How Can My Gut Health Impact My Mood and Emotions?

Gut health can have a big impact on your mood and emotions, because the gut is always influencing the brain and vice versa. In this video, neurologist David Perlmutter, MD, explains how recognizing that connection has led to exciting new treatments.

Transcript

00:00

We've come a long way from this reductionist mentality

00:08

of thinking that the brain does one thing and the gut does another thing and they don't really communicate at all. We now appreciate the fact that the brain is influencing

00:16

the gut at every moment. And perhaps more importantly, the gut and the things that go on in the gut are influencing the brain.

00:24

For example, even mood disorders are now thought to have their origin in the gut. The gut is where more than 90% of the happy chemical serotonin

00:33

is actually produced. And that's what people want to have more of if you want to have a better mood, be less depressed.

00:39

So we're just at the beginning of understanding this rich relationship between things that go on in the gut in terms of the array of bacteria,

00:47

the diversity of bacteria. And it's very, very exciting because it's opening the door to a vast array of new treatments.