been shortened (for weight loss or other reasons) had bizarre psychological symptoms, thought to be linked to poor absorption of nutrients needed by the nervous system.
Milk & Grains, Allergies or Bacteria
In the 1970’s, psychiatrist F.C. Dohan claimed that cereal grains and milk were the problem in the brain bowel connection. Grains and milk products are often linked to mental and psychological disorders and are considered “brain allergies” by many holistic doctors (and are usually their first response to ADHD - but they may not be a traditional allergy.
Instead of an immune system response triggered by these and other problem foods, the real problem may be bacteria in the intestine (usually found hand-in-hand with malabsorption). Bacteria and other microbes in digestive tract are known to produce toxins that can have a harmful effect on brain function.
See also: Breaking the Vicious Cycle and Elaine Gottschall’s approach to Celiac
Source: Gottschall, Elaine, Breaking the Vicious Cycle: Intestinal Health Through Diet, Ninth Printing, Kirkton Press, 2002.
Victoria Anisman-Reiner - Victoria Anisman-Reiner is a freelance writer with extensive experience in holistic health care and animal training.
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