Nutramedic &Cosmetics
Psychobiotics and Our (Second) Brain
Modern science is researching the complex connection between the gut and the brain and the development of psychobiotics, microorganisms that can have a positive effect on mental health. Research to date shows that psychobiotics support the digestive system and help to reduce mental fatigue and a general feeling of tiredness, thus promoting overall mental health.
E AUTHOR:
Andrija Karačić, M.D., specializing in abdominal surgery and the founder of the Gut Microbiome Center in Zagreb
ven with significant advances in science, we still do not fully understand how the human brain functions. Emotional health, psychologi cal, and neurodegenerative diseases remain areas filled with mysteries and open questions. However, it becomes even more complex when we include the so-called second brain in the story. Modern science claims that we possess not one but two brains. The popular term "second brain" refers to an indepen dent, complex nervous system in the lining of our in testines. The first and second brains communicate with each other through different neurohumoral signals via the gut-brain axis. This means that both the brain and the intestines quickly learn when their partner on the other side of the axis is in trouble. Today, scientists and clinicians, in addition to dis covering how the gut-brain axis functions, are also working on finding methods to treat this axis and re lated diseases. Cognitive-behavioural psychothera py, antibiotics, and faecal transplantation are often mentioned in this context. A less radical but equally effective method could be the use of psychobiotics.
Have you heard of psychobiotics?
Considering that many scientific papers have been published on the topic of probiotics and the gut-brain axis, the field of psychobiotics has only "exploded" in
20
the last decade. Before 2013, there was not a single scientific paper on this topic, and in 2022, as many as 72 publicly available scientific papers were publi shed exclusively on the topic of psychobiotics. Psychobiotics were defined by a group of scien tists from the University of Cork in Ireland, a leading global centre for studying the gut-brain axis, as far back as 2013. Similar to probiotics, psychobiotics are living microorganisms that, when ingested in suffi cient quantities, have beneficial effects on the body. In the case of psycho-probiotics, they have an impact on mental health. This subset of probiotics has the capacity to produce and deliver neuroactive substan ces, neurotransmitters, and neuromodulators such as serotonin, the "happiness" hormone, and GABA. Because of this, these microorganisms can influen ce the functioning of the gut-brain axis, primarily the function of the vagus nerve. In addition to the vagus nerve as the main anatomical axis of the gutbrain connection, psychobiotic metabolites reach the "first" brain through circulation, or indirectly through the spinal cord, or directly through the blood-brain barrier. In addition to the secretion of neuroactive metabo lites, psychobiotics achieve their effects through anti- inflammatory actions and by their ability to reduce the activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis due to the neuroendocrine action of their metabolites.
